Bodhidarma traveled from India to China to teach Zen Buddhism. He is said to have brought the Martial Arts with him. He lived in the sixth century and traveled to China in the year of 520 AD. According to the legend, the Monks came to the Shaolin Temple in 522 AD. From Shaolin various styles spread across all of Asia. The Southern part of China however is more isolated and was not constantly invaded. It is a thickly populated sub­tropical area with heavy rainfall. The Fukien province is contained in Southern china. This is where the second Shaolin temple was located after government troops burned the first one for harboring dissidents and rebels. Throughout the history of china secret societies were formed to benefit busi­ness people, farmers, and religious or political groups. They functioned by protecting their members from being harmed by rivals. This was partly in response to banditry, which existed on a large scale. Groups of criminals controlled vast areas of land and even entire towns. Sometimes they even took over temples using them as their headquarters. Religious community members then had to protect themselves from such groups. Each group developed its own distinctive Martial Arts Style.

Kenpo’s basic translation is “THE WAY OF THE FIST”.

There are many different styles of Kenpo our Chinese heritage to the art is Shaolin Kenpo. By the mid 14th century, Okinawa had established relations with other Asian countries. Okinawans visiting China brought back Kenpo that was pro­nounced Kenpo, which Chinese Martial Arts Masters taught to the Okinawans. The Japanese invaded Okinawa in the 17th century and by the 19th century Okinawa was completely taken over by the Japanese and is now part of the Japanese Empire. Both China and Japan banned the ownership of weapons by Okinawans, which lead to the development of empty hand techniques. Okinawans also developed ways to convert farming tools into deadly weapons. Our Shaolin Kenpo lost most of its circular movements at this time and brought forth as a straightforward style with hard blocks, punching techniques, and powerful step through kicks, noted as “THE OLD PINE TREE” style, which has power coming from the ground with strong roots.

Near the start of World War II, James Mitose introduced the art of Kenpo, which is a mixture of Chinese and Okinawan Kenpo, to Hawaii. Later William Chow who was one of his students adopted Mitoses’s approach and Americanized the art. Ed Parker who is probably the most famous practi­tioner was a student of William Chow and further adopted the methods so that they would prove practical in actual combat. Parker brought the art to California from Hawaii and one of his first students Jay T. Will branched off and further developed his particular style of Kenpo.

Jack Searcy studied several Martial Arts, along with Greco Roman Wrestling, Grappling, and American boxing. Knowing these stringent conforming styles could be blended and structured into the non-conforming style of Kenpo he then introduced Searcy’s American Kenpo (S.A.K.) which was born in 1980. S.A.K has 9 KYU grades and 10 degrees of Black Belts. In July 2001 this powerful style received it’s World wide recognition by the prestigious Sokeship council during a formal gala in Biloxi, Miss. where Grand Master Jack Searcy-Ph.D./M.A. was formally introduced in the Universal Martial Arts Hall of Fame.

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