Few questions about Kenpo

[darksoul]

"Flight to Freedom?" "Dance of Death?" "Thrusting Salute?"

Wow, I never realized American Kenpo had such Ameri-do-te style names to their techniques. I'm sure the techniques are sound, it's just... I dunno. Odd?

Legitimacy is everything sometimes. What faster way is there to sound legit when you're first starting up?

I must be odd then because these just sound comical to me "THRUST OF FREEDOM!"

[bushido_man96]

"Flight to Freedom?" "Dance of Death?" "Thrusting Salute?"

Wow, I never realized American Kenpo had such Ameri-do-te style names to their techniques. I'm sure the techniques are sound, it's just... I dunno. Odd?

Legitimacy is everything sometimes. What faster way is there to sound legit when you're first starting up?

I must be odd then because these just sound comical to me "THRUST OF FREEDOM!"

I think MasterPain mentioned that the Ameri-Do-Te crew have a Kenpo background. Could be why.

[darksoul]

"Flight to Freedom?" "Dance of Death?" "Thrusting Salute?"

Wow, I never realized American Kenpo had such Ameri-do-te style names to their techniques. I'm sure the techniques are sound, it's just... I dunno. Odd?

Legitimacy is everything sometimes. What faster way is there to sound legit when you're first starting up?

I must be odd then because these just sound comical to me "THRUST OF FREEDOM!"

I think MasterPain mentioned that the Ameri-Do-Te crew have a Kenpo background. Could be why.

That would make sense. Like I said, from everything I've seen, American Kenpo is a solid style and it does share some elements with Shaolin Kempo. I just really don't think I could keep a straight face in the dojo with names like those

[lit-arate]

The Ameri-do-te guys are American Kenpoists.

And the names are no sillier than other Chinese martial arts styles' appellations (ie., "Tiger Climbs the Mountain"). They're a systematic way of simultaneously providing metaphor and mnemonic devices to categorize the techniques so students can remember what they are.

"Flight to Freedom" is a derivation of "Locked Wing"; "wing" always indicates that the technique centers around a full-arm movement (either a full arm lock, an elbow, etc.). It's called "Flight to Freedom" because the opponent blocks the elbow from "Locked Wing" that frees the "locked wing" (a hammerlock (arm held behind the back). The Kenpoka then takes a full step away from the opponent (flight) in order to escape (freedom).

The technique "Dance of Death" gets its name from the technique's complex footwork that one does around an already downed opponent to keep said opponent down.

A "salute" technique centers around a palm-strike. "Thrusting Salute" is a defense against a front-thrust kick that involves responding with a thrust kick and a center-line palm-strike.

Don't get me wrong--they're definitely silly-sounding. But also, "Deceptive Panther" and "Bowing to Buddha" are pretty awesome. Countered, I suppose, by "Prance of the Tiger" and "Defying the Rod," which always make me giggle.

You could say them in Japanese (or Chinese, or Korean, or any language that you don't usually speak and also associate with martial arts) if you wanted it to sound less ridiculous--though frankly, "shomenuchi iriminage" (head-strike entering-throw), while it accomplishes the same descriptive purpose, has much less flair, if you ask me.

[lit-arate]

I hope the above ^ doesn't come off as overly pretentious, angry, or rude. I'm a Ph.D. student, so pretentious is automatic; the other two might come from a schoolyard "don't pick on my style" response.

None of these were my intention.

[darksoul]

Hahaha, no, I didn't find it pretentious. I think it was a great explanation. In Shaolin Kempo, we don't use names at all. The only names are given to the Shaolin Katas (Stature of the Crane, 2 Man Fist Set, Swift Tiger, Iron Fortress, Hansuki, etc...)

Our combinations and techniques are simply numbered. Works for me

[Harkon72]

I know of two Kenpo styles, Korean Kenpo and Ed Parker's American Kenpo, I have never seen it practiced here in the UK so I have little first hand knowledge of it.

[Lupin1]

I had to laugh at the names of some of the movements when I looked at the website for the Kenpo school near my house. I can't imagine my instructor yelling "do the sword of destruction!" and me doing a roundhouse punch (which is all it is) without laughing. My favorite is their name for a simple front snap kick-- intellectual departure. I think perhaps they've suffered a few too many of those.

Of course, that's not all kenpo. The other kenpo school by here, which my friend's family actually owns, uses very normal names for their techniques.

[vantheman]

Hahaha, no, I didn't find it pretentious. I think it was a great explanation. In Shaolin Kempo, we don't use names at all. The only names are given to the Shaolin Katas (Stature of the Crane, 2 Man Fist Set, Swift Tiger, Iron Fortress, Hansuki, etc...)

Our combinations and techniques are simply numbered. Works for me

Some styles use Japanese names, some use english names, Shaolin Kempo uses numbers... nothing but numbers: Kempo 3, kempo 5, 1st Tiger, 3rd crane, combination 85, 6 kata...

Makes a very Martial Arts notebook considerably easy to organize

Vallari left the names to the Kung Fu Masters and Shaolin Monks. Who knows? Maybe they were laughed at for creating names like "7 (or is it 8 ) deadly roses" (Hansuki). Nowadays, they sound pretty epic.

[bushido_man96]

It all begs the question "what's in a name?"