WOW Are you saying that I'm not welcome here and should go post on an AKKI only forum? I'll assume for the sake of civility that that's not what you are saying. Yes, the Open Forum of the AKKI can be found at www.akki.com It's pretty good. Infact it was originally set up by my instructor. Your Brother John
no brother john,totaly the oposit, its just i think i posted a thread there a few weeks ago,great site and some good people,freindly, we in kenpo as a minority art in the uk,must stand together,it shouldnt matter if you are akki or bkku or independent as i am,i am not afiliated to any one but the ama,as i couldnt find what i wanted in a organisation,so we stand alone,we have about 40 adult students and 120 kids between the clubs run by my instructor and me,i have 2 of my own ,and a project club of kenpo fighting system,if you are ever in the south west uk (somerset)drop me a line ,we can train,that goes to anyone, cheers matt
good Glad to hear it. I'm glad that I assumed civility.... I had you wrong originally I guess. Hey... I don't know if you know him, but try looking up Les Grihault. He runs a top-notch AKKI affiliated school in the UK. You might check him out... or his 6th Black instructor, Mr. Berine Drakes. Here's Les' classy web-site address: http://kenpo.co.uk Check it out, if for no other reason than the very excellent forum and all his great Kenpo info. I'll gladly vouche for Mr. Grihault's quality... especially considering all the others who have done the same: American Kenpo Karate International Registered Instructor 1st Degree Black Belt (Shaolin Kenpo) City & Guilds 7307 (Adult & Further Education) Teachers Certificate First Aid Certificate (Health & Safety Executive no. 68/98 Approved) NFPS Control & Restraint Certificate British National Martial Arts Association Registered Instructor Member of the National Coaching Federation tell Les his 'brother John' says hi. IF I ever get the pleasure of visiting your wonderful island, I will drop in. Your Brother John
hi brother john ,good to hear from you ,great site thanks,im planing my own at present lots of work,im also looking for a org to link my clubs to as we are independent at present ,which has its pluses ,like no politics ect,but minuses like not being linked to large orgs like akkf bkku ekkf ikka ect,its hard to decide whats right they all look good ,as i said we are linked to no one ,we stand independent ,we have our own syllubus based on the old ekkf and bkku syllubus,we have about 120 kids and 40 adults and expanding(slowly)kenpo is still a very minority art here!, kenpo is so misunderstood here ,alot of the instructors are not progresive,very system oriantated,im more of a motion man myself,i am lucky haveing a good instructor ,im also working on a component art i have named kenpo fighting system(kfs)which is designed to bring new people to kenpo ,and interest mma, maybe more sport oriantated ,but maintaneing the esence of kenpo mainly in the techniques ,sparring is free in its manor,both ground fighting and grappling included ,more fittness,it should inerest one or two day a week ers ,rather than full timers,hopefuly bringing them to the full art in time ,kenpo can be quite overpowering for the novice ,and i dont want to water down my full syllubus,as many have to comercailise, opinions please, many thanks matt
This is funny! It is spelled Kenpo because in the Japanese language the M is always followed by a vowel. It is pronounced Kempo but spelled Kenpo. Nice long story for such a simple. Just like many words in English that don't seem to fit. Philosophy should be filosophy or is it just because some English speaking person changed the style of philosophy and felt the spelling change was in order? Kenpo is the correct english spelling. Kenpo is Japanese term for the ancient Chinese art of Gung Fu pronounced Kung Fu. The tradition in Kenpo is never forgotten but science is applied under what was Ed Parker's amazing dream to have one of the most effective Martial Arts available. His dream is still alive even though it is splintered. The history of Kenpo is much older then Mitose. Kenpo goes back many centuries and is traced back to China and further back into India. Another reason Ed Parkers was so great was picking up this great art and making it very learnable in our society. Up until that happened the language barriers were too hard to overcome to have a full understanding of what a Chinese teacher was teaching. There are many words in the Chinese language that dont translate well to English and yet the only way most Americans could learn from the 40's to the late 50's when Parker arived was by learning from a Chinese Sifu. Much was lost and much was purposely kept. When the Japanese moved to Hawaii there was not the same sense of keeping secrets. The Japanese were the only culture who had the knowledge of the Chinese art almost as well as the Chinese. Hawaii was the American window into the art. American now had a man who could teach them in there own language and in a way they could master it. Many greats learned from Ed Parker himself. Most would have thought Ed Parker to be a student to a great like Bruce Lee but it was the other way around. If studied closely you can see a lot of Kenpo in Jeet Kune Do. I know this is an old thread but I had too. There is much confusion in the Martial Arts and many arguments as to what is the best. We all have the right to be proud of the art we have chosen don't we?
What do you all think of tracy's kenpo? That is the system I took. My instructor was a student of his and he used to come to our school and give seminars. My instructor moved to cali, and I moved to a state with no kenpo . I am training in tkd/kickboxing (soon to have jj) and some dumb karate system.
I think Tracy's Kenpo is great The Tracy brothers were some of the few who earned their Black Belt from Ed Parker himself. From what I know Al Tracy is one of the biggest supporters of keeping Ed Parkers way of Kenpo growing. There are more fast, hard hitting styles if Kenpo is not available. Jeet kune Do, Wing Chun and so on. TKD is not a bad art, I have taken it and enjoyed it. I have found Kenpo to be better for me though. Good luck!
The jeet kune do here is fake. The wing chun school is ok but does not mix with my way of fighting. I see some similarities in the strikes and blocks to kenpo and movement. The wing chun school isn't as good as the tkd school I go to. A friend of mine went to the wing chun school that also took tracy's system and said that most of our black belts could easly beat their top students. He stopped going to that school. I have a friend who trained at this school for the same amount I train in tkd. We always argue on how to punch. I do not like where they punch from. I have sparred him he is pretty good. I cannot spar bareknuckle though I stopped when I broke his finger. I do not like the wing chun stances or any kung fu stances. I like their strikes. Thats it though. I have to see what this karate school is like that just opened up.
I'm not a Kenpoka but I was under the immpression that Mr. Parker abondoned Prof. Chows teachings before he created the American Kempo assn. In other words, he removed the ancient Shaolin Chuan Fa motion from Kenpo. Things like the float of mass and hip turning to reinforce strikes.
I'm curious to hear more detail please on this idea. I understand you don't know Kenpo but can you elaborate on what are the characteristic motions of shaolin chua fa. thanks! David
Hi David, I found some info from Mr. Tracys website;this link regarding Mr. Parker and Prof. Chow.Tracys Karate It is a really informative site if you haven't read through it before it is full of information. I don't think all of his facts are exactly 100% correct, but so much history ends up being opinion based on what little facts there are that it's hard to know anything for sure. Ancient Shaolin and modern Shaolin have many differences probably due to the old masters having to disguise their arts in the past and during communism and the cultural revolution. I think that some of the most important principles are the float of mass, turning the hips to reinforce our strikes and 3/4 extension of our strikes and striking inside my centerline. As basic example would follow like this: As I deliver a strike, my same side foot would float just barely above the ground so that when my strike hits, it is delivered with my bodyweight behind it instead of just my hand. My hips, driven by my legs, would then drive foward reinforcing that strike. My strike, in line with my center, at 3/4 extension is in a natural position of great strength for my body. I do all this to magnify my strike with kenetic energy. I seen quite a few arts that used some of these principles, Kenpo most noteably, but very few seem to use all these principles. -Gary
Thats very cool of tracy . I was unsure if he had a spute with Mr.parker. I think tracy did his best to trace kenpo's roots. It really is a opinion heh. I know that tracy added stuff that parker did not and other changes. Tracy wanted it more trad than parker. I think parker's idea is better to evolve the art even though I trained in tracy's system. None the less both are effective.
