https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Mitose
James Mitose
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| James Mitose | |
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James Mitose at age 58
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| Born | Masayoshi Mitose December 30, 1916 Kailua-Kona, North Kona District, Territory of Hawaii |
| Died | March 26, 1981 (aged 64) San Quentin, California, United States complications of diabetes |
| Other names | Masakichi, Kenposai Kosho |
| Style | Kosho Shorei-ryū Kenpo |
| Teacher(s) | Sakuhei YoshidaToju Kosho |
| Rank | 21st Great Grand Master of Kosho Shorei-ryū Kempo |
| Notable students | William Chow, Bruce Juchnik, Ray Arquilla, Arthur Keawe, Edward "Bobby" Lowe, Giro Nakamura, Grandmaster Fusae Oshita (sister), Paul Yamaguchi, Thomas S.H. Young |
James Masayoshi Mitose (born Masayoshi Mitose, December 30, 1916 – March 26, 1981)[1] was a Japanese American martial artistwho brought the art of Kenpo to the United States starting in 1936.
Many Kenpo teachers trace their lineage to him.[2] Mitose was and remains a controversial figure in the history of Kenpo in America. He was convicted of murder and extortion in 1974 and given a life sentence. He died in prison in 1981 due to complications from diabetes.
Contents
[hide]Martial arts training and lineage[edit]
James Masayoshi Mitose (Masakichi Kosho Kenposai) was born in Kailua-Kona, North Kona District, Hawaii on December 30, 1916. On October 22, 1920, at the age of four, he and his two sisters were taken by their mother[3] back to Japan to be given formal education and upbringing with family living there. While there, in addition to their schoolwork and university studies, they trained in the art of Kenpo. James returned to the United States on February 25, 1935, arriving at Honolulu, Hawaii on the SS Tatsuta Maru at the age of 21.
His martial arts practices contained marked similarities to Okinawan karate and Japanese jujutsu. Mitose always claimed his art was Japanese rather than Okinawan.
Mitose began teaching Kenpo in Hawaii in 1936, and in 1941 set up a martial arts school.[citation needed] He gave the style he taught a number of different names during his lifetime, including "Shorinji Kenpo" and "Kenpo Jujutsu," (both names of recognized Japanese martial arts), but over time, settled on the name Kosho Shōrei-ryū Kenpo. The word "Kenpo" (or "Kempo") is a Japanese form of "Ch'uan Fa."
When the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, Mitose enlisted in the Hawaii National Guard, but was honorably discharged after three weeks.[4] He was later interned in Sand Island, a camp on the north side of Oahu.[5] After his release in 1942,he spent most of the war teaching Kenpo in Hawaii to prepare American civilians for a possible Japanese invasion. He worked as an herbalist and was known to be an extraordinary healer. He also owned a brothel.[citation needed].
Tracy's Kenpo has martial lineage through Ray Arquilla to James Mitose and Will Tracy trained under GM Fusae Mitose (Mitose's sister). Mitose claimed that his family in Japan lived near a "Mt. Akenkai's Shaka-In temple." Tracy's believe that Mount Akenkai might be Mount Kinkai, near the town of Kinkai, Nagasaki on the island of Kyūshū. This may have been where the Kosho sect of the Yoshida (Urabe) clan taught.[6]
Michael Brown of Rhode Island Martial Arts possesses documents showing three families of James Mitose.[7][unreliable source?] The first family being from Mitose's father's side. This includes his father, Otokichi Mitose and Otokichi's parents, Kaheiji Mitose, and Kano Kawakami Mitose.[8] The second family, from Mitose's mother's side, includes his mother Kiyoka Yoshida Mitose and Kiyoka's biological father, Sakuhei Yoshida. Sakuhei Yoshida was married to a woman who was not Kiyoka's biological mother. Sakuhei Yoshida conceived Kiyoka Yoshida Mitose with a woman outside of his marriage named Toju Kosho. James Mitose would learn Kosho-ryū from the family of Toju Kosho. It is worthwhile to note that on Mitose's parents' record of marriage, Kiyoka Yoshida Mitose's mother is not named as Toju Kosho. Instead the name Toju Unknown occupies this position of the document.
To his students and in his book, What is True Self-Defense?, Mitose described his teachings as those of Japanese style. In the book, Mitose describes methods of Japanese yogaand the tai sabaki principles found in many Japanese arts. His later book, What Is Self Defense? and accounts and photos strongly suggest that, however he got it, Mitose had a background in an Okinawan style. Some modern proponents of Kosho Shōrei-ryū believe that he used an Okinawan art as a vehicle for his teaching of a native Japanese art.[citation needed]
The contents of What Is Self Defense? seem to echo those of an earlier book: Karate Kenpo by Mutsu Mizuho (1933). This includes the arrangement of diagrams and photographs; in one case, a photo (of Higaonna Kamesuke) is reproduced entirely. Mitose's book also includes a picture of Motobu Chōki, reproduced from Motobu's book, in a position that usually indicates a student acknowledging his teacher. It is from here that some assume that Mitose was acknowledging Motobu as his teacher. Mitose listed Motobu as a Kenpo master in his book.
Mitose is known to have taught only one Kata at his school: the Naihanchi Kata, which also was Motobu Chōki's primary form and the only one featured in Motubu's second book Okinawan Kenpo Kumite Hen. Mitose also taught the use of the Makiwara, a signature Okinawan training method. A thriving Okinawan community existed in Hawaii and Okinawan martial arts training was available there. Higaonna Kamesuke stayed in Hawaii after 1933 with Thomas Miyashiro, and taught classes in Kona. Higaonna had studied under Mutsu and Motobu, and taught Karate Kenpo in Mitose's home town of Kona just a few years before Mitose opened his school, although Mitose was still in Japan at the time.
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