If you are a legitimate Kenpo/Kempo Black Belt you are qualified to be issued immediate rank in Jiu Jitsu.

Hanshi McPeek believes that all legitimate Kenpo/Kempo Black Belts are entitled and qualified to hold the rank of Black Belt in Kenpo Jiu Jitsu based on their credentials and experience in the Martial Arts. Each applicant must submit a copy of their Dan Certificate and a resume outlining their martial arts background. Included with your Black Belt Certificate will be the manual containing the requirements to 10th Dan in Kenpo Jiu Jitsu.

Our Kenpo Jiu Jitsu System and curriculum is registered and filed with the United States Ju Jitsu Federation which is the governing body of Ju Jitsu in the United States under the sanction of the Ju Jitsu International Federation (JJIF). Our Kenpo Jiu Jitsu system contains all the
requirements from 1st kyu to 10th Degree Black Belt.

Hanshi Ernest G. McPeek, JD, holds a 9th Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Jiu Jitsu and is ranked 8th Degree by the USJJF and holds an
international rank of 8th Degree granted by the JJIF. He has the authority to issue Dan grades up to 8th Degree in Kenpo Jiu Jitsu. Any rank above 5th Degree will be submitted to a Central Technical
Committee for approval.

QUALIFICATION
Apparently I have created a furor over a terminology used in error, and I apologize. My webmaster used the word cross rank in error. The correct terminology is QUALIFIED. A legitimate Kenpo Black Belt is qualified, based on his or her credentials and lineage, to hold the rank of Black Belt in Jiu Jitsu.

My lineage is directly derived from Grandmaster James Mitose and if you read his book, WHAT IS SELF DEFENSE/Kenpo Jiu Jitsu.( Copy of cover illustrated and link to Tracy’s Kenpo site provided below ) there can be no argument that Kenpo is not Jiu Jitsu. In addition, I have included a brief history of Kenpo Jiu Jitsu

Only Kenpo/Kempo Black Belts can be certified as Jiu Jitsu Black Belts by my organization if they supply the required documentation. There is no cross ranking. Cross ranking would be taking some one from another style of martial art ,Tae Kwon Do, Shotokan, Isshin Ryu etc…and ranking them in Jiu Jitsu or taking them from another style of Jiu Jitsu and ranking them in Kenpo Jiu Jitsu which we do not do.

Other legitimate and respected Martial Arts organizations do cross rank. I find nothing wrong with that if that is their policy. However, we stay within the realm of our system Kenpo/kempo. I feel that, this stated, I do not have to further justify myself or answer to anyone, other than my own organization.

Hanshi Ernest G. McPeek, J.D.

THE HISTORY OF KENPO JIU-JITSU
KENPO KARATE – KENPO JIU-JITSU – GOSHIN JITSU

Kenpo is a Japanese unarmed fighting art brought to Japan from China about 700 years ago by the Yoshita Clan. Kenpo means “Law of the Fist”.

Kenpo Jiu-Jitsu was brought to Hawaii in the early 1900’s by Grandmaster Kiyoka Yoshita. In 1920 James Mitose was sent to live with Grandmaster Yoshita where he was raised and taught the art of Kenpo Jiu-Jitsu. In 1942, James Mitose was promoted and was the ranking Master of Kenpo Jiu-Jitsu openly teaching his style in Hawaii.

One of Master Mitoses top students was William K. Chow, who in 1949, having been promoted to Dan Instructor opened his own school in Hawaii and to
distinguish himself from Mitose coined the term Kenpo Karate, however the styles were virtually identical.

In 1952 Chow put the Jiu-Jitsu back into his styles name by renaming it Goshin Jitsu.

Ed Parker was Chow’s student and received his Black Belt in “Original Kenpo”
(Kenpo Jiu-Jitsu renamed by Chow to “Goshin Jitsu”).

In 1954 Ed Parker opened his first club in a Beverly Hills health club and began teaching what he called Kenpo Karate. In 1956 Chow gave Parker permission to open a commercial school in Pasadena, California. From 1956 to 1960 Parker taught the “Original Kenpo
Jiu-Jitsu” or “Goshin Jitsu” which was identical to what Mitose and Chow taught, though he still called it Kenpo Karate.

In 1961 Ed Parker and Chinese Gung Fu Grandmaster James Wing Woo combined systems and co-founded what was to be called “Traditional Kenpo” as opposed to “Original Kenpo Jiu-Jitsu” and the Master of these two systems was Parker’s first Black Belt, James Ibraro. It was under Ed Parker and James Ibraro that the Tracy brothers Al and Jim learned the “Original Kenpo Jiu-Jitsu” and “Traditional Kenpo” and received their Shodans in 1962 making them Ed Parker’s 5th and 6th Black Belts.

When opening their own schools the Tracy’s discovered that Insurance companies would not give liability insurance to cover the Jiu-Jitsu aspect of “Kenpo Jiu-Jitsu” so they decided to call the “Original Kenpo Jiu-Jitsu” Tracy’s Karate, while keeping the Jiu-Jitsu as part of the system but reserving the more advanced “potential injury techniques” for the Black Belts.

Therefore a Black Belt in “Tracy’s Kenpo Karate” whose curriculum was the “Original Kenpo Jiu-Jitsu” is in actuality a Black Belt in “Kenpo Jiu-Jitsu” or “Goshin Jitsu”.

USA Self-Defense Centers Jiu-Jitsu curriculum will consist of the “Original Kenpo Jiu-Jitsu” techniques and Dan Black Belt Certificates will be awarded in the Style of Kenpo Jiu-Jitsu and Goshin Jitsu.