its mainly a striking art, but depending on what style kenpo you take you may also be taught throws and locks. i have personally taken american kenpo at 2 different schools and the material was vvery different at each. like most schools a lot of what u learn is based on your teacher. sorry i dont know any in NYC but i bet sensei www.google.com does to bad he cant rate them for you
There are many different styles of Kenpo/Kempo. I practice Shorinji Kempo, and I know there's a dojo in NYC: http://www.nyshorinji.org/index.html
I do Shaolin Kempo. We have plenty of locks and throws. It's probably my favorite part of the system.
Hey There, I am the webmaster of New York City branch of Shorinji Kempo. As was mentioned earlier, we do have a website and it is http://www.nyshorinji.org. There you can download videos to see what this stye entails. To quickly answer your questions, our style does have strikes, wristlocks, throws and holds. Just keep in mind that Kempo or Kenpo are generic terms and does not mean any particular style such as dance does not tell you if it is a ballet or salsa. Again feel free to checkout our website and you can send me an email if you have any further questions.
Well this will have to do until E-Budo is fixed. Just came back from doing a morning Shorinji Kempo demonstration at the United Nations International School for their Japanese Culture celebration. Lots of fun and the Japanese UN ambassador was there. There were also other martial arts represented there including Shotokan Karate and Kendo but what was intersting was one of the Shotokan students who is a Japanese man in his 70's was entirely surprised that Shorinji Kempo was even represented and was incredibly excited. Apparently he studied Shorinji Kempo under Kaiso, went as far up as Shodan and when he moved to New York City, there was no branch at that time so he switched to Karate. He was just so happy to share his memories of Kaiso and he smiled like a little boy as we had triggered so many happy memories.
Poor E-Budo...I used to lurk around on that forum a lot. It's really too bad that more of the Shorinji Kenshi there don't drift over here to MAP. That sounds great! Was the guy at all interested in practicing Shorinji Kempo again? I'd be really sad if I had to give it up and switch to another art.
I have to say I do not care for this forum's interface ad loved the simplicity of E-Budo. I also post more on BudoSeet.net where there is a dedicated Shorinji Kempo forum but that too does not thrill me. Oh well. As far as the gentlemen in question is concern, we gave him an open invitation to come visit our class but stop short of encouragim him to join. I think you have to respect that his path went a different way and trust that if the memories were really good, he may join us in some capacity. On the other hand, I was jus thinking that maybe its like being married and meeting up with an old love. You kind of in the question whether you want to rekindle that spark and also why would you?
Hi Luar, Welcome to MAP. Wow that makes 4 Shorinji Kenshi posting here. As to jof20's question, I think that if he is interested he should have a look at the different styles. It has already been pointed out that Kempo/Kenpo is a generic term, and that most forms of it will address the areas of concern; however training methods and application methods will differ quite a lot.
I suppose technically I am a former Kenshi, but it is nice to note that even this small band of practicioners represent a global spread of Kaiso's work. London, New York, Vancouver and Queensland is a pretty good spread from the English-speaking world. Of course there are also a whole load of Kenshi in Sweden, France, Italy, Tanzania, Kenya, Indonesia, New Zealand and the rest... perhaps we might have a few of those turn up on here soon.
I dunno...I think the interface here at MAP is one of the best. I like the colours, too! I always found E-Budo's brown to be a bit...depressing. I guess it's just a matter of personal taste though. Still, MAP was the first martial arts forum I ever joined. If I remember correctly I was the only Shorinji Kenshi around here back then :cry: It's so nice to see you guys around here...I don't feel so lonely anymore If enough of us join and start posting Shorinji Kempo stuff maybe we'll eventually get our own forum! I remember Kimpatsu was a member here for a while, but he got himself banned with his...aggressive campaigning for a dedicated forum. Anyway...back to the original topic... I think this is good advice. There are so many different types of Kempo, and New York is such a big city that I'm sure he'll be able to find something that interests him if he looks around enough.
Well I suppose its up to us to put on a good face for WSKO Actually I seriously do not believe there are many Kempo/Kenpo schools in NYC. In fact I know of none outside of Shorinji Kempo not even Ed Parker's. There is a lot of the more traditional styles such as Karate, Kung-Fu, TKD, Aikido and Brazilian Jujitsu. Anyway jof20, we are letting this conversaton drag on and you are of course more than welcome to visit our dojo. You can also email me if you have any questions about other schools here in NYC.
I study Kenpo Taijutsu, which is comprised of the following: American kenpo - strikes/self-defense techniques Kuk sool won - joint locking (closing technique) Budo Taijutsu - close quarter fighting Judo - throws A nice variety of techniques from each system.
How so? I didn't see anything in the initial question stating that this was a Shorinji Kempo thread. As previously stated there are several styles of kenpo/kempo each with it unique blend of techniques.
I think what he was trying to say is that it was a little bizarre for you to somewhat randomly list the styles you practice, when it was a thread asking about the nature of Kempo/Kenpo, especially since there is another similar thread asking people what style(s) they practice. It would seem more fitting for your reply to have been in that thread rather than this one. At least, that's what I make of it
Yes, thart is what I was thinking of. I wasn't trying to make the thread exclusively Shorinji Kempo (although it went that way when the original poster disappeared and the remaining folk indulged in a bit of thread drift ). The other bit that made me wonder, was your location in Texas. The thread started off including an "NYC" specific request.
Ok lads, wind your necks in. The thread is a person asking a genuine question, not an ego massage thread. I am an American Kenpo practioner, a system best described as multiple strike, multiple break. We have takedowns, but not really any throws. I have a limited experience of some of the Okinawan/Japanese based Kempo systems. The ones I saw were almost Jujitsu based with an emphasis on stand up fighting, ending a conflict as swiftly as possible with strikes, joint locks (essentially breaks) and take downs. Good luck
