CN: So the Kosho Ryu we see today in magazines is not the Kenpo Jujitsu you remember from Hawaii?
EMPERADO: Like I said I had never heard of Kosho Ryu Kenpo. Mitose called it Kenpo Jujitsu and some of the Japanese said that the traditional name should be Shorinji Kempo. The instructors who got the master certificates while visiting Mitose in prison were all from different systems, and I'm sure that he didn't teach them kenpo in prison. In fact Thomas Barro Mitose was a Kajukenbo black belt under my student, Joe Halbuna.
CN: Speaking of Thomas Mitose, are there other people that were originally Kajukenbo black belts?
EMPERADO: Many. The Shotokan stylist Ken Funakoshi was one of the black belts who came out of the Palama school, as was the actor Don Stroud. Funakoshi, who was a descendant of Gichin Funakoski felt that he should follow his heritage and train in Shotokan. I gave him my blessing. Paul Yamaguchi, who had come to me from Professor Chow, was the grandson of Gogen (the cat) Yamaguchi. He later chose to train in his grandfathers style of Goju Ryu. Again he had my blessings. You see I have never stopped my students from expanding their knowledge. That's why Kajukenbo has four branches, original or kenpo, chuan fa, won hop kuen do, and tum pai. The only thing I don't like is when instructors don't give credit to their roots, Kajukenbo. I don't care for instructors calling their schools "John Doe's kenpo karate" or "Kajukenbo John Doe's method". There is only one Kajukenbo.
CN: How well did you know Ed Parker?
EMPERADO: Before he started training with Professor Chow, Ed trained with me for about 2 weeks. While he was with me he took the first 8mm movies of the Palama settlement training. I knew him for many years. At times when I was in California he would have me as his guest of honor at the Long Beach Internationals. After Ed left Hawaii he became estranged from Professor Chow. It was Ed who brought kenpo to mainland America, made it popular, and made so many contributions to the art, so in the late 70s I promoted him to 8th degree black belt.
CN: We have all heard of the blood and guts training that went on in the old days. Were these stories true?
EMPERADO: When I taught a class I wanted to see blood on the floor before the workout was over, so there were a lot of injuries. You see, one has to experience pain before they can give it. You have to know what your technique can do. We lost a lot of students in those early days, but we also got a lot from other schools, including black belts. These students would look at what we were doing and realize that we had a no nonsense effective system.
CN: Who were some of these students?
EMPERADO: Woodrow McCandless was one of Mitose's black belts. Brother Abe Kamahoahoa, and Paul Yamaguchi were Chow's black belts. Marino Tiwanak was the flyweight boxing champion of Hawaii before he joined us. There were many.
CN: Who were some of the tournament stars of Kajukenbo?
EMPERADO: Al and Malia Dacascos won many tournament championships. Al Gene Caraulia won the 1st Karate World Championship in Chicago in 1963 when he was still a brown belt. Purple belt Victor Raposa knocked out world rated Everett "monster man" Eddy at the 1975 "World Series of Martial Arts". Carlos Bunda was the first lightweight champion at the Long Beach Internationals. Just to name a few.
CN: So Kajukenbo has really grown since the Palama Settlement days?
EMPERADO: Yes, there are Kajukenbo schools all over the world now.
