Kara-Ho Kenpo?

[Grasshoppah]

Hi GM Kuoha,

I have an uncle in Hawaii who is still alive and well and lives every moment practicing. He knew Prof. Chow very well and says he was the most terrific martial artist he ever seen. He told me about one time they had demonstrated at the Blaisdel arena and Prof. Chow had gotten stabbed in the leg and the knife went right through. Has Prof. Chow ever talked to you about this demo?

 

[gmkuoha]

Hello again Gm. Kuoho, hope all is well. Grandmaster, one of my hobbies is the history of our Hawaiian-derived Kenpo/Kempo arts and I have a question that keeps coming back to me that I have no answer for. My friend, Sigung John Bishop has shown a superb short video of the late Professor Chow and by all means, there is no doubt, in my mind anyway, of a serious Chinese martial arts flavor to the Professor's techniques. Now, this is by no means to start a flame war with Tracy's Kenpo at all, I have freinds in this system and have the utmost respect for them. However, on the Tracy website, the Tracys are pretty adament about Hoon Chow not knowing any Kung Fu and that the Professor stated he learned such techniques in dreams. Could you please lay this one to rest once and for all for us since, like stated above, looking at the Professor move, well, no doubt in my mind there's a kung fu influence there! Thank you. With Respect, Professor Joe Shuras

* Well, I didn't know Hoon Chow but got word from many conversations with Professor Chow that his learning came from his father and if he did in fact learn it in a dream, then it must have been a fantastic dream. Master Kuheana and Dr. Perry both say that indeed his father was a well trained kung fu stylists and I tend to believe them more. What's your opinion? That website also provides readers that there was a Mormon Kenpo taining and that Professor Chow, Ed Parker would not teach anyone in the beginning if they were not Mormons. I am a Latter Day Saint (Mormon) and proud to be one, but I can tell you from checking records in the church, Professor Chow was never nor did he ever join the church. In fact one of his relunctant views to train me again in the 70's was that because I was a Mormon and he did not like them. It was due to his dislike of Ed Parker and he felt that he deceived him and thought that all members of the church would do that for monetary gain. If this is true then he found out that I was very different. So back to your question, I have to believe what Professor Chow had told me and other students that met and trained with him from our school here that it was so, that he acquired his kung fu knowledge from his dad. And Professor was many things...but he was not a liar and spoke truer then anyone else I have ever met.
Grandmaster Kuoha

 

[gmkuoha]

Grandmaster Kuoha,

thank you very much for taking your time to answer our questions. I have 3 more questions and I hope you will answer them in your free time.

1- Because you had a close relationship with Chow and his wife, can you tell us more about Chow's background martial art after training with this incredible individual for many years.?

* He started his training at around 7-8 years old and it was learning from his father. As a teenager he had already started to put things together of what he had learned to make it more effective. His training and foundation came from his father, but his real knowledge came from the streets. Professor was one that never backed down from a fight even though he was a short man in statue. He became so powerful and read allot about many martial artists. He told me that when he was yound, he saw some photos of Mas Oyama's knuckles and swore that he would make his larger and much more powerful, and he did just that. I used to watch him hold lava rocks in one hand and punch it with the other and watch it shatter from that powerful blow. Imagine him hitting someone with that same blow, which he did and Dr. Perry can attest to his strength. Patsy was his comforter and was the sweetest person you would ever want to meet. It's appauling that after the death of Professor Chow she was placed in a retirement home where no one looked after her. It was then that we helped put her in a smaller home where they could spend more time with her. Every other week I paid one of my family members that lived out there to visit her and take her to the gravesite and store and buy her things that she wanted. We helped pay for her stay and she would tell me that no one ever came to see her, not even a few of Professor Chow's students that he had, even though they lived on the islands.
Did Chow learn Kung Fu from his father or he learned martial art from Mitose or anybody else.?

2- What makes Karaho so different from AK, kajukenbo, and other kenpo/kempo system.?

** They are all very good systems and many of my friends are leaders and instructors of these systems. I think if you had to put it all in one statement, I would say that the Chinese Kara-Ho Kempo Karate System is the original and only true system of Professor Chow.

3- As we know, the martial art system is changing. As a sucessor, a leader, and an inheritor of Karaho system, what is your response to people who say that you don't teach a *true* karaho system.?

** It's unfortunate but jealousey is what makes people say those things. If you don't have what someone has and you want it, the only easy way to make yourself look good in their minds is to harp on the other. I have had to live with that ever since Professor Chow passed away in 1987 and after I ended up on the cover of Inside Karate Magazine, there were many threats. To me it doesn't bother me, I have been in law enforcement for many years retiring, faced many dangers including fighting in a riot and came out smelling like a rose. I've had a father who was a champion lua man on the islands and is a full bloodied Hawaiian and a very massave man and have had to live with his abuse all my life. I too have had real life altercations and so it doesn't bother me. I have thousands of dedicated students in 20 various countries of the world and many of them are former Recon Snipers from the gulf war, one of which was the instructor for all the recons in the marine corps, beside many others and they all look out for me. Though in the beginning the editor of IK wrote that many were writing letters of derogotory statements, but none would make the challenge to my face. I am older now but allot more wiser and have allot to give to all those that want to learn and I am doing what I believe my journey on this earth is all about and what Professor Chow wanted me to accomplish. I don't have time to talk about others, because if I have nothing good to say about them I won't say anything. I know that what goes around, will eventually come around and I don't want any negativity coming back at me. I have a wonderful daughter that has made it her life to train and teach. She still remembers the words of Professor Chow when she was little and he said that someday she will be running his system. That is exactly what this is, "his" system. It is not mine like many refer it to, I am only the keeper of this great system.

My last question doesn't challenge your ability or credibility in your leadership and teaching karaho system in any way. I hope you understand that.

* Yes, I understand what you are asking so don't worry. I am not sensitive like many people that I know.

I read a few posts about this person teaching this and that person teaching that in the forum. Therefore, I and other would like to know your feeling about this particular sensitive question.

* And you got it!

thank you again.

Best of everything,
Grandmaster Kuoha
PS. I appreciate you referring me to my title rather then GM like some others do. That is the initials for General Motors and I certainly am not General Motors.

 

[gmkuoha]

Hi GM Kuoha,

I have an uncle in Hawaii who is still alive and well and lives every moment practicing. He knew Prof. Chow very well and says he was the most terrific martial artist he ever seen. He told me about one time they had demonstrated at the Blaisdel arena and Prof. Chow had gotten stabbed in the leg and the knife went right through. Has Prof. Chow ever talked to you about this demo?

* The thing about Professor Chow was that he was a very proud man so he wouldn't talk much about when he was injured but Dr. Perry did inform me of this dermo. What I heard was that he was busy watching the other opponents and they used real weapons in those days, and the student attacked him with the knife and stabbed him. The technique was completed though I have a hunch with a lot more power then it would have, and blood was pouring all over and someone suggested that he go to the hospital. Professor declined and said all he needed was a bandaid. Dr. Perry was called in his office the next day because the bleading would not stop and was going to stitch it but Professor refused so they had to do a butterfly and bandage it real good. I heard that Professor went home and poured Dai Jow on it that he made himself and the bleeding stopped. Someday I will tell you how Dr. Perry met Professor Chow, but right now I have very little time.

 

[John Bishop]

However, on the Tracy website, the Tracys are pretty adament about Hoon Chow not knowing any Kung Fu and that the Professor stated he learned such techniques in dreams.
Professor Joe Shuras

I need to clarify something about the premise being put forward now days that "Professor Chow learned kung fu from his grandfather, who appeared to him in a dream".
That premise is probably derived from a magazine interview I did with Sijo Adriano Emperado in 1992. We were discussing various names that Prof. Chow had used to describe his system over the years. Names like "Thunderbolt Karate", "Shaolin Kenpo", "Goshin Jutsu Kai Kenpo", and "Kara-ho Kenpo".
When asked what the origin of the name "Kara-ho" was. Sijo Emperado said that Prof. Chow told him that he had a dream, in which his grandfather was teaching him some kung fu techniques, and his grandfather had called them "Kara-ho". Now this was in no way meant to infer that Prof. Chow received his kung fu training in dreams. It was just what Prof. Chow told Sijo Emperado about the origin of the name "Kara-ho". I spent the last two saturdays with Sijo Emperado, and have known him personally for 14 years. And to this day he has the utmost respect and admiration for Prof. Chow. Sijo Emperado has been in the martial arts for over 65 years. He has trained in boxing,escrima,judo, kenpo, kung fu. To this day he only refers to one man as "my teacher", that man is Prof. Chow.
I know that there are other so called kenpo historians who say there is no evidence to prove that Hoon Chow knew kung fu. But there is also no evidence that proves that Hoon Chow didn't know kung fu.
Kung fu knowledge is pretty common amon'st the older generations of Chinese. Drive thru any Chinese community on a saturday morning, and you'll see old people doing tai chi and other forms of kung fu in the neighborhood parks.
I think the biggest proof that Prof. Chow knew kung fu is the fact that he could do it. Many of the old timers have seen him do it, and it's obvious that there are kung fu elements in his system. So, since no one has ever come forward to claim Prof. Chow as a student, it's very likely he learned it from a family member.
Just my humble opinion.

 

[Karazenpo]

Thank you, Grandmaster Kuoha and Sigung John Bishop. Yes, after viewing the video, as I stated in my post, there is no doubt in my mind of his Kung Fu training. I'm glad it is cleared up once and for all so when I am challenged on my view I can now back it up. I do admit, after initially reading the Tracy website several years ago, I thought there version to be true. However, I have since learned not to believe something just because it's posted on an official website. I also have discovered, in all due respect to the Tracys', that they are mistaken on Mitose's Yoshida lineage to Kosho also, at one time I had believed that. Hey, live and learn!, lol. Thanks again, Respectfully submitted, Professor Joe Shuras

 

[Thunderbolt]

Thank you, Grandmaster Kuoha and Sigung John Bishop. Yes, after viewing the video, .....

which video.??? please share with everybody here. thanks

 

[John Bishop]

which video.??? please share with everybody here. thanks

http://www.kajukenboinfo.com/professor_chow.html

 

[Jagdish]

Dear GrandMaster Kuoha:

Your replies are very much appreciated. :asian:

(I beg your pardon for the GM initials).

Yours in Martial Arts,

Jagdish

:uhyeah:

 

[gmkuoha]

Apologies accepted!
Grandmaster Kuoha

 

[Karazenpo]

I am always very respectful to all I post with so let me clear something up. I only addressed 'Grandmaster' Kuoha as 'Gm.' Kuoha because that is exactly what his 'handle' is on Martialtalk-gmkuoha. I'm sorry for any misunderstanding, although I have to admit, my winter vehicle out here is a GM..........C , lol, Take care & be safe, Respectfully, Professor Joe

Sigung Bishop: Thank you for clarifying the video.

 

[Grasshoppah]

Grandmaster Kuoha,

My Uncle's reply to that story was that Professor Chow was impossible to catch off guard, he had eyes everywhere. The man had eyes on the back of his head, and he was so fast. He said there was five of them and Professor Chow was taking them on all at once. He said Ed Parker was there. My Uncle calls him Ed Parker because my Uncle was there before him. He also knows the whole true story of the Ed Parker stuff. Here is a story from my father, he told me Professor Chow visited San Francisco at one time. He came to our house sent by my father's instructor. Professor Chow asked my father's instructor who he can trust so he sent him to my father. My father told me Professor Chow wanted him to go with him, I think it was a tournament. My father is still alive and well and he could repeat this time like it was yesterday, he told me he was assigned to escort Prof Chow along with Bill Chun Sr. He said they both had to walk in front of Prof. Chow because he didn't like anybody behind him, and when he went to the restroom they had to stand by the door and make sure no one entered until he came out.
Grandmaster Kuoha, my Uncle is in his late 70's and my father in his late 60's. The reason why your post interested me is because I grew up knowing that my father's teacher was Prof. Chow and I am very proud that we have that connection. What I learned from them was that they never used names.

 

[Karazenpo]

Grasshoppah stated: He said they both had to walk in front of Prof. Chow because he didn't like anybody behind him, and when he went to the restroom they had to stand by the door and make sure no one entered until he came out.

I say: I believe this because when we met up with Sijo Gascon and Professor Godin in 1994, that was the protocol, whenever they went to the restrooms, an assigned blackbelt had to go to watch their backs.

 

[gmkuoha]

It is true about Professor Chow, but he had limitations and he even told me that. That came from someone who had built a reputation for being invinciple all these years but knew he was not a perfect man. At one time in the earlier years, it was so that Professor put many a men in the hospital and some in the grave, and at times when I knew him in the 60's he felt he was stronger then God, however he became a Christian person and learned that this wasn't so. When ever I went with him I walked along side of him, generally on the outside or mainly on his left side as he was very proficient with his right and most of his moves tended to start that way so I was there to protect his so called weak side (if you would call it that). When he went into the rest room I went with him, and he would generally go into the locked stalls and I would stand outside his door. It is the same now with me traveling as my instructors do the same thing. He generally walked along side with me and Patsy, his wife walked slightly in back (very slightly). I remember one time when he was challenged by a very large Polynisian man outweighing both of us together. He yelled at Professor and said that he could kick his okole (rearend in Hawaiian). He approached and I stopped him and a verbal conflict occurred. Then Professor Chow told me in a loud voice that if this guy wanted to fight then I was to kill him and teach him a lesson. I acknowledged that and shoved the man using Ki. I felt that there was very little movement on my part but the man went flying about 8' back, fell over the walkway (sidewalk) and landed on his arm, breaking his left wrist and a couple of fingers. He started yelling so I bent over and helped him with his hand and popped his 2 fingers back into joint. Then I whispered to him that if he thought this should go any farther, I would be more then delighted to show him some real stuff. He got up, apologized and then apologized to Professor, even bowing to him and walked away from us acknoledging his defeat. Professor asked me what I had told him and so I related what I had said. He told me that in the old days, that guy would have been dead, as there was no room for talking. He said I guess this is the new generation. I reminded him that I lived in the old generation also and went through all those things and it only made me sick with nausea afterwards. Even when I was a cop here in San Diego and would get into physical confrontations and put people in the hospital. In one incident (my students have heard this story) I was working in the jail, after I was injured after going off of a cliff in my patrol car and was on so called light duty. I worked the daytime shift as nothing exciting happened at those times. There was an emergency call that went out that on one of the other floors a fight had ensued. Seconds later the radio advised me not to leave my floor as it was the maximum security floor. Another few seconds went by and the radio came back and advsied me to head up to the floor as the suspect was a martial artists and other deputies could not restrain him. He ran up the stairs and as I came out of the catwalk I saw a tall muscular prisoner on the far side kicking a deputy who was covering up. Another deputy was already on the floor along with a trustee. I ran towards him. jumped in the air and struck him with a tiger palm to the nose driving his nose towards his brain. Unfortunately his nose had been broken by someone else, so the bones went upwards and struck his eye. He bounced off of the wall and came back at me and that is when I knew he was high on something. I struck him about 6-7 times before he fell to the floor but as he did I had already embedded my claw into his neck using a snake strike. My thumb had already penetrated his neck and I had clamped it around his throat to rip his throat out. Three other deputies had ahold of my hand and was prying me loose. I carried the subject to 2 floors to the dispensary and he was rushed to the hospital. His damage was pretty severe, I was told as after carrying up those stairs my neck and back had suffered and I was also taken to a different hospital and placed in traction. I was there for several weeks, when I was contacted by the Internal affairs, district attorney investigators and told that I was right in doing what I did. He was high on PCP, which was called the superman drug in my days. Then days later I heard from the grand jury investigators and they said they were going to indict me on manslaughter charges. I had not heard about his death till then, but evidently he had major injuries including spleen rupture and kidney damage and 2 ribs were broken and had punctured his one side lung. He had wrote letters to the governor and his congressman and told them that he could not take all this abuse and that I was the cop that made it possible for him to suffer this way. He blamed his death (suicide) on me. So they wanted to make a lesson of officers in those days and I was the one that provided the contribution to his injuries, so they were charging me with involuntary manslaughter. That was one of the worse times in my life, not because I was being charged but because I felt after all that that maybe I was partly to blame for this man to take his own life. It took many years later for me to get over it and many trips to the therapists, and allot of long hours on my knees. I received answers and only then did I not feel guilty about all this. Charges on me were dropped and didn't even go to trial but his relatives were sueing the department and me, but nothing came off of that also. Even if I knew that some one deserved it, it made me feel sick that I had to result in that kind of play.

 

[DavidCC]

We often read about the responsibility that comes with martial arts training but rarely is it described in such absolute and dramatic terms. That is an amazing story that I will be sharing with my fellow students. Thanks again for your participation on this forum.
-David

 

[gmkuoha]

We often read about the responsibility that comes with martial arts training but rarely is it described in such absolute and dramatic terms. That is an amazing story that I will be sharing with my fellow students. Thanks again for your participation on this forum.
-David

You're welcomed and I am in the process of writing my book on the exploits as a law enforcement officer in San Diego and have already put together a transcript of over 12" thick. When it is published, please look for it and it will be called "Sidewalk Justice." Various exploits.
Regards,
Grandmaster Kuoha

 

[Thunderbolt]

Grandmaster Kuoha,

Are you still in a process of writing "thunderflash" and publish it on your website too.?

I read your thunderflash and it was interesting BUT it was in 2003. I thought you can have some thunderflash in 2005???

thanks

 

[The Prof]

Anyone who speaks Spanish wuld understand the word Kara-Ho. Shameful!

 

[gmkuoha]

Grandmaster Kuoha,

Are you still in a process of writing "thunderflash" and publish it on your website too.?

I read your thunderflash and it was interesting BUT it was in 2003. I thought you can have some thunderflash in 2005???

thanks

Yes, I will be doing that soon but we were victims of the Cedar Fire in the year 2003 and the rebuilding process have been very time consuming so I have been literally out of the loop for a long time and none of my instructor's felt that anyone but me should be writing the Thunderflash. My Midwestern schools put out a junior thunderflash that is on the web also.
Thanks,
Grandmaster Kuoha

 

[gmkuoha]

Anyone who speaks Spanish wuld understand the word Kara-Ho. Shameful!

Sorry but maybe you should look at other things before you pass judgement. Kara-Ho is not in Spanish. I understand Spanish and have a strong organization in throughout Mexico but they know it is not a Spanish interpretation, unlike you who thinks you know everything. If you research many meanings in this world, you could find different meanings for the same phrases or words, but yes, if you look for negativity, you will surely find it. We, though, like Professor Chow looked at the positive meanings. Nuff said.
Grandmaster Kuoha