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Curious City

Chicago’s Infamous Dojo Wars, Part 1: The Rise of John Keehan, Karate Sensei

Curious City

WBEZ Chicago

Society & Culture, Education, Public, Chicago, Arts, City, Radio, Curious, Investigation

4.8642 Ratings

🗓️ 25 May 2023

⏱️ 33 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the 1960s, Chicago was becoming known as a center for Karate teaching and international tournaments, and the main person behind this movement was John Keehan. He was a revered black belt instructor who was also often an instigator in Chicago’s “Dojo Wars,” a series of brawls and incidents between competing martial arts schools. In part one, we follow Keehan’s rise as a sensei, and his efforts to bring more violence to the art, both on and off the mats.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Just a warning, there is quite a bit of swearing in this episode, and rather than fill it up with a bunch of bleeps, we decided to just let people speak the way they spoke.

0:08.8

Also, and this might be obvious, but as this is an episode about martial arts, please be prepared for depictions of violence.

0:18.2

It's 2 a.m. on a hot July night in 1965.

0:22.5

And standing on South Archer Avenue in front of a martial arts school, or dojo, is John Kean.

0:28.8

This red-headed 20-something.

0:30.9

He used to teach there, but he runs his own karate school now.

0:34.7

And these two dojoes, they're rivals.

0:41.2

Nearby is his buddy Doug Dwyer. The two are karate experts, both black belts. And at this moment, they're seeking to deliver some vigilante

0:46.3

justice. A short while earlier, John and Doug had placed dynamite blasting caps on the front

0:53.5

of the dojo using

0:54.5

scotch tape. They tried several times to set them off, but the fuse wouldn't stay

0:59.5

lit and the tape wouldn't stay stuck. Finally, John lit an entire book of matches, burning

1:05.5

his hand in the process. When the fuse lit, they jumped into the ride and scurried away.

1:11.8

They circled the block to see if their craftsmanship had paid off,

1:15.6

hoping to see the front windows blown to smithereens.

1:18.9

But it hadn't worked.

1:20.4

So John tries to ignite the explosives one more time,

1:23.8

but as he approaches the dojo, a police squad shows up,

1:27.4

and he dashes for their getaway car idling nearby.

1:32.0

John jumps in, and Doug hits the gas, leading police on a high-speed chase.

1:37.7

During the pursuit, police see a box with dynamite blasting caps getting tossed from the car.

1:43.3

After about a mile, Doug takes a wrong turn down a dead-end alley, and the chase ends.

...

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