top 20 most important people in martial arts history part one

One of my juniors sent me a post that was supposed to be the top ten most influential martial artists of all time.  I did not agree with the post 100% and I also did not think that most of the “notes” on why the guy picked the people were accurate or in some cases even true. 

I felt it was a great idea for a blog…so thank you Greg!  Also I thought I could put my spin on the whole thing and really introduce a few people that were influences to martial arts in my mind. But of course I had to pick the top 20.  Here are the first 10, and they are in no particular order of importance at this level!

20.Stephen K Hayes.  Before we could ever learn about Masaaki Hatsumi of Ninja fame, his student Steven Hayes would have to introduce us to both Ninjitsu and Hatsumi.  Born in the US, Hayes was introduced to the martial arts when he started training in Korean Tang Soo Do after looking for a judo club.  He studied Speech and Theatre in Miami, which helped him when he was looking to spread his new style of martial art to the west…well old style that had been recreated.

            Hays traveled to Japan to seek out authentic ninja masters after the had read about them.  He met his master Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi in 1975 and studied under him in Togakure Ryu Ninjitsu.  Five years later he returned to the states and began teaching Ninjutsu and writing some very famous books.  In 1985 he printed several books and was in the media at every chance.  He single handily brought the art of the Ninja to the media and the people of the states and created the Ninja boom that brought people into Karate, Kung fu, Tae Kwon Do and other Dojo’s across the west as well as helping to create Ninja movies and bring the martial arts back to the fore front of many peoples minds.

19. Imrich Lichtenfeld: born in 1910 in Budapest and growing up in Pozsony Slovakia, Imrich or Imi grew up boxing, doing gymnastics and wrestling and in 1928  won the Slovakian youth wrestling championship. He grew up when anti Semitic views were starting to move across Europe. He began to teach his fighting styles to the Jewish people to protect Jewish neighbourhoods from the growing numbers of fascist thugs.

                Imi moved to Palestine and joined the Haganah paramilitary, a pre-state military body that was organized to protect Jewish interests.  He developed his skills into what was soon called Kapap and taught it to several elite units of the Haganah and Palmach.

                In 1948, the state of Israel was founded and the IDF was formed.  Imi became the chief instructor of the physical fitness training and began teaching what he called Krav Maga. Krav Maga was formed and by 1978 it had become the sole martial art taught to the Israeli special forces.  Imi died that year but Krav Maga continued and by the 80’s it had become a major new hit in the states. Many famous American actors and musicians became students of the art and it also was featured in many movies. 

18.Wong Fei-Hung: Wong Fei Hung was an acupuncturist and traditional Chinese medical doctor in Foshan, Guangdong China.  He was also a very influential Chinese martial artist and folk hero in China.  He was a Grand master who learned his art under Wong Kei-Ying, his father.  Wong Kei-Ying is one of the famous Ten tigers of Canton. Wong Fei Hung was the man that brought the style of Hung Gar or Hung Ga to the people of china. He also became a very famous character in Chinese history and the subject of countless movies.  He is an important person in the development of Kung fu and because of his influence in martial arts many greats began training in kung fu.  Men like Jackie chan, Bruce Lee, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao and Jet li have all played him and brought the Chinese art to the west.

17. Ed Parker: Edmond Kealoha Parker was born in Hawaii and while not very well known to some, he was a huge influence on martial arts in North America. The founder and creator of American Kenpo Karate/Kung Fu,  and seen as the Senior Grand Master of American Kenpo.  Why was he such a influencial person, I mean he was the creator of a style of Karate/Kung fu that was  mainly set in America….He was the instructor of Elvis Presley, movie star Jeff Speakman and Bruce Lee student Dan Inosanto.

                Ed Parker was the student of Frank Cho and William Chow…who was a student of James Mitose (the original founder).  Mitose created the style after a little training in Kung fu and Karate and made up a mythology that has been proven false.  Chow studied with  Mitose and created an off shoot of his original style, which he passed on to Parker.

                Parker continued to create and alter his style and built a altered style based first on Karate and then on Kung fu theories.  His unique style is built almost completely on self created forms and fighting styles.  This is unique because it was the first time that a person created a style from scratch essentially. His style became very famous when Elvis Presley brought his style on stage and introduced the world to Kenpo Karate.

16. Chuck Norris: Carlos Ray Norris was born in Ryan Oklahoma and joined the army to get away from the staunch poverty and hard life he was born into. In the army he ended up in korea and studied a style of martial arts that is based on Shotokan Karate.  He was stationed at the Osan Air Base in South Korea and competing when he got back to the states. Norris was known as one of the top fighters in the US and faced the BEST of the best at the time.   

                After his competition life was over he moved on to teaching and movies.  His more famous students include Bob Barker, chad McQueen, Steve McQueen, Priscilla Presley, Donny and Marie Osmond and others. 

                Norris became an Action movie icon and created his own style of martial arts called  Chun Kuk Do (“universal way”). His martial arts movies were one of the main reasons that young men and women flawed to the Karate Dojos in the 70’s and 80’s and for that he is one of the top 20 most influential martial arts personalities.

15. Itosu Anko and Asato Anko; Both Itosu and Asato were working for the Okinawan royals and were trained by Matsumura Sokon.  Asato was from a very wealthy family and studied traditional Samurai sword fighting and horse riding. Asato’s family wer Tonichi or town leaders. He was given leave to travel to Japan and study traditional fighting arts. His training in Horsemanship and sword fighting influenced Karate greatly.  Much of Karate’s changes were made because of Azatos training in Kenjutsu.  Itosu was also from a more noble family, but not as influential.  He came from a lower ranking Okinawa Samurai family and also afforded time to train in martial arts.  He became known as one of Okinawa’s best Karate men and known for his power.  He also was the primary instructor of Gichin Funakoshi, who went on to bring Karate to Japan.

14. Bruce Lee: Lee Jun-Fan was born in Hong Kong in 1940 and was born to Cantonese Opera star Lee Hoi Chuen. At the age of 13 his father sent him to study under famous Wing Chun master Yip Man. He only stayed with Man for a year and studied under Wong Shun Leung, one of Mans top students for a short time longer. In total he only trained in the style for five years, but his natural speed and athletic ability made him a great in the style quickly.

            Lee moved to Seattle to continue his studies at the U of W and began teaching his own interpretation of the style. He studied several different styles including Karate, Tae Kwon Do and boxing.  He created his own style called Jeet Kune Do based on his studies…. but this is not why he is known as one of the most influential people in the martial arts. Its his short movie Career and the myth he created around himself. A great self promoter, Lee parlayed four movies and a tv series into a cult following and his club was packed with students quickly, His students clubs were packed as well.

                Lee made the 70’s a Kung Fu decade and single handily sold the public on martial arts training and because of him…I joined Karate. 

13. Choi hong Hi/ Hee II Cho/Jong Soo Park/ Joon Rhee:  Cho Hong Hi or general Choi was a Korean military general who helped bring Tae Kwon Do to Korea. A Ikkyu in Shotokan Karate, Choi brought what he thought was a great style to the Korean military but was told that he had to change it to be less “Japanese” in appearance.  He went back and introduced a interesting story and changed the idea of Karate to be more kicking oriented.  From his original changes came more change that soon became what we now know as Tae Kwon Do.  Park, Cho and Rhee all came to north America to spread Tae Kwon Do to the world and all built off of general Choi’s changes to the original structure and then made further changes.  Rhee was personally responsible for the TKD craze in the US after teaching many famous students including mohammed Ali and many politicians. 

                While Tae Kwon Do is formed mainly from Shotokan, the myth of Taekyon and other styles influencing its formation seem to persist.  However, when you look at traditional Tae Kwon Do you can see that the influence of Karate was the major and most inspirational part of its development and all of the original forms that they used were slightly altered Shotokan Kata.

12. . Elvis Presley: Yes the music icon is also a Martial arts student and a very influencial person in the martial arts.  After seeing a Judo demonstration at fort Hood Tx he became interested in training in Karate or other martial arts. His first instructor was Juergen sydal, a Shotokan instructor.  Elvis went on to train in Chito Ryu and was given his Black Belt in that off shoot of Shotokan. His original Chito Ryu instructor died in Vietnam and Elvis changed his training to Ed Parkers American Kenpo.

                Elvis eventually trained in Tae Kwon Do with Kang Rhee, and earned his black belt in TKD from him. He moved on to train with a few others. Elvies is known to have been presented with his 8^th Degree black belt by Parker. 

                So, why was he so influential? Elvis was the most famous person in the USA during his life and he made Karate acceptable for a mass of people that had thought it was some strange Asian fighting art and not acceptable for “white America” . After Elvis became obsessed with Karate it became known that he did Karate and a huge influx of Students jointed Karate in the 60’s and 70’s because of this.

11. Fāng Qīniáng: According to history Qiniang was the founder of the Fuian White Crane system of Kung fu.  Born in southern China, Qiniang was a military expert and master of martial arts weapons. He was also known as Amoy Min Nan or Hng Chhit Nia and a female!  The system used deep stances, intricate hand techniques and fighting that mostly occurred at close range. The style that she taught was a imitative style of Shaolin boxing.

The Fang family lived in Fujian Province China and the family patriarch taught his daughter the fighting arts. One day while doing her chores the young girl tried to shoo a crane away that had landed near her. She studied its movements as the crane and began to form her own style of fighting.

So, why was she so important? Fang Qiniang’s style developed over time and became a very important Fujian martial arts style that was immensely popular in an area of China that hosted many Okinawan dignitaries, wealthy and visitors…like those that studied the Fujian Crane style and brought it back to Okinawa…to create the Karate style we now know as Shotokan. Fujian Kung fu is the distant relative of Shotokan Karate.

            I will post the rest soon!