The Berentia YMCA

The Beretania YMCA building you are essentially looking at is one of the most historically important locations in Kenpo history.

The YMCA in Honolulu is where James Mitose taught Kenpo in the 1940s. From this modest club came students like William Chow, whose lineage later influenced Kajukenbo and American Kenpo.

Mitose did not have a dedicated dojo building.
His Kenpo school was essentially a club operating inside the YMCA, which explains why photos of a specific dojo room are rare.
Historically, this building is important because it is where early figures in Hawaiian Kenpo trained, including:
William K. S. Chow
Thomas Young
From that circle the lineage later influenced:
Adriano Emperado
Ed Parker

Why did James Mitose stop training?
The answer is speculative
He may have felt his students were unwilling to dedicated enough time to the art to satisfy him.
One of his students may have accidentally killed another student causing Mitose to assert that thr students were too focused on the aggressive side of Kenpo ignoring the philosophical aspects.

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