Why do people classify kajukenbo as kenpo and/or karate?

[Crex]

From what I understand, it's a style based on karate, jujitsu/judo, kenpo, and boxing. Why then do some people refer to it as being simply synonymous with kenpo and/or karate?

[Luckykboxer]

ok i think a post i made disappeared... that or i responded to this question in another forum...

 

Basically I said that the reason I personally associate as such is that the only people i have seen using this art have been during competitions in karate open tournaments only and not in any other form of tournament, including boxing matches, judo and jiujistu tournaments.

 

I havent trained at a Kajukenbo School, but that is how i have gotten my impressions of it personally

[Drunken Monkey]

i would've thought that taking of moves and applying the kenpo way to them would just make it kenpo again.

 

i mean, isn't it the kenpo way?

 

to take theories and movements and to 're-form' them into 'new' movements that are alive and adaptive to situations?

[Sasori_Te]

Drunken Monkey, what is the kenpo way. I thought Kenpo/Kempo meant "fist law" or "fist way". Or are you speaking specifically about Ed Parker's American Kenpo?

[Drunken Monkey]

well, i mean, doesn't kempo work by taking a set of moves (any set of moves) and then break them apart and put back together again.

 

from what i gather, kempo works with principles rather than fixed moves.

 

i know there are forms but again, these are just 'versions' (or perhaps, physical interpretations) of the principles, right?

 

i should point out that my knowledge of kempo is purely second hand.

 

that's why my first reply was also posed as a question.

[daehon]

If they are calling the style karate, it's probably because they don't know much about martial arts, or because they call all forms of martials arts " karate". I've seen this in a number of states so far, and it never ceases to amaze me that people can be so ignorant to the differences in styles.

[SevenStar]

the ka and ken in kajukenbo represent karate and kenpo - karate. karate is in the style's name twice, indicating a heavy karate influence. now, admittedly, it tends to follow (from what I've seen of it) more of the kenpo influence, which considering it came from empirado explains why it looks like it has more of a chinese flavor.

[delta1]

..., isn't it the kenpo way?

 

to take theories and movements and to 're-form' them into 'new' movements that are alive and adaptive to situations? ..., doesn't kempo work by taking a set of moves (any set of moves) and then break them apart and put back together again.

 

from what i gather, kempo works with principles rather than fixed moves.

 

i know there are forms but again, these are just 'versions' (or perhaps, physical interpretations) of the principles, right?

 

Well, you're on the right track, but you may be getting derailed a bit. All martial arts work with principles, and the highest form of any art is not only to be able to do it, but to thoroughly understand what you are doing. EPAK demands a good understanding, as opposed to arts that show you and leave you to work it out, hopefully with some instructor guidance. But there is no requirement to pick apart another system to either understand it or to restructure it. We get the tools to do that, and it is encouraged. But you could just keep advancing with only an understanding of the principles and concepts in AK. Personally, I find it fascinating to work with another stylist, see what he does, look for similarities, differences, points of divergence or convergence, ... .

 

Not everyone is that way. My brother, for example, hates it when I compare styles. He immediately starts expounding on why the Kenpo way is better, and he really gets mad if I use something I learned outside our system on him and it works. It works in reverse too. He's so bad about it that once when we were sparing he was sneaking in a move from time to time and nailing me hard. I don't even remember what it was, but I do remember I was getting tired of getting hit (especially by him). So I told him that I'd seen that move practiced as a base move in a TKD school that I'd recently worked with. He never used it on me again!

 

OK, you're derailed, I'm sidetracked. Back to the discussion: AK does have a lot of basics, and we have a lot of techniques which consist of different moves, basics, principles, concepts, etc. And we do tear them apart and restructure them. This is all a part of the method of learning and understanding these different moves, basics, principles, concepts, etc. That is what they were designed to teach, not a rote response to every situation you might face (as though that were possible).

 

So, yes, that is prety much what we do. But we aren't the only ones that do it. We do approach it a little different than most. And we do it mostly to our own techniques. Doing it to your techniques is extracarricular, but a lot of fun- and very instructive in its own right. Hope this answered your question(s).

[Drunken Monkey]

...what i meant was,

 

if it has kempo as a constituant part,

 

kempo being something that can applied to all techniques,

 

the end result will still be kempo no matter what techniques you absorb.

 

does that sound about right?

[Red J]

Drunken, you are right in that many kenpo/kempo schools operate with that kind of method, but so do other styles.

 

To answer the original question about Kajukenbo being classified as kempo is because in the family tree, the style that came before and the styles after are mostly referred to as kempo/kenpo. Emperado's contibution to the art was in Kempo, along with the other co-founders bringing in aspects of judo, jui-jitsu, karate, and chinese boxing.