The Academy gets its name from the Temple of the Full Autumn Moon which existed in the New Territories near Kowloon, China. The "temple" was no more than a group of small buildings inhabited by several Buddhist and Taoist priests who had all fled the North after the Communist takeover in 1949. They lived in a loosely formed communal arrangement in which each teacher or master kept up his own practices without being disturbed, while also allowing his disciples to perform communal tasks such as cleaning, cooking, gardening, and repairing the grounds.

Wen Shih, a Ch'an Buddhist priest known as the Xuan Wu or Dark Warrior, since he came from the North of China, was a mysterious figure even among those in the temple. He taught an extremely esoteric art called the Dai Lao Hu Gungfu or Grand Tiger System. It was he who taught Kawika Sensei for two years and who carved the Dai Lao Hu spirit figure which can still be viewed in the present academy. The Grand Tiger Gungfu is a rare martial vehicle from the Ch'an tradition for spiritual development which is otherwise lost to this generation.

In the academy's logo one can see the Dark Warrior, who is Master of the Night. He represents North, Winter, Yin and his color is black. Behind him is the full moon, which is the symbol of Yin. The Dark Warrior is the symbolic manifestation of the highest, most esoteric levels of understanding the dynamic processes in the universe.

The logo depicts the Dark Warrior wearing the mask of the Japanese Dai Tengu (the King of the Tengu). This represents Kawika Sensei's indebtedness to the Saito family of Fukushima, Japan, with whom he has studied for more than three decades. The Dark Warrior holds the mystical Sword of Tengu which was granted to the Saito family by the Dai Tengu of old. Kawika Sensei is the only man outside the Saito family ever to be granted the rank of Master in the family art of Shorinjin Ryu Saito Ninjitsu. It was through this rare Japanese art that Kawika perfected those psychic principles which were introduced to him through his Chinese sifu at the temple.

The academy is dedicated to the Saito Ninjitsu teachings. Kawika chose to call his academy the Temple of the Full Autumn Moon as a dedication to that Chinese temple from which he claims his martial roots. The Temple also specializes in teaching the Wudang arts of T'ai Ji Quan, Ba Gua Zhang, Hsing Yi Ch'uan and Liang Yi Ch'uan as passed down from Grandmaster Fu Zhen Song and Fu Wing Fei to Bow Sim Mark and the Fu Family including Fu Shen Long (Victor Fu). Kawika is a long time private student of Bow Sim Mark and Victor Fu for many years and is qualified and authorized to teach the arts of the Fu Family lineage.

The Tengu mask, therefore, is but one of the many masks of the Dark Warrior. This represents Kawika's teaching that the martial way is not based on strikes and kicks, but on an understanding of every aspect of human behavior. The Master wears many "masks;" which one he dons depends on the situation and the personalities present. To "wear the masks," or the ability to don and project the proper persona based on each situation, is one mark of mastery emphasized by Kawika Sensei. The martial arts should not be thought of merely in terms of physical domination, but always kept in the perspective of having composure under pressure, whether it be in the face of a mugger in the streets or in any confrontation in personal or professional life.

Blended into the overall design of the logo is the ancient oriental symbol of the Tai Ji (Yin/Yang). The Yin is black, which represents the Great Void or Wu Ji, which the Chinese call the "mother" of all created matter. The golden seed coming forth out of the Void suggests that all things were originally created beautiful and perfect.

The Yang is gold, symbolic of the purity of Spirit, the highest evolution of human striving. The black seed inherent within the golden Yang represents the return to the Creator that each and every created thing must invariably make. The logo is not a religious symbol, it simply expresses the Art's dedication to the spiritual empowerment and also the humility inherent in the Warrior Path.

Kawika Sensei guides the students beyond the signs or obvious meanings of the teaching objectives of the martial arts masters, toward their deeper, symbolic or metaphoric value. The logo as an instructional tool relates how, at the deepest level, the martial arts train and temper the spirit of a person in order to lead him or her through the psychic wars of the conscious and subconscious wills.

The logo's symbolic message is intended to reassure those who have been disappointed by the myriad but inadequate or incomplete teachings of modern martial arts instructors, that the intuition which brought them to ask spiritual questions through the medium of martial arts is not mistaken, but is affirmed by those who have known mastery.