Founder: Judo

Oct 28, 1860 - May 4, 1938

Jigoro Kano was born in 1860 in Kobe, Japan into a wealthy family. In 1877, as a college student he studied Tenshin-Shinyo Jujitsu under Hachinosuke Fukuda and Masatomo Iso. Fukuda gave Jigoro Kano a heavy iron rod which Kano used to practice bojitsu techniques (stick fighting). After very hard workouts Kano massaged his aching body with a strong foul smelling liniment which he prepared himself. The other students in the dojo referred to him as “Kano the Odoriferous”. Fukuda died in 1880 at 52 years of age. Jigoro Kano, his student, tried to keep his dojo open, but realized he needed more training.

1893-1972

Was the first master (sifu) to teach the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun openly. He had several students who later became martial arts teachers in their own right, including Bruce Lee.

Born March 10, 1940

Chuck Norris is an American martial artist, action star and Hollywood actor.

Born April 10, 1951

Is an American action movie actor, producer, writer, director, martial artist and singer-songwriter. He belongs to a generation of movie action hero actors (including Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Bruce Willis) who were featured in many of the Hollywood blockbuster action films of the late 1980s and 1990s.

July 27, 1923 - April 26, 1994

Masutatsu (Mas) Oyama was born Yong I-Choi on the 27th of July, 1923, in a village not far from Gunsan in Southern Korea. At a relatively young age he was sent to Manchuria, in Southern China, to live on his sister’s farm. At the age of nine, he started studying the Southern Chinese form of Kempo called Eighteen hands from a Mr. Yi who was at the time working on the farm. When Oyama returned to Korea at the the age of 12, he continued his training in Korean Kempo.