During the late 1940s in the extremely violent Palamas Settlement on O'ahu Hawaii stabbings and fist fights were a daily occurrence. What the original Kajukenbo founders realized was that they needed a way to defend themselves. With that realization...Kajukenbo was developed in 1947. The five founders called themselves the "Black Belt Society" and each of these founders were black belts in different areas of the martial arts. There mission was to combine the five martial arts into one which eventually became the first true American martial art. The five members martial art and contribution is shown in the following:

KAJUKENBO:	KA	JU		KEN	BO
Art:	Karate	Judo	Jujitsu	Kenpo	Chinese Boxing
Style:	Tang Soo Do	Se Keino Ryu	Kodenkan Danzan Ryu	Kosho Ryu	Chu'an Fa Kung-Fu
Contributing Founder:	Peter Young Yil Choo	Frank Ordonez	Joe Holck	Adriano Emperado	Clarence Chang
Chinese Character:
Meaning:	"Long life"	"Happiness"		"Fist"	"Style"
Philosophical Meaning of Kajukenbo: "Through this fist style one gains long life and happiness."

Table courtesy of www.kajukenbo.org