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The Rise of American Kenpo
As I saw it
(Part 4)
The creation of the Kenpo
forms
by
Will Tracy
The influence Jimmy Wing Woo had on Ed
Parker and his development of American Kenpo cannot be underestimated.
Woo also brought out a character in Ed Parker that to that time had been
obfuscated.
It must be remembered that a relatively
good athlete can learn the complete system of Kenpo in two years. James
Ibrao earned his Shodan in 9 months. This does not mean that one would
have perfected the 800+ Kenpo moves in two years. That would require far
more than that. But one can learn the moves well enough in two years to
where he can go on to perfect them on his own. That is essentially how
Ed Parker had learned under Professor Chow, and it is how he had taught
Kenpo prior to 1960. All of Professor Chow's students had left him once
they learned the system, and Ed knew he had to have something more to
keep his students after they had learned the system. The answer was
Forms.
Ed had seen the Japanese katas and was
not impressed. When I was going to places where there were known Kung Fu
instructors, Ed asked me to learn from them so we incorporate their
forms into his system. Robert Trias' criticism, that Kenpo had no Katas,
had hit the nerve that sent Ed Parker to San Francisco where he hoped to
pick up more "traditions" and forms that would make his style an "art."
But Ed did not just grab the first available Kung Fu man from whom he
could learn. When Ed met Jimmy Wing Woo, Jimmy demonstrated some of his
forms, then Ed Parker showed him some of the Kenpo techniques. Woo took
those Kenpo techniques changed them slightly, and combined them into a
what Ed told me, when he called me from San Francisco, was the most
impressive kata he had ever seen. Nothing like it could be found in any
Japanese or Okinawan style of karate. But that was only the half of it.
It took Ed one day to learn this new "set" as Woo called it. Then, to
Ed's surprise and excitement, as he went through the moves of this new
"form" Jimmy Wing Woo responded with the other "half" of what would
become the "Black Belt Set." This was not just an impressive "kata," it
was the only two-man set in not only Kenpo, but any Japanese or Okinawan
system. Ed and I discussed the two man set I had already learned, and he
was impressed. But what impressed him more was the fact that Woo had
made this two man set from Kenpo techniques. Ed was convinced that Woo
could add to Kenpo what he needed. To be on the safe side, he wanted me
to continue learning as many forms of Kung Fu as I could.
While Ed was in San Francisco, Woo had
also taken the basic moves of Kenpo, the inward strike, outward strike,
upward strike, and downward strike, and turned them into a "form" that
opened in four directions (the ten line) in nine moves. Ed took this
back to Los Angeles with him and began teaching it as his own "Short
Form One." Ed made another (one of several) trips to San Francisco,
where Woo showed him the concept for developing Long Form 1 by adding
offensive moves to the blocks, while keeping the ten line. And he showed
him how to extend this into the "rice line." However, Woo only taught Ed
the one half of the two-man set, and Woo convinced him that the only way
to teach the other half was with one of Ed's students. Ed didn't like
the idea of bringing Woo to Los Angeles, and we talked about this
several times on the phone before he made the move. He was finally
convinced that Woo had to be in Los Angeles with him after going to San
Francisco two times, only to find that Woo had to work, and didn't have
time to meet with him. It was then that Ed was convinced that he and Woo
would develop what he was already thinking of as his own, "Chinese
Kenpo."
Ed was convinced that Woo would be
nothing more than a shadow. Woo, on the other hand, had other ideas. He
was looking to become the best know kung-fu man in the country, and Ed
Parker would be the one who brought him into the public. After all, Ed
Parker had very influential, "Hollywood" students. What Woo didn't know,
is Ed had no intention of introducing him to anyone. Woo lived with Ed.
He had no source of income and was completely dependent on Ed for money
and transportation. He went nowhere unless Ed drove him there. And he
never went with Ed on any television or film interview.
Woo's contribution was to develop the
Kenpo forms and instruct Ed on the traditions and myths of China and
Kung Fu. Woo never did teach Ed the other half of the Black Belt Set.
That was taught to James Ibrao and Al Tracy. Al had learned the first
half from Ed the week Ed returned from San Francisco, and Woo taught him
the second half for a demonstration with Al Tracy and Ed Parker in front
of the advanced class. To this point the advanced students were not at
all impressed with Short Form 1. Most of them had refused to learn it.
However, when Ed Parker and Al Tracy demonstration of the Black Belt
Set, it brought even the stoic Jimmy Ibrao to cheers. This would be the
form required for all Shodans.
Ed and Woo began working out secretly, as
they worked together on a book they knew would be a great success. Woo
also began teaching the advanced class the forms and sets he was
developing for Kenpo. When he started teaching, there were only Short
and Long One and the Black Belt Set. But only a few students had seen
Long Form One. Ed turned all teaching of the beginning and intermediate
classes at the Pasadena studio over to Al and Jim Tracy, who were Ikkyu
(1st degree brown belt). Rick Flores, who received his Shodan a year
before, taught at the La Cienega Studio, and all black belt promotions
were put on hold until the lower belt forms were completed.
Over the next three months, Woo developed
Short and Long Form Two and Short Form 3, which Ed incorporated into the
system through James Ibrao. The beginning and intermediate students were
now being taught the forms during the last 5 minutes of the class. When
I returned in October, 1961, half the class was devoted to forms. This
was a complete turn around, and Ed's schools were suffering because of
it.
When Ed published Kenpo Karate, The Law
of the Fist and the Empty Hand, in 1960, it was intended as a training
manual for the Gokyu, the first brown tip. To this Ed added Short and
Long Form One as requirements, for the first tip. Or as Parker described
it in Infinite Insights into Kenpo Mental Stimulation a book for the
novice practitioner to this Ed added Short and Long Form One as
requirements for the first tip. Short Two and Long Form Two were
required for Yonkyu, the second brown tip. Short Three was required for
Sankyu, third brown; Long Three for Nikyu, second brown; and Form Four
was required for Ikkyu. There was no short version of this form. These
forms would become the basis for Traditional Chinese Kenpo.
Where Ed had intended to first teach
techniques and then have the students develop their abilities to use
techniques during the period they learned the forms, by late 1961, they
were learning few techniques and spending most of their class time on
forms. Ed had deviated from the Way of Kenpo and lost site of what made
Kenpo appealing, and for the first time in nearly 3 years his Pasadena
Studio was making less than $1,000 a month.
A year and a half earlier, Ed had been
excited every time he called me to tell me what he and Woo had
developed. Woo was living with him, and their book was progressing
rapidly. Woo had taught Boon Gi, "Panther Set" which was to be in the
book they were writing. But most importantly, all the advanced students
were excited about learning the forms.
I noticed the enthusiasm of Ed change
over the next three months. He talked less about Woo and his
contributions and more about how the system was his. He had changed the
Panther Set, so he told me, to where it was crystallized as the
definitive set of Kenpo, and was now being referred to as the "Book
Set." The book he and Woo were writing was becoming more his book. He
told me how he had taken what I had learned from my Kung Fu instructors,
and was incorporating that into the book. When he told Woo that one of
his students has learned the Hung Gar, Tiger and the Crane, Woo went a
step further and taught the Tiger and Crane to the advanced students. He
also introduced Tam Tui, and completed Long Form Three and Form Four.
The face of Original Kenpo was changing. It was becoming "Traditional."
How much of the Kenpo forms was Ed
Parker's? He or Jimmy Ibrao certainly the basic techniques to Woo. But
he in turn had learned those techniques from Professor Chow. Woo not
only combined the techniques, but he modified them so they would fit
well into the forms. The direction of the forms, how they opened, were
executed and ended were completely Woo's. They were completely his
creation. At best we might say that Ed Parker contributed 5-10% to their
creation.
Even though I was not there when the
forms were first taught, it became readily apparent when I returned in
October, 1961, that the advanced students did the forms differently from
the intermediate students, and from the beginning students; and since
all the advanced students and instructors did the forms the same way, I
could reasonable assume they were doing them as Woo had taught them to
Ibrao. Over the next few years I would watch the way Ed changed the
forms to add, delete, or hide moves. Ed had never learned the complete
Book Set, and after he and Woo had their falling out, he abandoned the
set completely. In its place in his book, Secrets of Chinese Karate, Ed
Parker used the Black Belt Set. The problem is, Ed had never learned the
other side of the set, and none of his students, except Al and Jim Tracy
had learned the complete set. That is why part of the set is missing in
the book.
The creation of the Kenpo forms must also
considered with the creation of the Kenpo emblem. The original Kenpo
emblem was patterned after the Japanese mon, though more pronounced and
without the subtle shades or traditional colors or patterns. It retained
the traditional Japanese round circle, but had what could pass for an
Okinawan fist, and the completely non Japanese words Kenpo Karate. As
the influence of Jimmy Wing Woo took hold, Ed's students began to look
at the world from a more Chinese perspective. One of Ed's more
proficient students was Dick Tercell. Dick had made a beautiful knife
out of a file and given it to Ed, and his artistic genius was readily
apparent. Under the influence of Woo, Tercell set about to design an
emblem that would express the new Chinese influence on Kenpo. He took
the outer shape of a Chinese temple, stripped it of all but it's lines,
smoothed the roof and made this the outline. This Chinese temple would
become the arched top and curved sides and bottom outline of the Kenpo
Patch. Tercell designed the tiger and dragon to circle Ed Parker's
compass (double 10 line) with Chinese Characters for the Law of the Fist
and the Open Hand on one side and Kenpo karate on the other side of the
Compass. A large K at the bottom of the emblem fit in well, and Dick
gave it to Ed in unfinished form to see if he liked it. Ed loved it and
sent me one of the original drawings to see what I thought of it. I was
impressed, and Ed had the emblem made up immediately. No one noticed, as
Tercell would later point out to me, that the K was off center. When Ed
redesigned the emblem years later, he centered the K.
Tercell had made the design as a stylized
Chinese temple, but Parker would later claim that each of the curved
lines had a meaning which did not exist when it was drawn. Ed would also
claim that his brother, Frank, had designed the emblem. As will be seen,
supra, this was a complete fiction.
In less than a year Woo had turned
Parker's Kenpo Karate into a Chinese system with traditional Chinese
forms, Parker's (Woo's) forms, and its own Emblem. It had become its own
style, and Ed had gained his own system, one which was different, but
still very much like the systems of Chow and Mitose. It was,
nevertheless, uniquely his (and Woo's). But Ed was not about to share
his system with Woo, nor was he about to give Woo credit for anything he
had done. What he didn't know, is he was about to lose was all of his
black belts and most of his high ranking brown belts who were not
Mormons.
part 5
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