The Terrible Beginnings of Ed Parker
There are many less than honorable stories in the martial arts. The one I heard about Kenpo Karate and Ed Parker is one of the worst I have ever heard, however. Perhaps, if anybody knows the truth or falsity of this tale, they could let me know.
Ed Parker is credited with being the founder of modern Kenpo, putting on the biggest tournament in the world for years, the Internationals, teaching movie stars, including Elvis, and all manner of other deeds. His prowess is quite well known, and his students are legion. Unfortunately, when he first began teaching, while he seemed to demonstrate a talent as a teacher, he was only a brown belt.
In those days he was actually teaching the Heian forms from Shotokan karate, this as illustrated by one of his earliest books. Running out of material to teach his students, he returned to Hawaii and was told to go take a hike, the founder of the system apparently had lost interest in him as a student. I’m not sure, exactly, what the fall out was, but it was perhaps that Ed was teaching without permission.
Ed then ran into a fellow named Jimmy Wu, who had mastered gung fu, but who couldn’t speak but a smidgeon of English. Ed took Jimmy home and put him up while Jimmy created the actual art of Kenpo. Ed suddenly had all sorts of stuff to teach his students.
During this time, Ed asked Jimmy to write a book with him on this new art, and Jimmy spent his days writing a book on Kenpo, teaching Ed and some of his students, all while still being lacking in the English language department. One day Jimmy saw a rough draft/translation of the book that Ed was planning on sending to an agent, and he was surprised to see that his name was not even mentioned in the book. This was surprising, because even though he was partners with Ed, Jimmy was doing all the work.
Why not my name on book, he is supposed to have asked. Ed said he would tell him all about it, but could they take a drive, Ed had an errand to run, and he would explain on the way. Ed drove Jimmy into Hollywood, but Ed didn’t say a word about the book the whole time. On Hollywood Boulevard Ed let Jimmy out of the car, and drove away.
Jimmy had one single quarter in his pocket, the clothes on his back, and nothing else. With that last quarter he called one of Ed’s students, who he had been teaching. In his broken English he explained what Ed had done, that he didn’t know where he was, or why it had all happened.
He had been writing and teaching, and creating a whole system for Ed Parker, and he had been betrayed. My question is, is there any truth in this story? If anybody has the straight skinny on it, I sure would like to know.
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Tagged with: American kenpo • Ed Parker • exercise • fitness • karate • karate kenpo • kempo • kenpo • kenpo instruction • kenpo lessons • kenpo techniques • kung fu • self defense
Filed under: karate
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A black belt does not mean someone can teach martial arts. I’ve seen some horrible teachers in the 36 years I’ve been training and believe me, the color belt that holds up their pants means nothing
Rick Kirkham
Sensei J. Richard Kirkham B.Sc.´s last blog ..Overcoming Fear in a Self-Defense Situation by Sensei J. Richard Kirkham B.Sc.