Originally posted by Doc
Mitose was not messed over by a student. Long before he was arrested tried and convicted of that last murder, he had a long history and arrest record of criminal extortion and rape. He had been arrested for murder before but manage to be released because witnesses recanted. He was a con man, and according to Parker showed no significant skill in the martial arts what so ever. he even attempted to envolve Parker in a con scheme when he came to the mainand pretending as usual to be a priest.
And for the gullible who think Mitose was the "victim" of the hapless killer Terry Lee..
Mitose was convicted by a jury. obviously he didn't plead guilty, did he?- so his weak little ploy of suggesting that he was "ultimately" responsible as the teacher IS JUST IRRELEVANT. The jury didn't send him away because of this dumb attempt to gain sympathy from the them back-firing.
witness testimony from his victims, his criminal track record and his own admissions to pass criminality led him to the slammer. Our justice system isn't fail-proof but it works fairly well the majority of the time and worked just fine in this case.
the "assassin" Terry Lee was a clumsy killer that didn't show much martial art skill at that time- his good behavior in prison and clean living since doing his time, point to a naive and easily manipulated man led astray by a dangerous con artist.
as to Mitose's peaceful ways and 1500 year old system- here's an excerpt from an interview from some one who knew him personally. Adriano Emperado.
CN: Mitose was a controversial figure who spent the last years of his life in prison. Can you tell us something about the Mitose you knew in Hawaii?
EMPERADO: When Mitose taught Kenpo Jujitsu he always emphasized his religious philosophy. He dressed as a minister, carried rosary beads, and chanted like a Buddhist. He always stressed that you were never to use kenpo, even for self defense. His workout was that of traditional Japanese karate. We did makiwara training, some jujitsu takedowns and throws, and worked on developing the one punch kill. We also had one kata; the Naihanchi kata.
CN: What did Mitose call his art and who did he learn it from?
EMPERADO: Mitose called his art Kenpo Jujitsu. He told us that he had learned it from Choki Motobu. I never heard the term "Kosho Ryu Kenpo" until he went to prison and some other instructors visited him and got master certificates in Kosho Ryu. I also never heard from him the story about the Kosho family temple.
CN: So Mitose was a highly peaceful and spiritual man?
EMPERADO: Not really. You see in 1953 Professor Mitose paid a unannounced visit to my Palama Settlement school. He brought Dr. Arthur Keave and Masaichi Oshiro with him. He asked if they could demonstrate some techniques to my students. So I said ok, and Oshiro proceeded to demonstrate the Naihanchi kata. I then consented to demonstrate some of our Kajukenbo techniques. When all was done Mitose told me that me that I should call my system Kenpo Jujitsu since he considered it to be rooted in his system. I told him that I couldn't because there were 5 creators who contributed their arts to the system. He then became enraged and threatened to come back the next day with a samurai sword and kill me. Me and some of my students waited for his return, but he never showed. The next thing I heard he had gone to California. Years later I heard that he was in prison for having a student kill an old man.
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.
full interview at:
http://www.interactivesmack.com/kajukenbo/sijointerview.html
