"American Kenpo Karate" is a martial art and self-defense system created by Mr. Ed Parker beginning in the mid-1950s. As a teenager, Mr. Parker studied Judo and boxing before being introduced to William Chow, a kenpo instructor who taught Mr. Parker a system of Chinese martial arts that came to Hawaii through Okinawa, from a man named James Mitose. Modern American Kenpo, then, has its roots in China, but interpreted through Okinawan and Japanese perspectives. According to several sources, the art as taught by Mr. Mitose consisted of self-defense and fighting techniques and was taught with traditional karate forms ("Naihanshi," specifically). Mr. Chow's interpretation focused almost primarily on self-defense and fighting techniques. 

From here, the exact history of American Kenpo becomes increasingly complex, political, and unfortunately, controversial. Here is a brief overview, as it pertains to White Tiger Kenpo Karate: In 1954, as a student at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, Mr. Parker began teaching his Kenpo to islander students at the university. During his final semesters, he opened class to the general public, began instructing members of the Provo police department, and gave a demonstration at a basketball half-time show that attracted attention. One of the men Mr. Parker taught during this time was Mills Crenshaw, a Utah native who would go on to help Mr. Parker form the International Kenpo Karate Association (IKKA). 

Mills Crenshaw instructed students such as Mr. Casey Clayton and Mr. Tony Martinez Sr. As Mr. Parker's style developed and spread, this group continued to teach their interpretation of Kenpo while collaborating with other kenpoists--and Mr. Parker--throughout their careers. In 2013, Mr. Lynn Myers, a taekwondo and karate black belt who had studied with and around kenpoists for over 20 years, was awarded an honorary 5th-degree black belt in Tony Martinez Kenpo by Mr. Martinez in Logan, Utah.

In 1956, after only teaching in Provo for a short time (1954-1956), Mr. Parker moved to Pasadena, California, and opened a karate studio.  Throughout the '60s, his Kenpo developed and spread. Kenpo forms were developed by Mr. Parker and a Chinese kung fu & Tai Chi master named Jimmy Wing Woo. These forms (now forms 1-4 in the Kenpo curriculum) are forms taught at White Tiger Kenpo Karate. Over the years, specific sets and advanced forms (forms 5-8) were developed by Mr. Parker and his students, which are also taught at White Tiger Kenpo. 

This history shows that the evolution of Parker's Kenpo Karate caused many of his students to learn different curriculum interpretations and arrangements depending on which association they belonged to, when they studied with Mr. Parker, and for how long they studied with him. One line of the White Tiger Kenpo lineage comes through that brief period of instruction in Provo, Utah: through the Ed Parker/Mills Crenshaw/Tony Martinez Sr. lineage, with Tony Martinez Sr. serving as instructor or head examiner for the promotion of several of our current black-belt instructors.

The second line of the White Tiger Kenpo lineage comes from the lineage of Mr. Paul Mills. In the 1990s, after the sudden death of Mr. Parker, Mr. Mills--a private student of Mr. Parker for many years--created the IKKA ("American Kenpo Karate International"), located in Wyoming. Mr. Herb Padigimus, a close friend of Mr. Mills and black belt in Mr. Parker's Kenpo, became the first member of this association, and was eventually promoted by Mr. Mills through 8th-degree black belt. This lineage of Kenpo, through Mr. Mills and Mr. Padigimus, a close friend of Mr. Lynn Myers since the early 1990s, has directly impacted the curriculum taught at White Tiger Kenpo Karate. 

In 2023, Mr. Lynn Myers and other instructors at White Tiger joined Mr. Padigimus's new Kenpo alliance: the Ultimate Impact American Kenpo Alliance (UIAKA), headquartered in Blackfoot, Idaho. White Tiger Kenpo, then, lies at the intersection of several versions of Mr. Parker's art from different eras of the art’s development, and we feel deeply indebted to the instructors and masters who have passed their knowledge of this eclectic art to us.