MCC Hawaiian martial
arts:
a new edge in self protection
Leilanie Sesate
Mesa Legend
What is Hawaiian Martial Arts? Offered at
Chandler Gilbert Community College since 1994, Mike Whittle and
one of his former students, Randy Ong, have been instructing students
in Kajukenbo, a self-defense art.
Whittle is also an instructor of Hawaiian Lua, a bone breaking art.
He is teaching his first semester here at MCC and because of the
high volume of female students interested in self-defense, his main
focus has been on Kajukenbo, with a little introduction to Hawaiian
Lua, towards the last four weeks of the semester.
Whittle has been studying Kajukenbo for over 35 years and Hawaiian
Lua for the past 10 years.
Kajukenbo was the first American martial art form and was created
in 1947 by Hawaiian Americans. Five men came together and shared
their art forms to create Kajukenbo, a combination of many already
established martial arts.
“Through this fist style one gains long life and happiness,”
this is a translation of the Chinese spelling of Kajukenbo.
The other Hawaiian martial art Whittle brings to MCC is Hawaiian
Lua. “It was once a Hawaiian art form taught only to the armies
of Hawaiian kings and queens, elite units,” Whittle said.
This bone breaking art form was never taught to non-Hawaiian people
and was destined to become a lost art until 10 years ago when Whittle’s
instructor Olohe resurrected it and began teaching non-Hawaiians.
To this day the study of Hawaiian Lua is illegal in Hawaii because
it is a bone-breaking, joint dislocating art. Wooden and rudimentary
weapons are also used in Hawaiian Lua.
Whittle boasts of students receiving “black belts (of Kajukenbo)
through the college system” at Chandler Gilbert Community
College and says some students have been practicing the art of Kajukenbo
for as long as he has been instructing there. Whittle also says
“Kajukenbo is a rough sport,” and out of 100 people,
five or 10 will continue on.
While Whittle had no set agenda of which art form he would focus
on his first semester at MCC, he indicated that he would like to
teach two classes, one focusing on Kajukenbo and the other solely
on Hawaiian Lua in the future.
The Chandler Gilbert web site says of Kajukenbo, “[an] extremely
effective and powerful self-defense system.” As for Hawaiian
Lua, students wishing to enroll must have at least one year of martial
arts background.
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