Kenpo Karate- is it you?

[mattys]

I for one, am an Okinawan Kenpo practicioner, and I find it insulting to hear someone say kenpo is an ineffective art, especially considering that most modern traditional arts are offshoots of Kenpo. Take a look at Shorin-ryu, or Goju-ryu, there are techniques and kata found in these styles that have been taken from their root art, kenpo.

I'm sorry mattys, but that's just flat out wrong. It's more the other way around. Okinawan Kenpo founder Shigeru Nakimura took a lot from Shorin-ryu. Odo, who your Sensei learned from took even more from Shorin-ryu. I'd say 90% of Okinawan Kenpo has Shorin-ryu roots. Not the other way around. Goju wasn't even around at the time and it came almost entirely from China. Neither have any roots in Okinawan Kenpo.

I stand corrected! Thank you, I never actually knew that, that was just the understanding I gained from some of my sensei's lectures (though he never flat-out said it, I just kind of assumed.)

[Sauzin]

I understand, that happens. Often I have to go back to my sensei and try and figure out specifics wiht him. The thing about Okinawan history is it gets very blurry at some points. I guess there are some things that certain people would rather have been a different way. And not everyone agrees what account actually happened. That's why you have to get different people's accounts and look at the evidence youself.

[mattys]

We should have a chat sometime, I'd like to pick your brain sometime, I think I could learn a lot from you. PM me?

[Kajukenbopr]

PArtially agree with you Sauzin

not all Kenpo is the same, but our similarities outnumber our differences. Some have different manners of apporoach.

We all train for Self Defense- we all train hard and our styles are tried for efficacy before being stablished as Kenpo Styles.

[parkerlineage]

It seems to me that there's a lot we could all learn from one another - though it also seems that there's quite a lot of different styles of Kenpo here. If I may ask so, let's try to make our discussions open to everybody, so that we can be a little more out in the open than we have been.

Peace;

Parkerlineage

[Sauzin]

...but our similarities outnumber our differences. Some have different manners of apporoach.

We all train for Self Defense- we all train hard and our styles are tried for efficacy...

You can say those things about any two martial arts. I'm sorry but Kenpo isn't a style. It's simply a group of different styles (such as, karate, kung-fu, Dillman theory, and street fighting) that happen to bear the same name.

I have no problem keeping discussions open to everyone. This is after all a open forum about karate. But in my opinion you really should include every martial art in these "kenpo" topics. Because any martail art out there will have just as many similarities.

Hey mattys I'll shoot you a PM.

[Kajukenbopr]

the base of most kenpo styles are pretty similar- ur right they vary, some are from china, others from Japan and others are from Hawaii - there are going to be different. However, karate styles are different from each other and they still call themselves "Karate" , Kung Fu can be even more diverse from one style to another but still falls into the category of "Kung Fu"

so what if yo are KEnpo from Japan and I am Kenpo from Hawaii?- it is still kenpo.

[Sauzin]

the base of most kenpo styles are pretty similar- ur right they vary, some are from china, others from Japan and others are from Hawaii - there are going to be different. However, karate styles are different from each other and they still call themselves "Karate" , Kung Fu can be even more diverse from one style to another but still falls into the category of "Kung Fu"

so what if yo are KEnpo from Japan and I am Kenpo from Hawaii?- it is still kenpo.

I'm sorry but I can't let this one rest. Karate, true karate not some random martial art that decided to call itself karate, is Okinawan. You can say all Karate comes from or has roots in Okinawa and thus it is a family of arts. They have some connection. There is absolutely no connection what-so-ever amongst most Kenpo aside from the fact that they are all martial arts and happen to have the word "Kenpo" in their name. Now yes you can argue that things coming from the same place can be different. But at least where they come from is a distinction. I would challenge you to find a single identifying distinction that separates Kenpo from any other martial art, such as karate, or kung-fu. There is no such identifying distinction. As such I find it pointless to categorize Kenpo seperately.

I don't mean to get all uppitty here but belonging to a style that is called Kenpo myself I find it somewhat frustrating when people assume or make judgements about the art I practice based on a common name that we share with other arts that have no relation to what we practice.

[scottnshelly]

I’ve been practicing Martial Arts for almost my entire life and Kenpo for a couple years. I don’t know everything – although sometimes I tell people I do. I’m going to give my opinion, limited as it may be.

There is no one single aspect that separates Kenpo from any other art; however, this can be said about most arts. Kenpo, as I understand it, is a very open-minded art, much like Jeet Kune Do. I would say that there are some differences that most people would be able to notice if they saw.

Most Kenpoka that I’ve seen have a lot in common: striking vital points, using open handed techniques often, low kicks, joint locks, circular and linear attacks and weapon defenses. I know that most styles include these same aspects and this is not all of Kenpo, but these are the differences that I have noticed that separate Kenpo from other styles.

If you compared two Kenpo practitioners of different styles you would be able to find differences in their technique, history and philosophy. If you compared two Tae Kwon Do practitioners of different styles the same would be true. If you compared a Tae Kwon Do practitioner against a Kenpo practitioner the differences would be much greater and the similarities would be much less significant.

So, although there are differences in the roots, techniques and philosophies of each sub style of Kenpo, in the greater scheme of things they are basically the same style family. Besides, we only have names for styles for classification purposes; otherwise we’d all just be Martial Artists. If that’s the main purpose of having a name for the style, then it doesn’t make much sense to try to over-complicate the classification and create a new style for each little difference.

[parkerlineage]

Hear, hear!