quote:

James Mitose remains the one truly enigmatic figure in all the history of Kempo. James Masayoshi Mitose was born on December 30th, 1916 in Kaelakekua, North Kona Hawaii. In 1942, soon after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, he opened the "Official Self Defense Club" in Honolulu, Hawaii. The classes took place in a variety of locations such as gyms and churches.


What James Mitose did between 1920 and 1937 remains something of a mystery. At this point, there are two versions of his story. Al Tracy puts forth and defends the first, "romantic" version of the story. Click here for the version of the story the Sei Kosho Shorei Kai currently espouses. Although different in its details, this version also supports the general idea that Mitose learned Kempo at his family's temple in Japan.


Very few people seem willing to support the second, "cynical" version of the story. I would, however, like to give credit to Matthew Barnes for opening my eyes to this second version. Very few of the facts of this second version of Mitose's history were unknown to me prior to December of 2003. However despite deep suspicions regarding the "romantic" version of the story, I remain guilty of never before having "put two and two together" where the facts of the "cynical" version of the story are concerned.