Kenpo History

The History of American Kenpo

Honoring the Past – Leading the Future

Mr. Parker began his martial arts under the instruction of Professor William K.S. Chow in his native land of Hawaii. Through exchanges and interactions with other martial artists Mr. Parker was able to experiment and formulate his ideas that would later become “American Kenpo”.

Mr. Parker was the President and founder of the International Kenpo Karate Association (I.K.K.A.). He was also the creator of the now famous International Karate Championships (IKC’s) where Bruce Lee made his historic first public appearance. Mr. Parker was also considered the “Father of American Karate” as he opened the first commercial karate studio in the U.S. in Pasadena California in 1956.

The original developer of the art of American Kenpo Karate, Mr. Parker was a very talented, gifted and skilled with an unbelievable mind to develop what became American Kenpo. Through 40 years of experience, he built his system on principles of motion that included “Opposite and Reverse Motion”, “Tailoring”, “Focus” and the use of Logic. He developed many tools to aid his teaching with the creation of the “Universal Pattern”, the “Equation Formula”, training manuals, books and video tapes.