# Who Made Form Four?



## kenpofighter (May 18, 2008)

I was curious if anyone knew who was the one who actually came up with form four.  Was it just Ed Parker or was it Ed Parker and some other guys?


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## Doc (May 21, 2008)

kenpofighter said:


> I was curious if anyone knew who was the one who actually came up with form four.  Was it just Ed Parker or was it Ed Parker and some other guys?



Mr. Parker would assign projects to people, pick and choose the ideas he liked and in most cases put the final polish on an idea. If you're looking for names, forget it. There is only one - Edmund K. Parker. Mr. Parker didn't sit in a dark room and come up with all of that stuff by himself. He had help. Some good, some bad. Several "ancients" contributed to various elements of all of his commercial system.


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## tai scorpio (May 21, 2008)

Doc said:


> Mr. Parker would assign projects to people, pick and choose the ideas he liked and in most cases put the final polish on an idea. If you're looking for names, forget it. There is only one - Edmund K. Parker. Mr. Parker didn't sit in a dark room and come up with all of that stuff by himself. He had help. Some good, some bad. Several "ancients" contributed to various elements of all of his commercial system.


      hi there my name is bernard (scorpio) strickland and i live and teach in birmingham,alabama. i teach the art of (american tai-kenpo)  it,s a mixture od (ed parker american kenpo) and (david german tai-karate or tai-kenpo) a couple years ago when g.m. german was alive he had told me that made up form 4. i hope that help you.    sincerly  bernard (scorpio) strickland  (assoc.prof.) 5 degree black belt


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## Doc (May 21, 2008)

tai scorpio said:


> hi there my name is bernard (scorpio) strickland and i live and teach in birmingham,alabama. i teach the art of (american tai-kenpo)  it,s a mixture od (ed parker american kenpo) and (david german tai-karate or tai-kenpo) a couple years ago when g.m. german was alive he had told me that made up form 4. i hope that help you.    sincerly  bernard (scorpio) strickland  (assoc.prof.) 5 degree black belt



I've heard that story before. As I recall, Dave had left Mr. Parker long before Form Four was created.


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## kenpofighter (May 21, 2008)

*interesting!*


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## Twin Fist (May 22, 2008)

No offense Doc,
BUT

Either Senior Grand Master Parker created it alone, someone else created it alone, or someone worked WITH SGM Parker to create it.

Why clog it up with excess verbiage, which like excess motion serves no purpose? No possible answer takes anything away from either the form or from SGM parker's memory, so if you know who contributed to it, just name them. 





Doc said:


> Mr. Parker would assign projects to people, pick and choose the ideas he liked and in most cases put the final polish on an idea. If you're looking for names, forget it. There is only one - Edmund K. Parker. Mr. Parker didn't sit in a dark room and come up with all of that stuff by himself. He had help. Some good, some bad. Several "ancients" contributed to various elements of all of his commercial system.


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## Doc (May 23, 2008)

Twin Fist said:


> No offense Doc,
> BUT
> 
> Either Senior Grand Master Parker created it alone, someone else created it alone, or someone worked WITH SGM Parker to create it.
> ...



Perhaps you misunderstood my post.


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## SL4Drew (May 23, 2008)

Twin Fist said:


> No offense Doc,
> BUT
> 
> Either Senior Grand Master Parker created it alone, someone else created it alone, or someone worked WITH SGM Parker to create it.
> ...


 
Perhaps another way to think of it is like an employee working for a corporation. If McDonald's, Mattel, or Lucusarts assigns you a project and you do it, then we don't really think of the result as "coming from" a single employee. Even after the idea was formed by someone, it was most likely received input from various other people and/or departments until the finished product was placed into commerce. From its inception to completion, countless people usually have input. So, the originator of the idea may have been someone other than the person that brought it into reality. That idea may often change significantly from beginning to end. And consider that Mr. Parker modified and changed changed things over time based on his own preferences and field testing. So, even after the release of information, it didn't stay static. So, how many people then should credit? It could frankly be absurd. (It was Mr. X's idea to put the obscure elbow in Sword and Hammer, but Mr. Y came up with the name, oh and Ms. A wrote it down the first time, which was then edited by Mr. Z.)

In any event, like most commercial items, it is commonly understood that the item "came from" the larger entity, which here would be Ed Parker's Kenpo Karate or the IKKA. And since Ed Parker was the guy at the top, he would generally get the primary attribution by the public. Plus, if you approached this a pure intellectual property question, I am rather certain you would end up with Ed Parker and/or his corporations as the rights holders.

Besides, other than the ego of those that lay claim to who created what when, who cares about an ultimately insignificant detail? The importance of the form is in its merits, not its history.


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## SL4Drew (May 23, 2008)

Doc said:


> Mr. Parker didn't sit in a dark room and come up with all of that stuff by himself.


 
Yeah, I only know one person that does that.


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## IWishToLearn (May 23, 2008)

SL4Drew said:


> Yeah, I only know one person that does that.


*Cues up the Bat-theme*


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## Doc (May 30, 2008)

IWishToLearn said:


> *Cues up the Bat-theme*



Are you making some thinly veiled reference and spin on "The Dark Knight?"


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## IWishToLearn (Jun 13, 2008)

Doc said:


> Are you making some thinly veiled reference and spin on "The Dark Knight?"


Just wishing I had the financial and time resources to be visiting the Batcave. That's all.


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## Doc (Jun 13, 2008)

IWishToLearn said:


> Just wishing I had the financial and time resources to be visiting the Batcave. That's all.



Nice "clean up." You should have been a custodian.  Whenever you're ready, although I'd say right now, your hands either are, (or should be), pretty full.


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