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Adriano
Emperado 
Grand
masters of martial arts gathered in this 2006 photo. Adriano Emperado is in red
in the center.
By Dayton
Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
Long before the UFC craze came along, Adriano Emperado was teaching mixed martial arts in
Kalihi.
Emperado, one of the founders of the martial
art called Kajukenbo, died of natural causes last month
on
"You see how popular this MMA stuff is
today? Kajukenbo was doing that in the 1940s," said Emperado's son,
Clarence Luna. "All these MMA guys today are training in jiu-jitsu, judo,
all kind different stuff ... my father had that idea a long time ago."
Emperado is regarded as an important and
legendary figure in the martial arts world. From humble beginnings in the
Kalihi-Palama area, he helped spread Kajukenbo around the world.
His son estimated "hundreds, maybe
thousands" of similar schools in at least 33 countries around the world
can be traced to Emperado's teachings in Kajukenbo.
There are at least a dozen schools that come
under the official banner of Kajukenbo Self Defense Institute, including
locations in
"And then you get these others that
maybe took some ideas from my dad's teachings and incorporated into something
else," said Luna, who is now a grand master of Kajukenbo. "That's why
I say there's so many that can be traced to Kajukenbo, even though they might
not be called Kajukenbo."
Emperado is actually one of five founders of
Kajukenbo. The others were Peter Choo, Joe Holck, Frank Ordonez and Clarence
Chang.
They each brought black belt expertise in
various disciplines to create the new martial art in 1947. They named it
Kajukenbo because it combined "ka" for karate, "ju" for
judo and jiu-jitsu, "ken" for kenpo, and "bo" for Chinese
boxing (kung fu).
By 1950, Emperado started teaching the
martial art to students at Palama Gym.
Jan Harada, executive director of Palama
Settlement, said Emperado holds a significant place in the history of the area.
"This is the birthplace of something
that has a connection to the rest of the world," Harada said. "In
researching this, we found that Kajukenbo kept a lot of kids from the area out
of trouble, and that alone is significant."
Harada said two Kajukenbo instructors from
"They were taking pictures and asking
about (Emperado) and the school," Harada said. "That was neat to see
how it touched people so far away."
Sonnie Rodrigues, Emperado's youngest
daughter, said she had no idea of her father's international influence.
"He was humble, so he never really talked
about himself like that," she said. "I'm finding out now how many
people knew him. It's amazing."
Emperado has also influenced thousands in
John Pascua started taking Kajukenbo classes
in 1957, and is now an instructor at one of the schools.
"It teaches so much discipline,"
said Pascua, 67. "Not just for Kajukenbo, but in your way of life."
Pascua said Emperado was a "very
strict" instructor who emphasized mental preparation as much as physical.
"When (Emperado) was teaching the class,
it was real rough — we didn't have the kind of mats we have today, so we used
to train on the concrete," Pascua said. "But the thing I remember
most is he always used to tell us, 'Think! That's why you have that head on
your shoulders. Think about your next move, your attacker's next move. Always
think.' "
Luna said Kajukenbo was — and still is — a
defensive martial art. Because of that, he said the students rarely enter
tournaments.
"We teach you how to defend somebody,
not attack somebody," Luna said.
Still, Kajukenbo became recognized
internationally as an effective martial art.
During the heyday of martial arts in the
1970s, Luna said Emperado was treated like royalty.
"People would line up to kiss his
hand," Luna said. "And when they found out I was his son, they would
kiss my hand, too."
Emperado stopped teaching classes about 20
years ago, but was still able to travel around the world because of his
Kajukenbo connections.
"He would leave here with one plastic
bag and come back with seven suitcases," Luna said. "Gifts
from all his students and other instructors."
In the end, Luna said, Emperado was more than
just a Kajukenbo founder and instructor.
"He used to say that being a teacher of
Kajukenbo made him learn different jobs," Luna said. "Some days he
had to be like a doctor, some days a lawyer, a banker, a bus driver ...
everything you can think of. So, yeah, he helped a lot of people in a lot of
different ways."
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