Asian American Kenpo Karate was created by it's founder William French, not out of ego or because there was a need for a new martial art, but because the system and ideas that was set up after taking pieces from the different martial arts he had studied, lacked an accurate description. This is our base system. A collection of American Kenpo techniques were added by his original Kempo instructor. A
fter opening up his own school in 1998, Mr. French began adding many more of Mr. Parker's techniques, but not all of them. The movements in these techniques have been altered slightly to reflect the stances and basics of Shaolin Kempo, so we cannot claim American Kenpo as the name of our art. After spending time learning American Goju, Mr. French found that much of what he learned mirrored Kempo and began slipping some of the forms, sets, and techniques from that system into his own. With all of this information, the original curriculum of Asian American Kenpo Karate was a bit overwhelming. So more modifications were made to whittle it down to the system that it is today. And it is still evolving.
