Professor Chow black belt class

If you look close, everyone in this photo is a black belt, so I am assuming this is one of Professor Chow's advanced black belt classes.

The Emperado brothers, Joe and Adriano, are sitting on each side of Professor Chow.

I don't know about you, but I would be scared as hell to be in this class. It looks to me that only one guy (tall guy in the back) has what you could call even a hint of a smile. The rest are dead serious.

I wouldn't last five minutes in this class.

Professor William "Thunderbolt" Chow

Pretty much all of what we know as Kenpo began with this man. 

This photo looks to be a cleaned up version of an old photo we have all probably seen a thousand times. I guess this new AI stuff is good for something, like cleaning up old photos.

A young Professor Chow

 

Mr. Parker's answer when asked about his first instructor and system - (1974)

"What about your first instructor, what system did you go into in the beginning?"

"Well I studied, I studied Kenpo. But the man I studied with was an extremely interesting guy because although he had studied from his father and picked up knowledge and swapped it with other people, he came to the realization that much of what was taught in the Orient, though it was very inclusive, wasn't yet rearranged to suit modern day context. So he found that there is a lot of changes needed in order to make it work in our present day environment. And it was because of him that I began to think this way from my early years. 

Now when I first started here in the United States and had a lot of traditionalist come in I was a rebel as far as they were concerned. But you know, it's, it's the guy that comes out in the end that really counts.

And being a street fighter myself I went along with this train of thought." - Mr. Parker

Photos of Fusae Mitose

Some say James Mitose's kenpo was no good. That he was a con-man more than a martial artist.

His sister Fusae was also a black belt and taught, it would be interesting to know if she was better than her brother. 

A tribute to Professor Chow

Old newspaper photo of Professor Mitose

 

The Mitose family art continues

 Seminars with GM Thomas Mitose - Alicante Spain - December 1st - 3rd

1980's Professor Chow t-shirt for sale on Ebay

An actual Professor Chow's t-shirt from the 1980's is for sale on Ebay, for a cool $99.99

Hey, at least its under a hundred dollars. 

PROFESSORS CHOW'S Chinese Kara-Ho Kempo Karate vintage t shirt L 1980s HAWAII

https://www.ebay.com/itm/363783612625

(front logo)

(back logo)

Professor Chow's hands of death

Wouldn't want to get punched by that fist.

Professor Chow's class

 (from the Ed Parker Sr. Facebook page)

Professor Chow’s class was a select group. Only upon recommendation of another class member, could one be accepted as a student. Ed wrote, “I felt privileged to have known Frank Chow and grateful for my introduction to his brother, William.” Witnessing the professor move and appraising the ability of his students was, for the young enthusiast, a deeply moving and spiritual experience. Later, he would write, “At that moment, a strong spiritual feeling penetrated the very depth’s of my soul communicating to me that Kenpo would become my life’s work.”

(Book: Memories of Ed Parker by Leilani Parker)

Professor Chow performing Overhead Club technique

The above drawings, which are based on the photo of Professor Chow performing Mitose's Overhead Club technique, were used in some of the early kenpo advertisements.

Early Kenpo History

(from Mr. Ed Parker Jr.'s Facebook page January 3rd, 2020)

When my Dad trained in Honolulu he took Chinese Kenpo from a friend at church named Frank Chow. The cause of my dad's training with Frank is based upon the following story.

Frank was talking to my dad and he said that he got jumped by 3 attackers somewhere in the streets of Honolulu.

To lend some perspective to this event, Frank was half my dad's size, so my dad is thinking as this played out, "how could Frank tell a lie in the doors of God right there in the church at Kalihi?"

As my dad was already skilled at the use of Judo when this conversation took place, he couldn't understand how someone in a fighting art could take on more than one attacker at a time.

Frank explained to my dad that he used his brother's art of Chinese Kenpo which contained a skillset for dealing with multiple attackers.

This is where the lessons between Frank and my dad started. In a short amount of time Frank said to my dad that he could teach him no more and that my dad had to train with his older brother William if he wanted to gain more knowledge in the art of Kenpo.

So my dad found himself going to the Nu’uanu YMCA where William professionally known as Professor William Kwon Sun Chow taught Kenpo.

Under their uniforms they wore a Nu’uanu YMCA shirt. I recall first finding that shirt when I was a teenager.

In order to give honor and pay tribute to my father’s past I have artistically recreated the Nu’uanu YMCA shirt that my dad and fellow students wore when they trained at the Nu’uanu YMCA in Honolulu, Hawaii.

You will find my tribute in the text on the outside ring of the design.

Currently the Nu’uanu YMCA where they trained has been relocated as the old YMCA was demolished and in the old location today sits a Safeway store.

On the walls of the new Nu’uanu YMCA location is a tribute plaque to Professor Chow.

The names of endorsements from my father, myself, and other key people connected to the lineage of Professor Chow are included on the brass plaque.

The address of the original YMCA is in the text on the shirt and was located on the Pali highway not far from the Nu’uanu Pali Lookout where countless visitors have traveled to see on the island of Oahu.

(to purchase a T shirt, phone case, or other items with this logo please visit Mr. Parker's official products website:)

www.edandbaerparkerart.com

An important photo in kenpo history

The infamous Chow interview

(black belt magazine - July 2005)

Thomas Young, James Mitose, and William Chow

Professor Chow class, Nuuanu YMCA, Oahu

A young Mr. Parker next to Professor Chow.

Mitose birth certificates

Mitose and students

Kwai Sun Chow far left standing, Masayoshi Mitose seated center.

Later Mitose heirs

Bruce Juchnick, Thomas Barro Mitose, and Nimr Hassan. All three men trained or had a relationship, at one time or another, with Kosho Ryu Kenpo grandmaster James Mitose and later all three would lay claim to the heirship of the martial art.

(photo was taken sometime in the 1980’s after Grandmaster Mitose had died while in prison.)

Arnie Golub and Nimr Hassan