The Professor & Founder of this style & originator of this self defense is SIJO A.D. EMPERADO. He lived in Honolulu,
Hawaii and started his first school in 1947. The school was called "THE BLACK BELT SOCIETY," and was disband in 1949 for fear
of being exposed. Martial Arts were taught and exercised in complete secrecy at that time. From the notorious Black Belt Society
PROFESSOR EMPERADO and four other Instructors created a style they called KAJUKENBO-KA from Boxing, JU from jujitsu/judo,
KEN from kenpo, and BO from Chinese Boxing (Kung-Fu). This school has now spread throughout the world. In the early 1960's
EMPERADO secretly picked two outstanding students from the KAJUKENBO INSTITUTE & taught them the BO part of KAJUKEN-BO.
This system had never been taught or revealed to anyone. ALFRED DELA CRUZ & ALBERT DACASCOS were chosen by the PROFESSOR
to teach this unique style & technique called "GUNG-FU CHUAN-FA." Because of this hard & rigid style of fighting they
found the need to flow and keep the power & speed. This style & system, created in Hawaii, is called "KAJUKENBO CHUAN-FA
KUNG-FU."
PROFESSOR AL DELA CRUIZ is the only one that taught this style
& system. Professor Dela Cruz started his Martial Arts at the knee of his father who taught him Escrema (Phillipino Fighting
Sticks) and later was taught his "sets" by a friend of his father. Professor started his training in KAJUKENBO in 1957-58.
His instructor was Sid Asuncion. As a young man his love of the Art was sparing. He took his knowledge into the boxing ring
and became the Amateur Champion of Hawaii in the 125# to 132# division. He is a 20 year member of the Honolulu Police Department
and has taught many Self-Defense Classes for the department. He won four Bronze metals in boxing and one Bronze metal in Karate
in the United States Police Olympics. In the summer of 1991 he taught a class of young people ages 7 to 15 years old. He enjoys
teaching, but job restrictions do not allow him the time often.
SIGUNG MEL SUGUE started his Martial Arts career in 1959, in Hawaii,
under Instructor Frank Swan who taught the Kajukenbo system. At that time you couldn't join a Martial arts class as you would
today. You had to be invited or chosen and then screened. In 1965 SIGUNG MEL became a private student of PROFESSOR AL DELA
CRUZ with the approval and imput of SIJO EMPERADO. In 1970 SIGUNG MEL became PROFESSOR DELA CRUZ's assistant, and later took
over the school at Red Hill. In 1980 SIGUNG MEL moved to Washington state and started a private class with four students.
Because of their faithfulness & loyalty to SIGUNG MEL and the ART, a 'DREAM' was in their midst. They altered the style
& system to a more unorthodox, softer, and with more flowing movements; yet retaining it's speed and power. In 1981 SIGUNG
MEL received his 5th DEGREE BLACK BELT from PROFESSOR AL DELA CRUZ for his new style & system, called "TAI-CHI CHUAN-FA
KUNG-FU". It means SUPREME ULTIMATE (TAI CHI) WAY OF THE FIST (CHUAN-FA). In February of 1983 the 'DREAM' became a reality.
The SCHOOL of TAI-CHI CHUAN-FA KUNG-FU was born. The school held it's first Belt Promotion on August 13th, 1983. In 1993 Sijo
A.D. Emperado promoted SiGung Mel to a 7th degree Black Belt.
On January 5th, 1987 a new branch sprouted. This first branch
is a special life line for the School. It consists of our future martial artists with ages ranging from 6 to 12. SIFU RON
TAPEC teaches the class and is one of the SIGUNG MEL's assistants. In 1990 three of SIGUNG MEL's top students earned their
BLACK BELTS. After 8 years of training Barry Davis, Ron Tapec, and John Lentz became our School's first Black Belts. They
along with SIGUNG MEL traveled to Hawaii to perform for PROFESSOR AL DELA CRUZ. They were tested physically and mentally before
becoming Certified Instructors.
SIFU RON TAPEC started his martial arts training at the age
of 15 in Ewa, Hawaii under his brother SIGUNG MEL SUGUE who was a student of Kajukenbo under Instructor Frank Swan. Although
SIFU RON training with Mel for almost 2 years it was considered "outlaw training". At the time you were screened and only
certain people were picked to train because of the brutality of the training.
In 1965 SIFU RON studied Japanese Karate under Chief Instructor
Thomas Bingo in Ewa, Hawaii and with Instructor Angel Manuel in Waipahu, Hawaii at the Hong Wong J Club.
In 1966 SIGU RON studied Kenpo Karate (CHA-3) in Ewa, Hawaii.
The Chief Instructors were Jamie Abrigano and Roy Halmos, and the Assistant Instructors were Christopher Anguay and Roland
Gamble.
In 1993 SIFU RON studied the art of ESCRIMA DOCE PARES (Filipino
Martial Arts) under Tony Angel Cruz and Guro Chris Petrelli.
