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You prefer to be known as an ambassador of Kenpo rather than the keeper of your father’s flame. Why is that?
I have a set of philosophies that have been instilled in me by my father, and I have a degree of rebellion, because all kids have a rebellion towards their parents. I don’t rebel against my dad in a negative way, but rather in the fact that I like to choose to entertain other things than he did. There is no one person who is the keeper of the flame. My father’s spirit lies in the hearts of those people who are trying to make a difference to the people whose lives they touch.
How does your belief system differ from that of your father?
In his day, he had a philosophy that said it is better to be tried by 12 than carried by six. That’s great — 50 years ago. If you keep that philosophy today, trust me, the fantasy always in martial arts goes, ‘If you try to hurt me, I’ll annihilate you and I’ll walk away and go back to my family’. If you do so, in the wrong way, you go to jail. And when you’re rotting in jail, you start rethinking your philosophy by saying, ‘Maybe I should’ve thought about plan B’.
The fantasy always stops when you win the fight, right?
Yes, but it doesn’t continue to say the cause and effect of the actions you created put you in an uncomfortable position; where for the rest of your life, you’re regretting not adding [those] dimensions to the fantasy of what you do with the fight.
Do you think we are taught things out of context?
In Kenpo, you’re taught that you’re being attacked and therefore you respond. My father’s journey in Kenpo was this: he took the confrontation and went microscopic with it. I go in the opposite [direction] and take the confrontation and go macro. I say, ‘Who are you as a human being that puts you in 10 fights a year? Why are you attracting these negative elements into your life? And, does every single confrontation in your life justify doing ‘leap of death’ on the person?’
Now, think about the humour in the [Kenpo] technique ‘leap of death’. Let’s not talk about the fantasy, because people do leap of death in a way that’s like, ‘Damn, I look good the way I do this! So please, throw a punch at me and then wait for me to quit dancing on your back’. Nothing happened! The reality of it is, barely anything happened, [but] the guy gets a broken back, broken nose, broken neck — and then you proceed to do 15 extensions on their dead carcass! That’s wonderful, but do [his actions] justify that?
What then is your response when people say, ‘Well, that’s not Kenpo’?
This is where I will battle you big time and I ask people, ‘Well then, what makes Kenpo, Kenpo?’ Is it the fist? Is it the kick? Is it the sequence of punches and kicks? Is it the techniques? If you cease to do the techniques, do you cease to be a Kenpoist? Is it the choreography or is it the principles, concepts and theories? Most people will agree that it’s the principles, concepts and theories that define Kenpo. However, if a person varies ‘five swords’, I guarantee you, most will say they’re not doing Kenpo. That is the most arrogant statement you could ever make in Kenpo — to tell someone what Kenpo isn’t. Because to know what Kenpo isn’t, is saying that you know everything that Kenpo is.
Did you ever ask you father what his personal definition of Kenpo was?
Yes, when I asked him, ‘What is Kenpo, Dad?’ his reply was, ‘I wish I’d never called it Kenpo. I wished I’d called it logical, practical thinking, because the things I’ve come up with apply to anybody’s art, because the foundation is principles, concepts and theories — that’s what Kenpo is.’ It’s a thought process — all action is preceded by thought.
Do you think many Kenpoists get caught up in the pattern or sequence of moves rather than the motion and lessons contained therein?
You know, I’ve taught seminars all over the world and I’ve asked probably a thousand students to show me a right, horizontal thrust-punch. Then I ask them to show an opposite of a right, horizontal thrust-punch. Most execute a left, horizontal thrust-punch. It’s amazing that 99 per cent of the time, students only play off one of the words spoken — and most of the time it is the senior ranks. Occasionally, someone breaks the pattern and every single time it’s a White or Yellow-belt. When they execute a left, front, ball snap-kick, I go, ‘Yes — they get it’. If you want to be like Ed Parker, you’ve got to learn to think like Ed Parker.
You learned a lot from your father about the philosophy behind the actions, not just the physical aspects of the art. What’s the significance of that?
My father taught me how to think. For example, what is the opposite of what we currently do in Kenpo? What do we call Kenpo, the way we do techniques? Most will say things like ‘maximum destruction’. This is in case our lives are threatened, we bust out the good stuff, right? What happens when drunk uncle Bob tries to kiss us and all we know is ‘leap of death’?
You’re talking about other alternatives then?
I give this analogy because often when I start talking about passive alternatives, the reaction is ‘Oh, hell no; no way, it’s my life or their life’. Yeah, okay Rambo, calm down. Not everything in life is a cut-and-dried, life-or-death situation. There are times when I have to use the ‘drunk uncle Bob’ scenario so people understand why you don’t always have to do ‘leap of death’ or ‘five swords’ or whatever.
In your reservoir of knowledge, what happens when you do a technique in the street in auto-mode, and the guy is left in a bloody pulp?
Most guys wouldn’t know how to explore that…
That’s right. I’ve done that, though, and I’ve had the situation where I’ve gone, ‘I should have chosen plan B’ — a case where I was way more skilled and I had to prove that. How? By leaving something ugly in my memory bank for the rest of my life, simply because I didn’t choose plan B. This plan B comes from understanding the concepts of opposite and reverse.
So you’ve chosen to explore passive rather than aggressive alternatives?
Yes. I would much rather have someone feel stupid for their actions than angry at my reactions. However, I’ve also looked at the opposite of choreography, which is spontaneous, from a thought process.
That’s quite different from the way many Kenpo people move.
You know, the thing that makes me laugh most is that when I saw my dad teach, his students were so different to the way he taught. I have video of this. He’d swing his arm like it was a dead chunk of meat — POP! — he was so loose, yet his students were so stiff and hard. The illusion is that there is strength in tension. My father understood tension and how to be like water, to be fluid. You can annihilate people with softness.
So really, it’s not a good business plan to only offer one choice?
Absolutely. In a confrontational situation, not everything has to be blood, guts and death. Sometimes it’s nice to have a passive alternative and it doesn’t mean that at any given point you can’t switch.
Do you think, then, it’s the concept of self-defence that needs to be modified and not the art of Kenpo?
There are only two ways I think about art. I refuse to use the words right or wrong in Kenpo. My suggestion to all Kenpoists is to take those two ugly words out of your training vocabulary. Instead use ‘effective’ or ‘ineffective’. Once you become effective, your journey in Kenpo becomes efficiency. We spend too much time analysing why it’s wrong, versus exploring all the ways we can make it right. If I tell you you’re ineffective, you’ll automatically think, ‘Well, I better find a way to become effective’. This is what I am into and this is why I’m looking forward to my first trip to Australia and walking on the same ground as my father did all those years ago.
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