Carter Hargrave furthered his Karate training in Kempo after several years in Kuk Sool and Tae Kwon Do. After becoming a master level 5th Dan in Kempo Hargrave became well known through his book “Japanese Kempo Karate” from Combat Martial Arts Press (Catalog now taken over by Hargrave Media). After years of seeing how non fluid and restrained the traditional Kempo systems treated fighting.
Carter Hargrave applied his knowledge of kinesiology from his Jeet Kune Do training to make a new more alive system of Kempo. He changed the stances to more upright which allowed for springy movements as well as a dramatic increase in speed when he utilized advanced non chambered body rotations with explosive breathing techniques perfected by the Chinese. He then added a combat abbreviated version of Ju Jitsu from his extensive background in that art.
When asked what he thought about Katas in martial arts Hargrave said “I think they are great for other martial arts. I have done enough kata to last the rest of my life and for my system if we ever do any kata it will be weapons katas from day one.” And so it was when Hargrave founded his own combat system it had only three Kata for first Dan black belt and they were weapons kata. Thus was born American Combat Kempo made of Karate, Jujitsu and Kobujutsu of all types. All with the heavy influence of Hargrave’s Bruce Lee Lineage.
Carter Hargrave holds seven Black Belts and Three Grandmaster Rankings.
