First Kajukenbo Dojo in Hawaii
Black Belt Society
Professor Chow, Sijo Emperado & Joe Emperado

KAJUKENBO, one of the first truly American Martial Arts, originated in the dangerous streets of the Palama Settlement on the island of Oahu, Hawaii in 1947.

  It's primary founder, Sijo Adriano Emperado a  Chinese-Filipino, recognized that Americans, with their great physical ruggedness, and large frame size, needed a street effective system of self-defense tailored to their superior size and strength. 

He devised a hybrid system that combined five distinct styles of martial arts.  This system, which emphasizes training on for reality became known as KAJUKENBO.

The KA stands for the Korean Tang-So-Do Karate contributed by co-founder Peter Choo.

The JU stands for the Kodokan Judo contributed by co-founder Joe Holck and the Ju-Jitsu contributed by by co-founder Frank Ordonez.

The KEN stands for the Kenpo Karate contributed by Sijo Emperado, who also has an extensive background in Escrima, the art of Filipino stick-fighting.

The BO stands for the Chinese Boxing or Kung Fu contributed by co-founder Clarence Chang.
While others contributed to the System, it was Sijo Emperado who developed the techniques and opened the first Kajukenbo in 1948 and founded the Kajukenbo Black Belt Society in 1949.