James Mitose

James Masayoshi Mitose (born Masayoshi Mitose, December 30, 1916 – March 26, 1981) was a Japanese American martial artist who brought the art of Kenpo to the United States starting in 1936.

Many Kenpo teachers trace their lineage to him.

Mitose was and remains a controversial figure in the history of Kenpo in America.

James Masayoshi Mitose (Masakichi Kosho Kenposai) was born in Kailua-Kona, North Kona District, Hawaii on December 30, 1916.

On October 22, 1920, at the age of four, he and his two sisters were taken by their mother back to Japan to be given formal education and upbringing with family living there.

While there, in addition to their schoolwork and university studies, they trained in the art of Kenpo and reading Sanskrit.

The contents of What Is Self Defense? seem to echo those of an earlier book: Karate Kenpo by Mutsu Mizuho (1933).

This includes the arrangement of diagrams and photographs; in one case, a photo (of Higaonna Kamesuke) is reproduced entirely.

Mitose's book also includes a picture of Motobu Chōki, reproduced from Motobu's book, in a position that usually indicates a student acknowledging his teacher.

It is from here that some assume that Mitose was acknowledging Motobu as his teacher.

Mitose listed Motobu as a Kenpo master in his book.

James returned to Hawaii on February 25, 1935, arriving at Honolulu on the SS Tatsuta Maru at the age of 21.

His martial arts practices contained marked similarities to Okinawan karate and Japanese jujutsu.

Mitose always claimed his art was Japanese rather than Okinawan.

Mitose began teaching Kenpo in Hawaii in 1936, and in 1941 set up a martial arts school.

He gave the style he taught several names during his lifetime, including "Shorinji Kenpo" and "Kenpo Jujutsu," (both names of recognized Japanese martial arts), but over time, settled on the name Kosho Shōrei-ryū Kenpo.

The word "Kenpo" (or "Kempo") is the Japanese pronunciation of "Ch'uan Fa."

When the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, Mitose enlisted in the Hawaii National Guard but was honorably discharged after three weeks.

He was later interned in Sand Island, a camp on the north side of Oahu.

After his release in 1942, he spent most of the war teaching Kenpo in Hawaii to prepare American civilians for a possible Japanese invasion.

He worked as an herbalist and was known to be an extraordinary healer.

Tracy's Kenpo has martial lineage through Ray Arquilla to James Mitose and Will Tracy trained under GM Fusae Mitose (Mitose's sister).

Mitose claimed that his family in Japan lived near a "Mt. Akenkai's Shaka-In temple."

Tracy believes that Mount Akenkai might be Mount Kinkai, near the town of Kinkai, Nagasaki on the island of Kyūshū.

This may have been where the Kosho sect of the Yoshida (Urabe) clan taught.

Michael Brown of Rhode Island Martial Arts possesses documents showing three families of James Mitose.

The first family is from Mitose's father's side.

This includes his father, Otokichi Mitose and Otokichi's parents, Kaheiji Mitose, and Kano Kawakami Mitose.

The second family, from Mitose's mother's side, includes his mother Kiyoka Yoshida Mitose and Kiyoka's biological father, Sakuhei Yoshida.

Sakuhei Yoshida was married to a woman who was not Kiyoka's biological mother.

Sakuhei Yoshida conceived Kiyoka Yoshida Mitose with a woman outside of his marriage named Toju Kosho.

James Mitose would learn Kosho-ryū from the family of Toju Kosho.

It is worthwhile to note that on Mitose's parents' record of marriage, Kiyoka Yoshida Mitose's mother is not named as Toju Kosho.

Instead the name Toju Unknown occupies this position of the document.

To his students and in his book, What is True Self-Defense?, Mitose described his teachings as those of Japanese style.

In the book, Mitose describes methods of Japanese yoga and the tai sabaki principles found in many Japanese arts.

His later book, What Is Self Defense? and accounts and photos strongly suggest that, however he got it, Mitose had a background in an Okinawan style.

Some modern proponents of Kosho Shōrei-ryū believe that he used an Okinawan art as a vehicle for his teaching of a native Japanese art.

He was convicted of murder and extortion in 1974 and given a life sentence.

He died in prison in 1981 due to complications from diabetes.