Professor Charles Lee was born in Hakalau, a small sugar plantation
town 30 miles from Hilo, Hawaii. The Lee family moved to Honolulu
when Charles was still an infant. He grew up in a tough district
called Palama. As a young man he faced tough circumstances and
occasionally was involved in altercations. His teen years were spent
at the Palama Settlement, similar to the YMCA, where one of his
friends was the late Edmund Parker, who introduced Kenpo to the
mainland. Much of the arts in those days were secretive and Lee and
his friends would peek through windows regularly to watch the elders
train. This was his first introduction to Kung Fu and Karate. He and
his friends would try to emulate the elders by practicing on their
own.
Lee began his Kenpo training under the tutelage of
Prof. Simeon Eli, a student of James Mitose. Mitose, considered the
father of Kenpo Jujitsu in the U.S., was the first to teach his
family art (Koshoryu Kenpo) to Westerners. Eli awarded Charles his
Shodan in 1968 and he was brought into the folds of the AJI
administration as the Karate Division Registration Chairman. During
the early 1950's Mitose decided to dedicate his life to religion and
relinquished the Koshoryu Kenpo Jujitsu Official Self Defense Club,
turning it over to his senior student, Thomas Young. A year later,
Young in turn relinquished the Koshoryu Kenpo Jujitsu Official Self
Defense Club to Simeon Eli. After the death of Prof. Eli on July 4,
1971, tree was appointed to the position of vice president of the
Karate Division. As a tribute to Eli, Lee asked and received
approval and authority from Eli's widow, Betty, to adopt the
original Koshoryu logo as the official logo of the AJI Karate
Division. With this authority, Prof. Lee is the official caretaker
of the original Koshoryu Kenpo Jujitsu logo.
In 1975, Sensei Lee was elected vice president of
the Karate Division, and has been re-elected every year since. In
1990, Charles Lee was awarded the title of professor. He was
promoted to Hachidan in 1994, and is now ranked as a Kudan, 9th
Degree Black Belt. He is a member of the AJI's Board of Professors
and is its official technical director of Kenpo Jujitsu/Karate.
One of his most significant achievements is the
design and adoption of the official logo of the AJI patch that is
worn on the gis and apparel by the members of the institute.
Prof. Lee is a veteran of the Korean War and is a
recipient of the Purple Heart and Combat Infantryman's Badge.
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