Articles by Master Bill Mailman, Shichidan

From the Master (Issue 1)
Ancient History of Shaolin Chuan-Fa

In this first issue of The Kickin’ Post, I think it’s appropriate that I talk about the history of Shaolin Chuan-Fa, our art. Records are few and legends often contradict each other, but all agree that Bodhidharma was responsible for bringing the art from India to China somewhere around 525-27 A.D.

Having arrived in China, he traveled to the Songshan Mountains in Honan Province where he found the Shaolin Temple. At that time, the monks daily routine included long hours of meditation, but not much exercise. Often the monks were so physically inept they would fall asleep while meditating and could not defend themselves against bandits. Bodhidharma applied for entrance to the temple, but was denied due to the head monks fear of his advance reputation.

Bodhidharma is then said to have gone to a nearby cave where he sat in front of a wall and began meditation. After nine long years his unusual perseverance gained him admittance to the temple, where he proceeded to teach the monks three exercise forms, among which was the Eighteen Hands of Lo Han. Eventually, during the Mongolian invasion, the temple was razed and burned and the Shaolins were forced to flee. The resultant dispersal of Chuan-Fa throughout the Far East led to the development of many other fighting methods as each nationality adapted it to suit their needs.

Our form of Chuan-Fa was kept within one Japanese family, the Kosho family, for twenty-two generations. ‘Fist Law’ in Japanese translates to ‘Kempo’, thus the term ‘Shaolin Kempo’ is used to describe our particular style. The term ‘Kosho Ryu’ also fits our art. ‘Ryu’ is translated as ‘the Way’.

The Kosho clan changed it’s name to Mitose sometime before James Mitose’s birth in 1916. Born in Hawaii, but sent to Japan to learn his family art, James Mitose decided to teach Shaolin Kempo to outsiders for the first time. Many say it was his response to the Japanese aggression at Pearl Harbor. He felt that teaching his art to American servicemen might help to atone for that act.

Among James Mitose’s students was one William Kui San Chow. Mr. Chow had learned another version of the Shaolin art from his father, Hoon Chow. As it turns out, the Mitose version was full of hard blocks and direct motions, whereas the version from Hoon Chow was the soft part of our art, highlighting redirecting of the assailants force with more circular motions.

It’s really beautiful when you think about it….. After thousands of years the art had gone in many directions—some hard, some soft—but all had been reunited in the persona of ‘Thunderbolt’ William S. K. Chow.