From a post by: spencer@equinox.unr.edu (Jason Spencer), to the rec.martial-arts newsgroup
Subject: Re: Re: Kempo origins
Date: Fri, 18 Mar 1994 22:03:18 GMT
I studied in Phoenix with one of Trias's students for a while, and while Mitose was mentioned, Trias's lineage is:
Choki Motobu taught Tong Gee Hsing taught Robert Trias
Hsing was the nephew of the master (at the time) of Hsing Yi, and eventually inherited the system. Hsing and Motobu traded ideas for a while, and thus was born Shuri-Ryu. Motobu taught Shuri-te, but I believe that Hsian added two katas.
Motobu, in turn, was James Mitose's uncle/instructor. So both Kempo and Shuri/Shorei (as it was called for a time) Ryu have their common roots at Choki Motobu.
Trias had other instructors as well, and perhaps he even attended a few of Mitose's classes, but we were never told that Mitose was an official instructor of Trias.
Hope this helps.
Jason Spencer
James Mitose was one of the early instructors of Kosho-Ryu Kempo in the United States. He opened his first self-defense school in Hawaii in the 1940's. He wrote his first book on the Martial Arts, What is Self-Defense: Kempo Ju-Jitsu, in the 1940's. It is no longer in print. Portions of it (dealing with Kempo history) was reprinted in Edmund Parker's Infinite Insights into Kenpo, Volume I.
Ken Warner has done some very good research in to James Mitose and his training.
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