What exactly is Chinese Kenpo? What's its history? What makes it different from other traditional Chinese MA?
"The art of Chuan Fa is what the media often (and incorrectly) calls Kung Fu. Proper Chuan Fa embodies a tradition from which most of the significant schools of Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Thai Boxing and other "martial arts" have developed their technique. It is also a vision of human potential that is desperately needed in modern times. Chuan Fa teachings have directly influenced -- and may have, indeed, created -- the Japanese Art called Jiu Jitsu, from which Judo came, and via this, the art of Aikido." No Matter in which language, English - Japanese or Mandarin Chinese, one pronounces the characters on the left they still convey the same concept. The martial art that we practice at Tracy's Karate Studios began in India among the royal Warriors 1000 years before Bodhidharma, a 28th generation Buddha, introduced what was to be later inappropriately named Kung Fu among the Chinese monks in their temples. Kung Fu is only a term that describes one's most skilled abilities, e.g. a lawyer's kung fu is his practice of law, a carpenter's kung fu is working with wood and its related projects, etc. Kung Fu is not a style of martial art. Ask any individual of oriental descent if they study kung fu and they may not understand what you mean. From India to China and then into the islands of Japan and Okinawa and beyond, kenpo is a system of martial arts not a style. A system is an integrated whole whereas a style is only a portion of a system; however, each style may be a micro-system within itself. Kenpo is a Japanese art of self-defense that was brought from China to Japan about 700 years ago by the Yoshida clan. The word means literally, "Fist Law," and one who practices Kenpo (literally a boxer of the Boxer Rebellion) is a Kenpi. The Chinese style was well suited to defend against the various unarmed Japanese martial arts of the 13th century, and few modifications were required to overcome the new unarmed systems that developed over the next 7 centuries. During this same period the Chinese system from which Kenpo was derived underwent so many changes that, while most of the Kenpo techniques can be found scattered among the hundreds of Chinese fighting systems, there is no single system in China today that resembles Kenpo. 75 years ago Kenpo was so well known as an effective fighting art in Japan that many Japanese styles that had no connection with Kenpo claimed their art was derived from the Yoshida Kenpo. Some even went so far as to claim their masters had been training directly under Chinese kenpo masters. Similar claims have continued to this day, even though there has not been a Chinese kenpo master for centuries. Kenpo came to Hawaii, shortly after the turn of the century, when a Grand Master of Kenpo, Kiyoka Yoshida, was sent to the Islands by her family, to marry Otokichi Mitose. In 1920 Kiyoka sent her 3 year old son, James Mitose, back to Japan to be raised by her parents. There he studied Kenpo and became the first Mitose to Master his mother's family art of Kenpo. He returned to Hawaii only after his father's death in 1937. After the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor, James Mitose began openly teaching what he called Kenpo Jiu Jitsu and continued to teach until his retirement in 1953. One of Mitose's top students was "Willy" Chow, who became his second black belt and Assistant Instructor. In the spring of 1949 "Professor William K. S. Chow" opened his own Kenpo club and coined the term "Kenpo Karate" to distinguish his system from Mitose's, even though the two systems were virtually identical. Ed Parker was a student of Professor Chow in Hawaii, and was the pioneer of Kenpo to the Mainland. The system of Original Kenpo he taught in Pasadena, California from 1956 to 1960 was the same as that taught by Mitose and Chow. In 1961 Ed Parker and Chinese Kung Fu Master, James Wing Woo, co-founded Traditional Kenpo, and the master of those two systems was Ed Parker's first black belt, James Ibrao, and it was under Ed Parker and Jimmy Ibrao that the Tracy brothers learned Kenpo. When karate began its rise to popularity in the mid 1960s, Tracy’s dominated the tournament scene and over the years nearly 80% of the world-class Kenpo fighters had trained under the Tracy system. Because of this, and the practicality of Kenpo in real fights, it has developed such a reputation that many martial artists, including Tae Kwon Do instructors, now claim they teach Kenpo, even though they do not. So what makes Kenpo so effective? First, Kenpo is not stylized, but incorporates the moves of kung fu, Jiu Jitsu and karate into a systematic system. Second, Kenpo has always recognized the difference between "avoidable fights" and being "attacked", and has based its theories on the aphorisms of the great Chinese General Sun Tzu, that you win the fight when you do not have to fight, and most fights are avoidable. This is expressed in the Code of Yoshida: "I come to you with only open hands. Other weapons, I have not, But should Right or Honor require it, My hands will bear me out." As the name Jiu Jitsu implies, the techniques of Kenpo were designed for close range. This follows the two observable principles of unavoidable defense against an unarmed attacker: (1) 80% of all attacks begin with the attacker grabbing you (2) Nearly all other attacks begin with the attacker at close quarters While it is popular for movies and television to have long, drawn-out fights in which dozens of kicks and punches are delivered, those fights are as phony as the long drawn-out movie fights that preceded the martial arts. They are pure fantasy. The fact remains that most attacks begins with a grab, and Kenpo Jiu Jitsu, has a counter for every imaginable grab. These counters can range from simple escapes to joint locks and breaks, followed by restraints or disabling strikes. Likewise, since most other attacks are punches or strikes, Kenpo employs counters that utilize blocks, or strikes, joint and nerve strikes locks and breaks. And the important thing to know is that Kenpo, as it was originally taught in this country, is as effective today as it was in 1942, and it is an art which can be learned by nearly everyone. This info was taken from http://www.georgiakenpo.net/info_pages/what_is_kenpo.htm I practice Chinese Kenpo as taught by the IKCA by masters Sullivan and Leroux. They learned directly from Mr. Parker himself. Hopefully I covered everything...if not, just ask.
Thanks for that very thorough answer Mr Mike, it was a pleasure to read. Some points I'd like to pick up on, from a language perspective... The start of the article mentions "Chuan Fa" and the use of this term to more properly descibe the Chinese martial arts which have come to be known as Kung Fu. Later the tern "Kenpo" is introduced as though it were a unique style of the Yoshida clan, and that later Japanese claims to "Kenpo" lineage are bogus. Just to be clear, the Chinese characters 拳法 are used in both the Chinese and Japanese written languages but are pronounced differently by each language. 拳法 is "Chuan fa" in Chinese and "Kenpo" in Japanese. The phrase Kenpo translates to "Fist Method" or "Fist Law". As such, it has a very general usage that only takes on significance when associated with a identifying noun, eg. Tracy's Kenpo, Shorinji Kempo, Blue-eyed Mountain Goat Kempo. Consider the word "dancing", and how it only becomes specific when preceded by words such as "Ballroom", "Line", "Square", "Break", "Morris" or "Mad Trip-Hippy Falling-Down", etc. Kenpo is a Japanese word. To use it would require the use of the rules of that language to be observed. The fact that it has taken on different meanings with its use in American English are undeniable, but you can't take these modern nuances into the historical background where they didn't exist, they simply don't mean anything. The case in point would be the apparent importance that the different spellings of Kempo/Kenpo have for students in North America. In Japan, there is only ONE way to spell it (OK, OK, there are several ways to write it sown - Kanji, Hiragana or Katakana) and it is ONLY when trying to write it in the Western alphabet that any confusion arises.As a Japanese word, it is written with Kanji, 拳法. This can also be shown with Hiragana, which breaks it down into individual syllables. When you take each Hiragana symbol and turn it into Romaji (Roman letters, like we all use in the West), then it becomes ke+n+po+u, where the last symbol is intended to lengthen the sound of the "o". Over the years there have been several systems developed for transcribing the Japanese sounds into Romaji. There still exists some variation as to how to do this for certain sounds. The older method seems to break it down according to the rules of Japanese Grammar, by showing the word as "Kenpo" (with or without the "u" to end the word). The method adopted more recently recognises that to Western ears, the sound of "n" when followed by certain sounds is more like an "m". In this way, the modern method has made the Romaji more geared towards the Westerners that use it, rather than the Japanese people. Another example of this would be the word for "newspaper", which can be seen written as either shinbun or shimbun. For this reason, people who study the Japanese language (with or without any pretensions to Martial Art expertise), are often confused by Westerners using phrases like "Chinese Kenpo", or "Kenpo Karate", or "Shaolin Kenpo", which mix two different languages or offer peculiar translations. That these phrases have taken on some very specific meanings through their use in America cannot change the meaning of the original language. Students should be made aware of the origins of their Art, and of the name... but sometimes it will also be necessary to recognise that names can be "wrong" . All of this is just an attempt to straighten up any confusion over the language part. I have nothing to add about the lineage or history that Mr Mike refers to, as I know less than nothing about it
no, this is not accurate. It has recently been documented that there is no Yoshida connection to Mitose. There are some good threads on Kempo history at martialtalk.com, especially about Mitose and the Tracy line and how they led to the Kosho Ryu organization and the EPAK style.
He's probably referring to Bill Packer's style of Kenpo called.... "Chinese Kenpo." Basically once you get past all the crap in their history, you'll realize that Bill Packer learned Kenpo from Thomas Connor, who learned from Ed Parker. The "Chinese" in the title comes from Bill Packer taking a couple of Chinese philosophy classes and adding the usage of five animals to the style. Here's the link to their history: http://www.akka.org/history.htm
A lot of complicated answers here. To add to the confusion, Chinese Kenpo is nothing but a term that is used rather loosely, as are most martial arts terms these days. If you see the term being used, it usually means one of the following 1. You will find that most schools that say they teach Chinese Kenpo are basically teaching Parker material from the 60's and early 70's. This was before Parker's system started using the name of American Kenpo. 2. Also, Chow's (Ed Parker teacher) system is also refered to as Chinese Kempo (using the "m" spelling). 3. Then there are small number of those that use the term when they incorporate more Chinese Martial Arts (five animal, chin na, etc.) into their primarily japanese system. Sometimes they add the word Shaolin instead of Chinese (I'm not refering to Castro's or Vilari's system). The above is how it is now, but may not represent anything historically. History was covered fairly well by the other posters.
