Adriano Directo Emperado (June 15, 1926 – April 4, 2009) was one of five martial artists who developed the

kajukenbo Kajukenbo (Japanese: カジュケンボ) is a hybrid martial art from Hawaii. It was developed in the late 1940s and founded in 1947 in the Palama Settlement of Palama, Hawaii. The name Kajukenbo is a combination of the various arts from which ...

self-defense system.

Childhood and young adulthood

Emperado had a difficult childhood living in Honolulu. He was born to

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

an parents in the poverty stricken Palama/Kalihi section of

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

. Like many poor areas, the Palama/Kalihi district settlement was a violent place to live. Confrontations and fights were a daily occurrence. Because of this Emperado started his self-defense training at the age of eight. His father and uncle were professional boxers and at the age of 11 he learned the 12 basic strikes of

escrima Arnis, also known as Kali or Eskrima/Escrima, is the national martial art of the Philippines. The three are roughly interchangeable umbrella terms for the traditional martial arts of the Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, ...

. Then at the age of 14, he came back to his old familiar neighborhood in Palama. There he trained in Judo under Sensei Taneo at the Palama Settlement gym. Then at the age of 20, Emperado undertook serious study of Kenpo at the Catholic youth organization in Honolulu. These classes were taught by William K.S. Chow. Emperado trained daily with Chow and soon attained his first black belt. He would later be promoted to fifth-degree black belt by Chow.

Later life

In 1947, Adriano Emperado ( Kosho Shorei-ryu Kenpo and

Escrima Arnis, also known as Kali or Eskrima/Escrima, is the national martial art of the Philippines. The three are roughly interchangeable umbrella terms for the traditional martial arts of the Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, ...

), Peter Young Yil Choo (

Tang Soo Do Tang Soo Do (Hangul: 당수도, Hanja: 唐手道 ) refers to a Korean martial art based on Karate and may include fighting principles from subak (as described in the Kwon Bup Chong Do), as well as northern Chinese martial arts. Before the Ni ...

Shotokan Karate is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) and his son Gigo (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (1906–1945). Gichin Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing "karate do" throug ...

and

Boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

), Joseph Holck ( Sekeino-ryu Judo), Frank F. Ordonez ( Danzan-ryu Jujutsu), and George "Clarence" Chuen Yoke Chang ( Chu'an Fa Kung-Fu), came together and called themselves the Black Belt Society. They began training together and exploring the weaknesses and developing the strengths of each martial art to create a fighting style that did not suit the ancient warrior but the American citizen to help him or her in their fight against the common criminal.

Schools

After the other four founders were drafted off into the Korean War, they left Emperado to start the first Kajukenbo school at the Palama Settlement Gym in 1950. Many of the students who trained there were poor, so at the Palama school students could train for $2.00 a month. The workouts that took place there are legendary for their brutality. Kajukenbo train strong to remain strong. In order to be invincible on the streets they had reasonable, but very serious, full contact training. Emperado died on April 4, 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Emperado, Adriano Directo 1926 births American martial artists of Filipino descent American kajukenbo practitioners American male karateka Sportspeople from Honolulu Filipino martial artists American eskrimadors American Kenpo practitioners 2009 deaths Martial arts school founders 20th-century philanthropists