So there's been many questions as to what exactly Taejukabo is.... So I'll try my best to briefly describe what it is and some other points. Taejukabo stands for (Tae Kwon Do, Judo & Jiu-Jitsu, Karate, & Western Boxing) It also includes Krav Maga & Filipino Martial Arts. It was founded this year, January 2015. Taejukabo's main focus is Self-Defense, not sport. Since many of these arts and systems are sport-based, the trick was to use only the most simplest and effective techniques from each of those systems (named above). It also includes weapons defense, de-escalation, third party defense, and many elements of Police Defensive Tactics all aimed for civilians (bare in mind there is a difference between Police DT and Civilian SD). I am a certified Police Defensive Tactics Instructor and used alot of the curriculum taught to police, modified it, and are now teaching it to civilians, which includes use of force, de-escalation, and Defensive Es-escalation (Police DT- is mainly offensive, there's nothing 'Defensive' about Police DT).... You would have to put it in the Martial Arts category, since it is a Martial Art!! We do use a level system (based on belts) 1-5 with 1 being white, 2 being yellow, 3 being green, 4 being brown, and 5 being black. There's 3 degrees of Black Belt 1, 2, 3.... We do alot of pad work, sparring, work on Impact Resistant Suits (Redman Suits), and weapons and multiple opponent attacks. We also do training on weather elements such as ice, snow, and rain to make it more realistic and to give practitioners a more self-defense taste as to the limitations and restrictions they'll encounter in street clothes and on different pavements and conditions. I was in Tae Kwon Do for over 25 years, and achieved the rank of Chief Instructor. So that's the title I still use for Taejukabo. I really haven't given 'myself' any rank or title other then what was given to me by my Tae Kwon Do Instructors. Hope this somewhat clearifys things.
You've mentioned JKD before. Taky Kimura specifically. How long did you study JKD? It's not mentioned in this description.
In addition is this where you got your Eskrima training from? I've always found gradings strange in a self defence system.
They have nothing to do with each other as far as lineage. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kajukenbo Kajukenbo was developed from 1947-1949 to be a fighting system to be invincible on the streets of Hawaii. In Hawaii, everyone could know some kind of martial arts, whether it be boxing, wrestling, karate, FMA, Kung Fu, etc. So anything was possible to be up against in the streets. From the wiki page (much without citations but it goes along with stories I've been told down from the founders of the system): "Emperado and his brother Joe introduced Kajukenbo to the public by opening the Palama Settlement School in 1950. They called the school the 'Kajukenbo Self Defense Institute' (K.S.D.I.). The training there was notoriously brutal Their goal was to be invincible on the street, thus the students sparred with full contact. Emperado had a motto, "The workout isn't over until I see blood on the floor". He also said "the best teacher is pain". His philosophy was that if someone was afraid of pain they would be defeated the first time they were hit. Those who remained developed into tough fighters with a reputation for employing their art in street fights with little provocation."
He has probably just borrowed the idea of using a portmanteau to denote the combination of styles. His lack of stated credentials in the other arts he cited is a pretty big red flag though.
It's a new system so chances are if it is successful, it will grow to fill in some of the gaps as long as there is young blood to continue it on and test things out for themselves. It should be about the sincere and hard training. Taking Kajukenbo for example, it had five founders that combined to create the system (1947-1949). These founders were in their early twenties if not younger at the time. They had rank in other systems but they were certainly not masters at that young age. They took two years to develop the system. It was not a complete system but they had brutal training and tested stuff out.
As far as I know, between them they had instructor level grades in all of the systems they were combining.
There are quite a few guys who weren't masters when they established their arts and then (hopefully) into their eventual high rank. Look at Ed Parker, look at his early videos, it isn't great. I showed some of those early videos to my kenpo instructors and they sort of came back with big questioning "WTH was that" questions. Many of the servicemen who brought karate and other asian martial arts to the US came back with rank after relatively short tours and started teaching. Which doesn't mean it is OK, just that it has been done.
There's a world of difference between the servicemen who carried back completely new styles of martial arts in the 40's and modern instructors who are combining styles that are already very widespread in the West. If Indie doesn't hold instructor level grades/experience in the 5 martial arts he is claiming to teach, then his system is being built on a foundation of sand.
Honestly, apart from a few anecdotes mentioned about it in Black Belt Magazine, I've barely even heard of kajukenbo. Of course taejukabo isn't JKD, but the concept is still the same. And I think it's something most martial arts coaches do naturally. Does that mean it's a new "martial art" though? I'm inclined to say no.
Say whaaat??? Oh,that's right.You're a youngster and you come from some sleepy little island in the Atlantic.:zzz: