Records are few and legends often contradict each other, but all agree that Bodhidharma (Tamo in Chinese «pron. Damo») a traveling Indian monk, was responsible for bringing the beginnings of the art from India to China somewhere around 525 A.D.  Having arrived in China, he traveled to the Songshan mountains in Honan Province where he found the Shaolin Temple.  The temple had been built on a hill which was then planted all around with saplings, thus the name Shao (young) Lin (forest) Temple.  At that time, the monk's daily routine included long hours spent transcribing Buddhist texts from Sanskrit to Chinese, but not much meditation or exercise.  Consequently, the temple was being robbed repeatedly and the sedentary monks, unable to defend themselves, attacked by bandits.  Bodhidharma was given entrance to the temple, but his critical evaluation of the monk's lifestyle earned him the ill-will of the abbot, who subsequently banned him from the premises.

Bodhidharma is then said to have gone to a nearby cave where he sat in front of a wall and meditated for nine years.  Interestingly, Tamo's cave still exists in China, where an image of the monk's face is visible on the wall, said to have been burned there by nine years of Tamo's meditative gaze.  Eventually, his unusual perseverance gained him admittance to the temple, where he proceeded to teach the monks meditation and exercise forms, among which was the 18 Hands of Lohan.  Over the centuries, Bodhidharma's martial teachings were expanded upon  by the monk's observation of the fighting movements of animals, although martial arts did not become the unique focus of Shaolin training until approximately 700 years after Tamo.  Today, there are many different animal styles of Kung Fu...White Tiger, Black Crane, Praying Mantis, Monkey, etc.  The system taught at Studio 7 is Five Animal Kung Fu, utilizing mainly the fighting movements of the Leopard, Tiger, Dragon, Crane & Snake.  

Eventually, temples at Fukien, Omei Shan, Kwangtung, and Wutang Provinces were built or converted to Shaolin teachings.  Depending on the Imperial Dynasty in power in China at any given time, the famous fighting monks of Shaolin were either honored or hunted.  Several times during periods of Imperial disfavor, the Honan temple was destroyed and later rebuilt.  During these periodic temple razings, the Shaolin monks were forced to flee throughout out the world in order to preserve their martial art.  The resultant dispersal of *Shaolin Chu'an Fa (Fist Law/Art) through the Far East led to the development of many other fighting methods as each nationality adapted it to suit their needs.  Our particular form of Shaolin Chu'an Fa migrated through Japan and was held within one Japanese family (Mitose/Kosho) through 20 successive grandmasters.  'Fist Law' in Japanese translates to 'Kempo', thus the term 'Shaolin Kempo' is also used to describe our style. 

The 21st Great Grandmaster James Mitose decided to teach Shaolin Chu'an Fa to outsiders for the first time.  Teaching in 1940's Hawaii, he met Professor William 'Thunderbolt' Chow, the other grandmaster credited with helping to create the modern version of our art.  Although several purported lost interviews with Professor Chow quote him as saying that he was more a contemporary of James Mitose than a student, sharing techniques and blending their styles, the Mitose family lineage records him as one of only 6 men to receive a Black Belt from Grandmaster Mitose.

There are many different branches of Kempo being taught today, descending from various students of Mitose's &/or Chow's.  Some versions are primarily hard-style (karate-like, linear, power-based), while some are truer to the Chinese roots of Shaolin, emphasizing circularity and a wide variety of strikes and kicks.  Studio 7's style is primarily Kung Fu (Chinese), although the lower belt levels (white through purple) do contain a decreasing predominence of hard-style techniques, as they are easier for a beginner to learn.  As a Studio 7 student progresses upwards through rank, the art becomes increasingly more soft-style....circular, complex, smooth, artistic and flowing....beautiful as well as supremely effective!

*The term 'Kung Fu' actually means 'high skill'.  One can actually have good kung fu at any activity!