Ed Parker's American Kenpo
Edmund K. Parker founded his first Kenpo studio in the U.S. in the early 1950’s. A student of several martial disciplines Ed Parker fell in love with Kenpo whilst studying in Hawaii under William Chow. Here he was exposed to a Japanese interpretation of the Chinese art. Soon after Ed had moved to Los Angeles however he began to make Kenpo his own.
The martial arts at this time were gaining tremendous popularity. Indeed Ed added the moniker Karate in the marketing of his art but Kenpo was in fact set to change things. Parker immersed himself in all the fighting styles he could find and surrounded himself with a circle of like-minded associates with but one aim in mind – to develop Kenpo into the most relevant and effective fighting art the world had yet seen.
In Los Angeles he worked with the police department researching violence and crimes against the person. His major innovation at this time was to use proper academic standards to quantify his results and his conclusions. Hearsay and tradition went by the by as Ed began to merge both a common sense approach to self-defence and a systematic and methodological approach to the structure of a full-blood martial art.
Senior Grand Master Ed Parker also did a great deal in his lifetime for the arts in general. He founded ‘The Internationals’ in California. Held once a year this was a gathering where notables like Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris would gain notoriety. In 1960 Ed founded the International Kenpo Karate Association and in 1963 one of Mr. Parker’s apprentices, John Mc Sweeney came to Ireland to study in Trinity College and his students in turn were to become Europe’s first Kenpo blackbelts.
Over the years this new system was tested by Ed Parker’s students and friends both in peacetime and in war. There were several variations imposed by Mr. Parker during his lifetime and numerous schools which branched off into different lines of research with his blessing. Edmund K. Parker died in Honolulu in 1990. He has left behind him Kenpo - a powerful and explosive art matured to serve the fighter of today.
With typical self-deprecating wit Ed Parker wrote the following in one of his Infinite Insights books regarding the future of the art:
“When I am gone, I hope that people won't try to traditionalise my Art. I want you to always remember that Kenpo will always be the Art of Perpetual Change. If you remember this, then the Art will never become obsolete because it will change with the times. While the ignorant refuse to study and the intelligent never stop, we should always be mindful of the fact that our reward in life is proportionate with the contributions we make. A true Martial Artist is not one who fears change, but one who causes it to happen. To live is to change, and to obtain perfection is to have changed often."
