Mr. Bryan Hawkins - a kenpo legend

Why no high kicks in kenpo?

Mr. Parker taught that if you want to kick someone in the head, kick them in the groin first. Then it will be easier to kick the head.

(from a recent discussion on Facebook)

Mr. Parker told me, "It makes as much sense to kick a guy in the head standing up, as it does to bend down and punch him in the foot." It was prompted by an impromptu demo by Mitose at Pasadena in the early sixties when he tried to convince Mr. Parker to "join him" in an enterprise to create a "church" to make money. Mr. Parker declined the offer, and a "saying" was born. - Dr. Ron Chapél

(Legend has it Huk Planas and Dave Hebler were there too and witnessed the punch to the foot.)

Mr. Chuck Sullivan talks about the early days when Mr. Parker lost his advanced class to Jimmy Woo

(from an interview with Mr. Sullivan on the Art of One Dojo YouTube page)

We have two techniques that I got from Jimmy Woo. Because I don't know if you know about what happened with Ed Parker during the early days when he lost his entire advanced class. I can tell you about this, I was there, there's not many people around today who were there. 

Ed Parker was writing his second book, the Secrets of Chinese Karate and he was visiting San Francisco picking the minds of some of the Chinese elders up there and he ran into Jimmy Woo who was nine years his senior. 

Ed thought it would be a good idea to have him collaborate with him on the book so he invited him to come down to southern California and stay with him at his house. So he supported him, I mean he just supported the man at his stay there. So they were collaborating on the book. 

Well, Jimmy Woo obviously looked at what Ed Parker had, and looked at what he had, and there was no comparison. And then Ed Parker made a very serious tactical mistake. He put Jimmy in charge of the class whenever he couldn't make it, and he couldn't make it more often as time went on. So Jimmy Woo got to teach the class and learn, and get acquainted with all of the guys and start "wooing" them, pun intended, away from Ed and onto his own thing. 

And one of the things he told, that he sold the guys on, because I stayed in contact with one of the guys that went with him after he was there. So I got to know what they were doing, and how they were doing it, a little further down the line. Not much but a little further. And one of the things, I asked Leonard, this friend of mine, I said how did he get these guys? Because he didn't get me. I wasn't as close to the hierarchy of that class, I was kind of on the lower end, I had just joined the class as a brown belt. I was expected to be part of the move. Because he got every single person in the advanced class except me, I was the only one. But I didn't care for some of the things he was doing as he was doing it. I mean how do you expect somebody that lies in the corner with a cigarette in his mouth and teaches your class. 

Yeah, yeah, just smoking while we were working out!

There were just things about the man that, that I just couldn't get behind. Some of the things I liked, some of the stuff I liked. But I didn't like it as an entire system. I liked little bits of it. So I stole 'em, we have them in the system today, they're wonderful.

Anyhow, so that all happened, and they split. One of the thing he sold them on was, he said Ed Parker has taught you everything he knows. Come with me and I'll teach you the real thing. Well, he didn't have the real thing to begin with. And he said another thing is Ed Parker is moving too slow, meaning that he should be, his schools should be all over the country. You should be in charge of the East Coast, this guy should be in charge of the North East, this guy should be in charge of the Mid-West, this guy should be in charge of the South. That didn't happen at all, that never happened, the furthest they ever got was the crappy end of Hollywood Blvd. That's where the dojo lived, and stayed, and died, and whatever.

Anyhow, Jimmy Woo had some really good stuff, but selectively, not as an entire system. As an entire system it was horribly lacking. But the thing he impressed upon these guys was Ed Parker taught them everything he knew. 

So Ed Parker obviously said to himself at that time, you want more?, I'll give you more. I'll give you so much you can't handle it. 

And that's what happened. 

Keeping the kenpo flame alive

artwork by Felix Capibara

It's 2025, let's pad up and shin kick some groins! See you in the dojo.