‘Every once in a while we get questions about whether a Kajukenbo instructor is legitimate.
Even though Kajukenbo is practiced worldwide, it is still small enough that most instructors are known to someone here at the Cafe.
And the majority of black belts in the system are listed on one main Kajukenbo Family Tree kept by Grandmaster Philip Gelinas, a member of the Cafe‘s staff.
All the Kajukenbo schools listed here at the Cafe have been verified to be operated by a legitimate Kajukenbo black belt. If the school is not operated by a black belt, it is listed here as a “training group”, and the group & group leader is under the direct supervision of a legitimate Kajukenbo black belt.
If you have questions about the legitimacy of a Kajukenbo instructor, the easiest way to get answers is to ask them. Most instructors will be glad to tell you who they trained under, and produce black belt certificates. They should also be able to tell you their lineage all the way up to Sijo Emperado. That information can usually be verified thru our family tree.
If the instructor your looking at is evasive or will not tell you about his/her background, then feel free to make inquiries in this section.
Hopefully this section will help prospective students avoid investing their time, efforts, and hard earned money in someone who’s just a conman out for himself.
Some may ask what defines a legitimate school?
A legitimate school would be one run by a Kajukenbo black belt, who’s lineage is traceable back to Sijo Emperado or another Kajukenbo founder. Some branch schools may be run by a color belt, who is directly supervised by his/her black belt instructor.
Who is NOT a legitimate Kajukenbo black belt?
Someone who has promoted themselves to black belt. Someone who was promoted by his/her students. Or, someone who has been promoted to black belt by a organization that has no ranking Kajukenbo black belts on the promotional board.
Sijo Emperado always made it very clear that a individual Kajukenbo black belt can only promote someone up to 1 rank below their own.
Although many in Kajukenbo do not support the practice of cross ranking martial artists from other systems into Kajukenbo, it is still the Kajukenbo instructor’s right to promote who he/she chooses.
You may not respect these promotions, but they are legitimate, and the persons giving and receiving them will have to accept the consequences of their actions.’ — Professor John Bishop on the Kajukenbo Cafe
