I wish to introduce to you the late Honorable Great Grand Master Isidro P. Javier (1912-2010), and the Honorable Senior Grand Master Frank Landers, two remarkable individuals I believe are of great importance to the Martial Arts world. As and author and Historian, I have been working on the biographies of both Masters, gaining insights to their personal lives as well as their respective arts. Great Grand Master Isidro P. Javier was born in 1912, the Philippines, where he was taught by his father the the ancient and secretive fighting art of Eskrima. In the early 1900s, this art was virtually unknown to the Western world, and was passed down the generations from father to son. This was no sport. Learning was a deadly serious necessity for self-defense and for the protection of family. Mr. Javier lived at a time when he had to be able to use his mastery of Eskrima in real life and death situations. |
After immigrating to California as a farm laborer in the 1920’s Mr. Javier became a successful businessman and land owner/farmer, and in the 1970‘s was a principal actor in the farm labor movement on the Central Coast. He was a close friend of Caesar Chavez during the turbulent battle for farmworkers’s rights. Mr. Chavez lived in Mr. Javier’s home which he used as his headquarters. Mr. Javier lived a long and amazing life filled with accomplishments and passed away in 2010 at the age of 98.
Mr. Javier kept his fighting art a secret all his life, choosing to teach only one person, his son-in-law, Mr. Frank Landers. In 2010 Mr. Javier named Frank landers successor to The Javier Fighting Art, and appointed him Senior Grand Master. This great honor, combined with his own extensive martial arts history makes Mr. Landers one of the most important martial artists of our time.
Senior Grand Master Mr. Frank Landers is the founder of the International Seishindo Kenpo System one of the most unique and revolutionary American martial arts systems to be developed in the 1970s. Mr. Landers is also known as one of the great masters to rise out of Southern California in the 1970s, having trained and work alongside some of the most notable names in American martial arts.
Mr. Landers knowledge and expertise was highly sought after by the Hollywood elite, with numerous appearances in national martial arts magazines, Hollywood trade magazines, and LIVE appearances on talk shows. During the early years of American martial arts in Southern California, Mr. Landers help shape the development of tournament standards used by promoters today. He is known for his lightning speed, grace and power, and mastery of weapons and is noted for amazing demonstrations with the use of the Samurai Sword in live performances.
