KENPO: forms

[aefibird]

To all the kenpo/kempo guys out there - do you train in forms/patterns/kata at your club?

 

If so, where are they from? Are they taken from karate or from Chinese styles (for example) or are they forms that kenpo practitioners have developed for use in kenpo schools?

[Sho-ju]

I'd like to learn more about kenpo forms, history etc. Any good sites, perhaps video?

[Sauzin]

Description of Okinawan Kenpo (the art I practice) Lineage:

 

http://www.argedon.de/akka/history/okinawakempo.htm

 

A nice chart to go with it:

 

http://www.ikkf.org/lineage.html

 

Now here is a good list of some of the different Kenpo's you'll see:

 

http://www.martial-arts-toplinks.com/Top_Sports_Martial_Arts_Kenpo_Schools_and_Instruction.html

 

In this list you will find some American, Dillman, Chinese, and stuff they didn't really have any other name for so they called it Kenpo. Interestingly enough, Kenpo or Ch'uan (fist) Fa (law) in Chinese can be applied to just about any art derived from the multitude of different Shaolin schools. So lets see we have a couple of different lineages here theres,

 

Okinawan Kenpo which goes:

 

Wooping Crane>Kanryo Higashionna>Shigeru Nakamura>Seiyu Oyata or Seikichi Odo

 

Then there's Dilmans Ryukyu Kenpo which goes:

 

3 seminars from Oyata + Shodan in Issinryu from Jimmy Coffman + Wally Jay small circle jujitsue + some Shotokan>George Dillman

 

Then there's American Kenpo which goes vaguely:

 

Shaolin Temple>James Mitose>William K. S. Chow + Street fighting>Edmund Parker

 

Then there's Hawaiian Kenpo which goes:

 

Shaolin Temple>James Mitose>William K. S. Chow

 

Then there's Chinese Kenpo which goes:

 

Shaolin Temple>????? (there is no way to track the amazing number of branch offs from these arts)

 

I think I got that right. I hope this helps, and believe me I’m confused to.

[delta1]

Then there's American Kenpo which goes vaguely:

 

Shaolin Temple>James Mitose>William K. S. Chow + Street fighting>Edmund Parker

 

Sauzin, pretty good, except for this (quoted). James Mitose is not generally considered to be in the roots of American Kenpo. While Prof. Chow did start out under Mitose, he left early on and concentrated on Chuan fa, or the Chinese fighting systems. Mr. Parker learned Chuan fa from Prof. Chow, then other arts from many others. What he did was so radically different from any single system, our system lineage starts with SGM Parker. Think of a family tree, where the root system is extensive, Mr. Parker is the trunk, and there are now several limbs and branches off of that.

 

aefibird, I think we've talked about this before, but as there are a lot of new people here, and we are sort of testing the Kempo waters, I'll go over it again (just skip through if it gets boreing/repetitive ).

 

American Kenpo does forms that were mostly made by Ed Parker, though some of his senior students created or modified some of the forms. I believe it was Mr. Chuck Sullivan that modified our staff form at a test. He got lost in the middle of the form, and just started winging it. Mr. Parker looked at him a while after he closed, then said "I like what you just did better. I think we'll do it that way." So it got revised, as the legend has it.

 

American Kenpo: Our early forms get you started learning how to move. We call it 'building a dictionary of motion'. Later, the forms are made up of parts of techniques, but rearranged. They help us with borrowing, grafting, technique flow, different applications, etc. They are basically more complex versions of our techniques, strung together to teach different concepts. Our techniques themselves you've heard me call 'mini forms', as they are not just single moves. They are a serries of moves strung together in a logical sequence to deal with attacks that have common characteristics. They teach us to move efficiently and effectively under the force of an assault. They are the primary medium through which we learn to use principles and concepts involved in fighting, and their application. Techniques are learned in stages, and are broken down, tore apart, and rearranged just like karateka do when studying bunkai in a form.

 

Chinese Kenpo: My system only has one master form, consisting of all our techniques. But most of the people doing it are useing the system in conjunction with, or as a base onto which to graft other systems. It works extremely well for this, and we get work in forms from those systems. It is Parker based, so the techniques serve the same purpose as in AK. Doing a principles based system, as all Parker based systems are, gives a much deeper understanding of any system or style you study or come in contact with. You get more insight into the bunkai, or true understanding of any systems forms. And, studying or working with other systems gives more insight into Kenpo also.

 

In addition to forms, there are sets which are used to drill basics (Finger Set, Kicking Set, Stance Set, ...).

 

One of the things I like about some of the Okinawan Kempo systems is their forms. They have beautiful flow! AK has flow, but we also have more hard moves. I used to do a two man form, taken from Tracy's Kenpo, and they took it from one of the traditional Kempo systems. When you got going fast with it, man did you get a feel for flow, and for timeing and sensitivity!

 

Getting drug off by my significant other............................

 

Later!

[Sho-ju]

Doesn't Kenpo mean Chinese fist?

 

If that's the case, then Chinese kenpo is Chinese Chinese fist?

[doubletwist]

Doesn't Kenpo mean Chinese fist?

 

If that's the case, then Chinese kenpo is Chinese Chinese fist?

 

No, Kenpo means "Fist Law"

 

Ken = Fist

 

Po = Law

 

DT

[opnek]

Doesn't Kenpo mean Chinese fist?

 

If that's the case, then Chinese kenpo is Chinese Chinese fist?

 

No, Kenpo means "Fist Law"

 

Ken = Fist

 

Po = Law

 

DT

 

Someones been paying attention in class.

 

Sup double

 

You ready for that test coming up?

[Sho-ju]

Doesn't Kenpo mean Chinese fist?

 

If that's the case, then Chinese kenpo is Chinese Chinese fist?

 

No, Kenpo means "Fist Law"

 

Ken = Fist

 

Po = Law

 

DT

 

Is that Japanese or Hogen? What does 'kem'po mean?

[Shorin Ryuu]

Japanese.

 

Incidentally, many people on Okinawa referred to the indigenous arts as ti (te in Japanese) and used toudi to refer to Chinese arts. But, both of them became so mixed together on Okinawa anyway, and then they called it karate later.

[Sho-ju]

Ahhhhh, shak u.