Parker's Training
Ed Parker's father enrolled his son in Judo classes at the age of twelve. Parker received his Shodan in Judo in 1949 at the age of eighteen. After receiving his brown belt in Kenpo, he moved to the mainland to attend Brigham Young University and began to teach the martial arts. Mr. Parker's kenposhodan diploma is dated 1953.
It was during this period that Parker was significantly influenced by the Japanese and Okinawan interpretations prevalent in Hawaii. Parker's Book Kenpo Karate, published in 1961, shows the many hard linear movements, albeit with modifications, that set his interpretations apart.
All of the influences up to that time were reflected in Parker's rigid, linear method of "Kenpo Karate," as it was called. Between writing and publishing, however, he began to be influenced by the Chinese arts, and included this information in his system. He settled in Southern California after leaving the Coast Guard and finishing his education at B.Y.U. Here he found himself surrounded by other martial artists from a wide variety of systems, many of whom were willing to discuss and share their arts with him. Parker made contact with people like Ark Wong, Haumea Lefiti, James (Jimmy) W. Woo (who developed many of the American Kenpo forms still used today), and Lau Bun. These martial artists were known for their skills in arts such as Splashing-Hands, San Soo, T'ai Chi, and Hung Gar, and this influence remains visible in both historical material (such as forms that Parker taught in his system) and current principles.
Exposed to new Chinese training concepts and history, he wrote a second book, Secrets of Chinese Karate published in 1963. Parker drew comparisons in this and other books between karate (a better known art in the United States at that time) and the Chinese methods he adopted and taught.
The 1991 martial arts film The Perfect Weapon, starring one of his students Jeff Speakman, Ed Parker helped with the fight choreography.
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