What do James Mitose, William Chow, the founder of Kara-Ho karate, Adriano Emperado, the founder of Kajukenbo karate, AlGene Caraulia, the founder of Kajukenpo karate, Ed Parker, the founder of American Kenpo, Wally Jay the founder of Small Circle Jujitsu, and karate champion's Mike Stone, Al Dacascos, all have in common?
    Answer: they are all Hawaiian

    Since day one, Hawaiians have practiced a fighting system that they brought with them when they migrated to the Hawaiian islands.  The most common name for this system is lua.
    Lua means "dislocation of joints."  The Hawaiians describe a lua man much like a fisherman.  He must get a net, know when to throw it, when to bring it in, and how to finish off the fish.
    A lua man will fight offense or defense.  He will kick, punch, evade, do anything to bring his attacker into range.  Once in range the attacker is caught and put into any number of joint locks.  In  a life and death situation, his body can be destroyed limb by limb.
    There were 12 original schools of lua in Hawaii.  Each school specialized in attacking a part of the anatomy.  For example, the 3rd school had a thorough knowledge of the nerves, bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments of the palm and fingers.
    Lua was primarily used for warfare, so these schools also specialized in various methods of armed warfare.  When the Hawaiians formed armies they divided their divisions into 10, 20 or 40 men.  Each 10-man group within a division was represented by specialists in a certain way of fighting.
    The first group would be the maka ("eyes") group.  They specialized in the eye, and also weapons.  They would attack first to take away the eyes of the enemy, thereby throwing them into confusion.  They also used a very long spear, 9-18 feet long.  If the enemy could parry the spear when thrown at them, it would do them no good since the "mana" was in the back of the spear.  Mana is the same as what most martial artists refer to as ki or chi ("internal energy").  IF an enemy was fast enough to parry the front of the spear the back end would come around and knock him down due to it's length.
    The second group of warriors would come in ready to grapple.  To prepare themselves for this they would cover their bodies with pig grease so that the enemy could not get a firm hold on them.  Because European enemies were armed with muskets and other types of weapons, the Hawaiians learned how to make armor out of layers of pigskin and palm leaves.  This armor was strong enough to stop the early musket balls.
    The first Asians to arrive in Hawaii were the Chinese.  Although the Chinese brought several styles of kung-fu with them, at first they were highly secretive about teaching them.  The first kung-fu school outside of China was opened in Hawaii, in 1922.  This school, known as the Chinese Physical Culture Association of Hawaii, taught various styles of kung-fu.  Founded in Honolulu, it is still operating today.
    Okinawan shorin-ryu karate master Kentsu Yabu gave America's first karate demonstration at Honolulu's Nuuanu Y.M.C.A. in 1927.  In 1933, thirteen years before Robert Trias opened the first karate school on the mainland, Kamesuke Higaonna and Zuiho Mutsu started the first public karate school in Hawaii.  This school, known as the Hawaii Karate Seinin Kai ("Hawaii Young People's Karate Club"), is considered the first known Caucasian group in the Western world to study karate.
    Martial Arts is a term that refers to all self-defense systems in a general way.  One equivalent Chinese term is wu shu or "military arts."  However, the term "kung fu", translated literally as "time-effort-achievement," is the more commonly accepted term for this concept.
    Another phrase that specifically implies "fistic arts" or "pugilistic methods" is chuan fa or kenpo, depending on what dialect you are speaking.  Kenpo, or "the law of the fist," can certainly claim a rightful place as the foremost component of the first martial art.  The roots of the kenpo system that have evolved in America and then migrated to all parts of the Western world can be traced back to Hawaii in the early 1920's and a man named James Mitose.   He brought his family's art, Kenpo Jujitsu (Koshu Shorei Kenpo) to Hawaii and taught select students in a strictly traditional manner.  His personal style was rigidly classical and very conservative in expression, never deviating from what was exactly taught him.
    One of Mitose's few students was a man named William Kwai Sun Chow.  Chow had prior training in his own father's kung fu methods as well as extensive judo experience.  This background allowed him to combine principles of combat with more creative freedom than his teacher Mitose.
    At the same time, Chow was an uncomplicated man who worked as a stevedore for McCabe Stevedory Co. in Honolulu, and tended to maintain a simple but powerful concept to his creative thinking.  He was known for being fast, direct and extremely strong in executing his techniques.
    Chow also taught small classes which graduated such students as Adriano Emperado and Edmund Parker, who went on to found American Kenpo.  It was in one of these classes, in 1946, that he acquired the young protege, Adriano D. Emperado.
    In 1943, Emperado began his study of kodokan judo with Sensei Taneo at the Palama Settlement Gym, advancing his studies several years later to kenpo jujitsu with Professor Chow first at the Catholic Youth Organization, then later at the Kaheka gym on Kaheka Lane.  He spent many years with the professor, eventually becoming his chief instructor and attaining the rank of 5th degree black belt.  Taking his cue from Professor Chow, Emperado embarked on his own path, taking kenpo on quite a revolutionary new course.
    In 1948, Emperado befriended four other young masters of different systems. They called themselves the Black Belt Society, composed of : Adriano D. Emperado - Chinese (Kara-Ho) Kenpo and escrima; Joe Holke - Kodokan judo; Pyy (Walter) Choo - Tang Soo Do and Hawaii welterweight boxing champion; Clarence Chang - sillum-pai kung fu; and Frank Ordonez - sekeino jujutsu.  Using the best of all their arts they devised a new system called Kajukenbo.   Holke devised the art's name of kajukenbo: "ka" for karate, "ju" for judo and jujutsu, "ken" for kenpo and "bo" for Chinese boxing (as kung fu was often called).
    Two years after they had started, Emperado, with his brother Joe who also trained under William K. S. Chow, took the initiative in introducing Kajukenbo to the public, by opening the Palama Settlement school in 1950.
    With the success of the Palama Settlement school Emperado started expanding.  He left the teaching at the Palama school to his brother Joe while he started classes at the Kaimuki Y.M.C.A.  Soon the Kajukenbo Self-Defense Institute of Hawaii, Inc., was the largest chain of karate schools in the islands.