First Kung Fu Master In America?

[DapperDave]

Master?

I thought it was Big Country.

 

[Royce's Gi]

I am wondering, who brought Kung Fu in to America?

I mean first Karateka in America is Robert Trios who credited Yashiro Konishi. Of course lots of Americans learned judo and other Japanese martial arts and brought the art. But Kung Fu has always been elusive art for the longest time and I am trying to find if there was a particular individual who first introduced Kung Fu to America during the Chinese immigration to US?

Probably someone back from the Railroad-days when lots of Chinese came to work.

So, guessing around 1865 or something.

Maybe even earlier, like in the 1830s.

 

[Rob Rain]

Tanaka san is from Japan.



Google doesn't know.




Actor but yes he played a Kung Fu dude.

Bing

 

[Rob Rain]

His name was Steven

 

[Thecyborgmj23]

“Kung Fu come from China, sixteenth century, called te, "hand." Hundred year later, Miyagi ancestor bring to Okinawa, call *kara*-te, "empty hand."

-Mr. Miyagi

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

This guy?

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

View attachment 1036698

This literally happened

 

[Reach4theSky]

What made me wonder is, when they came to America, they were much like a happy go lucky child in a sense of having a sense of innocence and optimism looking for prosperity and adventure before facing cruelty of the world. So before their dreams shattered, I wonder if the early migrants had a Kung Fu master who were more than happy to share their Kung Fu with Americans before everything went to crap?

That's an unlikely assumption. The Chinese had strict rules to not teach martial arts to foreigners. Look at what Bruce Lee had to deal with when he opened his school to Americans, and that was in the 1960s...

 

[Haj01]

Was not even a person who introduced it.

It was Panda



Kung Fu Panda


Panda.... Panda..... PANDA PANDA PANDA PANDA

 

[knock_you_out]

Bruce Lee was probably the first to teach Americans.

 

[rstringer]

 

[rstringer]

This literally happened

we need a remake so bad.

 

[NoSmilez]

See I thought about this and I was thinking about this watching the warrior series which takes place in 1878 and then reading about the history of Chinese in San Francisco and the Chinese exclusion act that came after.

It got me wondering one thing after reading this:

View attachment 1036688

What made me wonder is, when they came to America, they were much like a happy go lucky child in a sense of having a sense of innocence and optimism looking for prosperity and adventure before facing cruelty of the world. So before their dreams shattered, I wonder if the early migrants had a Kung Fu master who were more than happy to share their Kung Fu with Americans before everything went to crap?

There was Lau Bun who came to America to share his Chinese Medicine and first day, he got in to a fight with immigration officer, dropped his ass, took out four cops, ran and the hop sing offered him protection if he taught Kung Fu to the tong + being an enforcer.


Dude went from wanting to heal people only to end up becoming a gangster. He was born in 1891 and so immigration was happening 50 years before he was born. I always wondered if the beginning of Chinese immigration started off on a friendly term and then conflict kicked in.

The early wave of Chinese immigrants were weird. They were willing to mix with white people. They married Irish and black women. I think it's because Irish were considered colored back then and Chinese women weren't really allowed to migrate to America under some prostitution law.

 

[Better Every Day]

I am wondering, who brought Kung Fu in to America?

 

[Ogata]

1830s.

Here is an accessible and credible article.

First News of Kung Fu Arrives in America, 1830

During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the history of martial arts in the United States was purely western, encompassing European-style pugilism, wrestling, fencing, as well as a div…

martialartsnewyork.org

Thank you so much. This is fucking outstanding and I love seeing this!


Kung Fu has so much lure and mystery to it all thanks to its rich history. From the urban legend of Master X to the immortal master to those who made the journey in to yoga to extract its wonders in order to implement it to their style.


Kung Fu has a very rich history be it good or bad. From true legendary masters forgotten to time to Kung Fu con artist to people who use it as a form of therapy and metaphor.

Probably someone back from the Railroad-days when lots of Chinese came to work.

So, guessing around 1865 or something.

Maybe even earlier, like in the 1830s.

True and I wonder how he was received and if he ever fought or competed or did any demonstration. I actually would love to know the first master that represented Kung Fu.

That's an unlikely assumption. The Chinese had strict rules to not teach martial arts to foreigners. Look at what Bruce Lee had to deal with when he opened his school to Americans, and that was in the 1960s...

This is true, but I believe the strict rules came in when relationships soured because of the conflicts and not to mention the Chinese exclusion act which was from 1882 to1943. Bruce was born in 1940 and that law ended when he was 3 years old and he probably missed that era filled with resentment which revolved around not teaching or sharing any Kung Fu or medicine to the Non-Chinese.


But going back, the Chinese came around 1830 which was 52 years before that god awful exclusion act. So I reckon that maybe in the beginning, when there was no bad history, that perhaps things were amicable since the Tang Dynasty was known to welcome Hindustanis, Persians, Arabs, Japanese, Koreans and Europeans to share culture and do business with.


Hence with that, I always thought that beginning was fine before conflict of interest kicked in and bad feelings came to the surface.

The early wave of Chinese immigrants were weird. They were willing to mix with white people. They married Irish and black women. I think it's because Irish were considered colored back then and Chinese women weren't really allowed to migrate to America under some prostitution law.

That actually makes lots of sense. I was reading about the Tang Dynasty and they welcomed and learned from Yogis from Hindustan and did business with Persians as well as teach and mentor Japanese who had deep reverence for their culture. In fact, the kimono and lot of Japanese traditions are from the Tang era.
But what you say makes sense and you are correct, the Irish along with Italians were considered non-white and were considered low class.

 

[duke_droese]

All of the others were fakes.

 

[Bork Neslar]

 

[Dr. Rose]

Thank you so much. This is fucking outstanding and I love seeing this!


Kung Fu has so much lure and mystery to it all thanks to its rich history. From the urban legend of Master X to the immortal master to those who made the journey in to yoga to extract its wonders in order to implement it to their style.


Kung Fu has a very rich history be it good or bad. From true legendary masters forgotten to time to Kung Fu con artist to people who use it as a form of therapy and metaphor.




True and I wonder how he was received and if he ever fought or competed or did any demonstration. I actually would love to know the first master that represented Kung Fu.




This is true, but I believe the strict rules came in when relationships soured because of the conflicts and not to mention the Chinese exclusion act which was from 1882 to1943. Bruce was born in 1940 and that law ended when he was 3 years old and he probably missed that era filled with resentment which revolved around not teaching or sharing any Kung Fu or medicine to the Non-Chinese.


But going back, the Chinese came around 1830 which was 52 years before that god awful exclusion act. So I reckon that maybe in the beginning, when there was no bad history, that perhaps things were amicable since the Tang Dynasty was known to welcome Hindustanis, Persians, Arabs, Japanese, Koreans and Europeans to share culture and do business with.


Hence with that, I always thought that beginning was fine before conflict of interest kicked in and bad feelings came to the surface.




That actually makes lots of sense. I was reading about the Tang Dynasty and they welcomed and learned from Yogis from Hindustan and did business with Persians as well as teach and mentor Japanese who had deep reverence for their culture. In fact, the kimono and lot of Japanese traditions are from the Tang era.
But what you say makes sense and you are correct, the Irish along with Italians were considered non-white and were considered low class.

Glad you found the article helpful.

 

[b00tysweat]

This literally happened

best documentary of all time

 

[BabyBlue_Bomber]

Not sure…

But thanks to Iko Uwais and those Raid movies, everyone knows what Silat is…