Information on 5 Animals - Ark Wong's style and ranks

[Kevin73]

What were the sash ranks he mentioned?

I'll try and find the article again and post what he said.

[Grasshopper101]

AFAIK San Soo is a bunch of kempo bullsh1t and they kind of copied the history of Five Family Fist?

Where does this Kempo thing keep coming from? I've read quite a few threads on here about San Soo and kempo, and from what I can tell it was a misunderstanding about the guy having the same name as another guy.

I've seen quite a bit of Kempo and San Soo being done, and in my inexpert opinion, they are not at all the same.

Its pretty obvious that Jimmy Woo knew some sort of kung fu by watching the older videos of him - what that is I don't know, but it doesn't look like kempo to me.

[Violent Designs]

all historical records of San Soo seem pretty muddy though.

what is it, in reality?

[Kevin73]

Where does this Kempo thing keep coming from? I've read quite a few threads on here about San Soo and kempo, and from what I can tell it was a misunderstanding about the guy having the same name as another guy.

I've seen quite a bit of Kempo and San Soo being done, and in my inexpert opinion, they are not at all the same.

Its pretty obvious that Jimmy Woo knew some sort of kung fu by watching the older videos of him - what that is I don't know, but it doesn't look like kempo to me.

Ed Parker knew most of the kung fu people at that time period. From what I have been told by a student who was there at the time. Ed spent time with Jimmy Woo (founder of San Soo) and talked to him about marketing etc. Because of their business relation many people have said that Ed Parker was a student of Woo's or that Woo was a student of Parker. Neither was true, although I wouldn't be surprised if they did exchange ideas informally.

Ed Parker DID train with James Woo and worked with him in writing his book "Secrets of Chinese Karate". Woo also helped create the early kenpo forms with Ed Parker to give kenpo a more traditional feel to it as opposed to just streetfighting/self-defense techniques like he had learned from Prof. Chow.

[Grasshopper101]

all historical records of San Soo seem pretty muddy though.

what is it, in reality?

I don't know, but IMO its not Kenpo Karate.

[cerebus]

Ed Parker knew most of the kung fu people at that time period. From what I have been told by a student who was there at the time. Ed spent time with Jimmy Woo (founder of San Soo) and talked to him about marketing etc. Because of their business relation many people have said that Ed Parker was a student of Woo's or that Woo was a student of Parker. Neither was true, although I wouldn't be surprised if they did exchange ideas informally.

Ed Parker DID train with James Woo and worked with him in writing his book "Secrets of Chinese Karate". Woo also helped create the early kenpo forms with Ed Parker to give kenpo a more traditional feel to it as opposed to just streetfighting/self-defense techniques like he had learned from Prof. Chow.

There's where the misunderstanding comes in. Jimmy H. Woo was the founder of San Soo, friend of Ed Parker, etc. But it was James Wing Woo (a different person entirely) who created the original Kenpo forms for Parker & helped him write his first Kenpo book.

There is a chapter on James Wing Woo in the book "Nei Jia Quan" by Jess O'Brien.

[Kevin73]

What were the sash ranks he mentioned?

The sashes were

Grey (beginner)
Green
Red
Blue
Black (instructor)

Ark Wong (interview from Kung Fu Masters page 270) states that he only did testing at a minimum every 6 months and sometimes longer. All students had to wear the grey sash for at least 6 months before moving on. All students had to have achieved black sash before they were allowed to be an instructor.