America's First Mixed Martial Artist...

Underground
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 Curious tid-bits on some of "Henry" Okazaki and "Rubberman" Higami's students...





Harold "Odd Job" Sakata

(Born July 1, 1920) Sakata became better known for his role as "Odd Job" in the James Bond movie Goldfinger. He also gained notoriety as a professional wrestler under the name "Tosh Togo".





Sakata was a silver medalist in the light-heavyweight division of weigthlifting at the 1948 Olympics. He was one of four weightlifters from Hawaii that qualified for the U.S. Olympic team that year.

Sakata died on July 29, 1982.



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Charles Kalani

aka, "Prof.Toru Tanaka", Actor, Wrestling Champion and Danzan-Ryu Black Belt. Charles Kalani was born in Honolulu on Jan. 6, 1930. His father Charles J. Kalani was Hawaiian and his mother, Christina Leong Kalani was part Chinese.





Charlie Kalani at age 9 in Honolulu. "He was a street kid getting into trouble and would have ended up in reform school if Father Bray hadn't helped him out by bringing him to Iolani. He felt Iolani saved him."





Charlie Kalani in 1949

Sol Naumu, of Pearl City, attended Compton College and recalls playing against his former Iolani teammate and good friend. "He was a happy Hawaiian from Waimanalo", he added. "He was very kind and compassionate but if you got him mad, watch out."





Charlie Kalani in 1951

He attended Iolani High School and excelled in sports. In 1948, after receiving a Football scholarship, Kalani left Hawaii and entered Weber Junior College (now Weber State University) in Ogden, UT.





Charlie Kalani in 1953

in Utah as a heavyweight boxing contender. Kalani was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1955 and served until 1966. While in Germany, Kalani served along with John Chow-Hoon, also from Prof. Okazaki's dojo. He was Chow-Hoon's Jujutsu teaching partner.





Charlie Kalani in 1977

After his Army service, Kalani entered professional wrestling in 1967 and took the stage name, "Professor Toru Tanaka". During his wrestling career, he brought a lot of martial art experience to the ring.

He once, single-handedly, foiled a skyjacking attempt.





Charlie Kalani in 1994

(with Tony Janovich at the 1994 Kajukenbo Ohana) Contrary to his real-life personality, Kalani always portrayed a villain. "It was hard not to be bitter when he got into wrestling and show business because he had to change his personality. He was just a soft-hearted Island boy at heart." Doris Kalani, his wife, said.



Kalani appeared in more than 20 films. Most notably; Perfect Weapon, Running Man, Last Action Hero, and Missing in Action...and t.v. series such as; Airwolf,
The A-Team; and;The Fall Guy.







Charlie Kalani at home in 1997

Naumu, who last visited with his friend in 1998, described Kalani as "an easygoing guy, always kidding people."

Charlie Kalani died of a heart attack on Aug. 22, 2000 in Lake Forest, CA










22

RyannVonDoom - 
Is that the guy from the first 3 Ninjas movie?

 

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Wow, I'm a Black Belt in Danzan Ryu and didn't know some of that history. Interesting.

Sadly, IMO, the "glory" that was Okazaki & DZR as it existed back then is all but dead.

Danzan Ryu, though popular, is an empty shell practiced almost exclusively by people who don't have a clue as to how to apply it in real life situations. There are Professors now who have almost no experience ever grappling or doing Randori.

Danzan Ryu has become a museum piece, rather than a vital living art.

The “practical” side of the art started to die when most of DZR went the Kata route and stopped competing in Judo tournaments.

People like to brag that Okazaki’s students “did it all” back then: they entered Judo, Sumo even Kendo tournaments. Well, that has all changed --big time.

DZR generally students don’t compete in ANY combat sports anymore. In fact, it is a terrible base art to get into any combat sport, especially MMA, the way it is practiced now (kata focused).

Okazaki would be ashamed to see what his art has become.

If you want throws, do Judo. If you want ground, do BJJ. If you want jiujitsu Kata, do Danzan Ryu.

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[quote]shen - Wow, I'm a Black Belt in Danzan Ryu and didn't know some of that history. Interesting.

Sadly, IMO, the "glory" that was Okazaki & DZR as it existed back then is all but dead.

Danzan Ryu, though popular, is an empty shell practiced almost exclusively by people who don't have a clue as to how to apply it in real life situations. There are Professors now who have almost no experience ever grappling or doing Randori.

Danzan Ryu has become a museum piece, rather than a vital living art.

The “practical” side of the art started to die when most of DZR went the Kata route and stopped competing in Judo tournaments.

People like to brag that Okazaki’s students “did it all” back then: they entered Judo, Sumo even Kendo tournaments. Well, that has all changed --big time.

DZR generally students don’t compete in ANY combat sports anymore. In fact, it is a terrible base art to get into any combat sport, especially MMA, the way it is practiced now (kata focused).

Okazaki would be ashamed to see what his art has become.

If you want throws, do Judo. If you want ground, do BJJ. If you want jiujitsu Kata, do Danzan Ryu.[/quote]



 Interesting that you say that. Because that's what happened to most all "traditional" martial arts.



Our local Shotokan dojo is absolutely clueless to any forms of Jujitsu. And they were shocked when i told them Gichin Funakoshi was well versed in Jujitsu.



Hawaiian Kenpo-Jujitsu/KaJuKenBo, was originally developed with thousands of techniques from Japanese Kempo, Chinese Kenpo (or, "Kung Fu"), and Hawaii's own style of Judo/Jujitsu (DanZan Ryu).



Kajukenbo could really be recognized as the first, TRULY American Martial Art.



Unfortunately, the thousands of techniques are very hard to learn...much less to master. So todays dojos usually teach a watered-down version...lacking in any Jujitsu techniques.



Mostly they just wanna make a buck...and the best way to do that is to grow and expand. But to that you need more instructors. In comes the money, out goes the black belts!

It's become a racket.



When Edmund "Kealoha" Parker came to the mainland he was only a brown belt. He hadn't come close to mastering the art of Kenpo-Jujitsu.

But what he did have, he used to take advantage of the naive and ignorant.



Most Americans had no clue that what they were learning was a watered-down form of a once mighty martial art.

 And so, many dojos opened all across the land...and on into Latin America and Europe.



Their uneducated "Masters" were fooling them into thinking that 'THEIR WAY' was the only way.

Stick to whats traditional and "master it"!



But what they weren't telling them was, that the truth is they were just very limited in their actual knowledge of the art, and thus, were not able to teach them anything more.



So masses of people were fooled into thinking that they actually had been taught a genuine, true, Asian Martial Art.



But it only takes a little research to find out that all the old masters always...ALWAYS...cross-trained. They went tirelessly seeking to learn new and better techniques. They constantly tried to better themselves and make themselves more knowledgeable...and stay up to date on what was being taught.



This was very true also of the old masters in Hawaii.



How can anyone be so blind!???



Hawaiian Kenpo-Jujitsu/KaJuKenBo were developed by years of research and study of different martial arts. Dozens of combinations of styles and formulas.

 The very name of the art, Ka-Ju-Ken-Bo, was taken from the various styles it is made from. "KA" for Karate. "JU" for Judo and Jujitsu. "KEN" for Kenpo. And "BO" for Chinese Boxing/Kung Fu.



The Martial Arts masters of Hawaii studied every practical style they could find.

I know, because I've studied with some of them.



Old School Hawaiian martial artists laugh at traditionalists. They knew the secret lies in always learning. Always improving.



What a shame that Ed Newalu and Harris Sarmiento had to leave the KoDenKan to find out how to really fight.



You're right...Henry Seishiro would turn over in his grave if he saw what has happened to his school today.



The same thing happened to Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do. How funny it is every time i meet someone trained in JKD, and i ask them, so what style are you trained in? When they answer, "JKD...THE WAY BRUCE LEE INTENDED IT TO BE TAUGHT!", i just see in front of me someone who hasn't a clue.



Thank God for MMA!

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 ttt for later

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 Awesome thread. Interesting stuff.

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interesting read...

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mahalo

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Kajukenbo is truly America's (Hawaii's), first Martial Art.

It's also one of the most effective.

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Awesome.

Thanks for posting this.

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 ttt

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Pretty awesome. People might recognize Al Dacascos' son Mark from martial arts movies (Only the Stong being one) as well as being the chairman on the new Iron Chef.

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This is a beautiful, BEAUTIFUL thread.

kazja13 - 


Damn, WTF?! Is this what Kajukenbo has degraded to?

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Looks like kenpo.

I used to read article son the kajukenbo stuff back in the day, senn guys working it but it still lacks realism.

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I've never seen that photo of Kimura. That dude was built like a brick shit-house.

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FWIW, there are documents of the early Colonists having "Rough and Tumble" matches. Basically vale tudo matches where fights kept going when they hit the ground. I am sure these guys were America's first "MMAers".

Cool thread regardless.

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 Good thread.
 

Train Judo.

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TTT

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ReneH - Looks like kenpo.

I used to read article son the kajukenbo stuff back in the day, senn guys working it but it still lacks realism.




No. The problem is the same thing that happened to DanZanRyu Jujitsu...they fail to adapt and expand as a real Martial Art.

KaJuKenBo was developed to keep alive all the various aspects of Hawaiian Kenpo-Jujitsu.
But like most other arts, it got watered-down and taught by people who did not learn the different styles incorporated into it....mainly - Jujitsu.

If one were truly a "master" of KaJuKenBo, then one would also be well-versed in Judo, Jujitsu, Kenpo, Boxing, Wrestling, Karate, Gung Fu and hand-to-hand Weapons...if not, at least, black belt level in all.

The philosophy of Hawaiian Kenpo-Jujitsu is really no different than that of Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do. It is not limited by a style or styles. But continues to learn, to absorb, to expand, to adapt.
Therefore, it is, in essence, Mixed Martial Arts.

Though few teach it as such.
John Hackleman being the most well-known that do.