BODHIDHARMA	The man who was the catalyst for Kenpo was a prince and warrior from southern India named Bodhidharma. In 520 BC he entered China and traveled to the Shaolin temple in Hunan province. Bodhidharma's depression grew once he reached the temple because the monks were in such poor mental and physical condition. He meditated in a cave at the outskirts of the temple seeking a way for the monks to regain control of their lives. Upon his return Bodhidharma gathered the monks into the courtyard and began to teach them the art of Shih Pa Lo Han Sho (18 Hands of Lo Han). These techniques, which are the foundation for almost all martial arts, were never intended to be a method of fighting. Instead, they were a manner in which the monks could attain enlightenment while preserving their body's health.
SHAOLIN TEMPLE	Approximately forty years after the death of Bodhidharma, outlaws attacked the Shaolin monastery. During the invasion, the monk's attempts to defend their temple were unsuccessful. Fortunately, a monk known as the "begging monk", attacked several of the invaders with an array of aggressive hand and foot techniques. He killed several of the them and drove the rest away. The other monks were so inspired by the display that they requested tutelage in this martial style. This fighting art came to be known as Ch'uan Fa or Fist Method. The fighting arts of the Shaolin temple prospered and grew to over 400 arts over the next several centuries. A monk named Ch'ueh Taun Shang-jen rediscovered the original Shih Pa Lo Han Sho, which had been lost for many years. Ch'ueh integrated his art of Ch'uan Fa with that of Lo Han, increasing the total number of techniques from eighteen to seventy-two. For several years Ch'ueh traveled the countryside of China promoting his new art. In the province of Shensi, he encountered another Shaolin monk named Li, who was a master of Ch'uan Fa as well as other martial ways. Ch'ueh traveled and trained with Li for some time expanding the scope of Ch'uan Fa to total one hundred and seventy techniques. The two of them categorized their techniques into five distinctive groups, which were distinguished by various animals. Upon their return to the Shaolin temple they presented wu xing quan, the five animal form, to the other monks, and took the Shaolin temple to a new stage in martial arts evolution. As the Shaolin monks traveled to Buddhist temples throughout China, they took the art of Ch'uan Fa with them. Eventually, the art made its way to Okinawa and Japan, where it was referred to as Kenpo or Law of the Fist. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Yoshida clan took their knowledge of Kenpo from China to Japan. This art was modified over many years and came to be known as Kosho-ryu Kenpo (Old Pine Tree School of the Fist Law).
MITOSE	James Masayoshi Mitose was responsible for bringing Kenpo to the western world. He was born in Hawaii on Dec. 30, 1916 as the second child of Otokichi Mitose and Kiyoka Yoshida. As a child Mitose was sent to Japan to live with his mother's family and be schooled in the family's art, Kosho-ryu Kenpo. Eventually, he became the 21st Great Grand Master of Kosho-ryu. Mitose returned to Hawaii in 1937, formed the Official Self-Defense Club, and taught from 1942 to 1946. He left Hawaii in 1954 for the mainland United States where he would spend the remainder of his life. Mitose died on March 27, 1981 at the age of sixty-five.
CHOW	William Kwai Sun Chow was one of James Mitose's top students and a close friend. He left Mitose in 1949 and opened his own Kenpo school. It was William Chow who coined the term "Kenpo Karate" to distinguish his system from James Mitose's Kenpo Jiu-jitsu, although both styles were the same. William Chow then took the title "Professor" and renamed his system Go-Shinjitsu. Approximately twenty years later, William Chow renamed his system "Chinese Kempo of Kara-Ho Karate."
PARKER	Edmund Kealoha Parker was born in Hawaii on March 19, 1931. He began his martial arts studies with judo and earned his black belt at the age of fifteen. Ed Parker was introduced to William Chow and said shortly thereafter "kenpo would become my life's work." Parker studied with Chow intermittently while attending Brigham Young University (going back to Hawaii periodically) and serving in the coast guard (while stationed in Hawaii). He received his black belt from William Chow on June 5, 1953. Parker opened his first school in Provo, Utah in 1954. He moved to Pasadena, California in 1956 and taught the "original" Kenpo he had learned from Chow until 1960. In 1961, with help from Kung-fu master James (Jimmy) Wing Woo, Parker developed "traditional Chinese" Kenpo. Woo developed most of the forms and sets (which are still performed), with help from Parker's first black belt James Ibrao and Parker himself. Ed Parker removed most of the jiu-jitsu techniques from the "original" Kenpo and then took out most of the self-defense techniques as well. His new system, American Kenpo, had a total of 178 techniques, as opposed to the 600 or so in the original system.
AL TRACY	The Tracy brothers began their training in fencing, boxing, and wrestling. They started studying Kenpo under Ed Parker in 1957, while attending college as pre-law students. The Tracy's developed a close relationship with Parker, and were eventually put in charge of all beginner and intermediate classes. In the spring of 1962 the Tracy brothers opened their first studio in San Francisco. The named it Kenpo Karate Studio, and it became the northern branch of Ed Parker's organization. It was there that the Tracy brothers added three new kyu ranks and created the colored belt system. Ed Parker adopted the new eight-kyu system, but rejected the colored belts. He finally converted to the color system in 1966. The Tracy brothers also wrote belt manuals (which contained 40 techniques per belt at that time) and gave the techniques names like Attacking Circle, Raising the Staff, etc.
	The Tracy brothers opened a second school in Sacramento in 1962 and a third in San Jose in 1963. They later changed the name of their schools to Tracy's Kenpo Karate. By 1982 Ed Parker had modified American Kenpo so much so as to make it, in Parker's own words, "no more than 10% Kenpo." It was around this time that the Tracy's completely broke from Ed Parker. To this day, Tracy's Kenpo Karate teaches "Original/Traditional" Kenpo, which is one of the most effective systems of self-defense available.