Kempo/Kenp is sub-directory of Karate?

[KenpoDragon]

Originally posted by Touch'O'Death
Fistway Dragon (ha ha),
I see the gospel according to Ed Parker over rules Two different scources(women that actualy read Japanese) I guess the whole Idea of it being a way of thinking is just crazy. I will say this though, I will never purchase that encyclopedia you keep trying to push on me; so, pawn that stuff on someone else... brother.
love sean

Well that's why you keep misunderstanding the art of Kenpo huh??? You don't have the book, now I see. Well if you don't see the infinite knowledge in one of Kenpo's greatest books, that is your loss......"brother".:shrug:

 

[sammy3170]

Originally posted by KenpoDragon
Alright Touch"o"Death I didn't want to embarrass you in front of all your Kenpo brothers, but you forced me too. This is a direct quote from Ed Parker's Encyclopedia of Kenpo.

KENPO- A modern term describing one of the more innovative systems of the Martial Arts which originally started in Hawaii, is heavily practiced in the Americas, and has now spread worldwide. KEN means fist, and PO means law. Because of Ed Parker's numerous contributions of innovative concepts and principles, many Kenpo practitioners are referring to modern day KENPO as PARKER KENPO.

Now if you don't believe me or SGM Parker than you are a complete fool. Why don't you go buy the Encyclopedia of Kenpo and stop wasting everybodies time with your I don't believe you because my ex-girlfriend said it was wrong. Do your homework before you start quoting for everyone what KENPO means. Well even though I've now embarrassed you I'm sure you'll have some snappy comeback like well my instructor said I was right too. Nah nah nah nah.

Sorry but kenpo is not a modern day term. It is an okinwan term as discussed earlier meaning china hand. Mr Parker just chose the kenpo over the kempo version (both meaning exactly the same thing) but had absolutely no part in coming up with the name.

Cheers
Sammy

 

[Randy Strausbaugh]

Originally posted by sammy3170
It is an okinwan term as discussed earlier meaning china hand. Mr Parker just chose the kenpo over the kempo version (both meaning exactly the same thing) but had absolutely no part in coming up with the name.

Cheers
Sammy

Kenpo is a word from the Japanese language, not Okinawan. While Japanese is spoken in Okinawa today, there is an Okinawan language (or dialect). Kenpo does not mean China hand (that was the original meaning of karate, sometimes pronounced tode or toude or toudi). Kenpo means Fist Law. The word "po" is generally used when describing non-samurai martial traditions (i.e., ninpo). When an art having a samurai lineage is described, the word "do" is used. And just for fun, run the word "kempo" through the Japanese dictionary on the web. It produces an interesting answer.:shrug:

Trying to avoid life's potholes,
Randy Strausbaugh

 

[Kirk]

Originally posted by Randy Strausbaugh
the Japanese dictionary on the web

Got a link?

 

[Randy Strausbaugh]

linear.mv.com/cgi-bin/j-e/dict

Trying to avoid life's potholes,
Randy Strausbaugh

 

[Matt]

Originally posted by KenpoDragon
Ken= Hand or Fist
Po=Law

Thus Kenpo= Law of the hand or fist, not Way of the hand or fist.

Do= Way or method, look it up guys. Aikido=The way or method of harmony. Judo= The way or method gentleness/ the gentle way.


:asian: KenpoDragon

Just a minor 'linguistic' anal retentive moment ( I apologize in advance)
In Chinese (one dialect) there are specific characters that mean
Chuan=fist
Fa=law or method
These (essentially) same charachters are used in japanese, with the same meanings, and pronounced
Ken= fist (in this case, obviously the character for 'sword' is also pronounced ken)
Ho=law or method

When combined, we get:
chuanfa

or(through some funny, yet specific grammatical rules for compound words in japanese):
Kempo

Now,
The old okinawan karate guys used kempo and karate sort or interchangeably, using the old "chinese hand" kara - te characters, but when Karate went to mainland Japan, the powers that be changed it to a homonym (same pronunciation, different meaning) meaning 'empty' to purge the art of its Chinese roots during a period of heavy nationalism. It's at this point in history that I feel Kempo and Karate diverged.

When you add in '-do', (tao in chinese) you get "Way" with a capital 'W', but the method translation of 'fa/ho/po' can lead people to think in terms of 'the way to do it'.

It's really the difference in using a philosophy book or a technical manual. Big Way vs. small way.

If you want a longer story on the history of karate, or a timeline on my branch of the kempo/kenpo tree (out of the bad, non-parker people...) go to:
www.msdcorleans.com

and click the history button.
Sorry for the wordiness.

Matt

 

[Randy Strausbaugh]

Matt,
Wordiness is never a problem when you have something valid to say, and you did. Like your website, but I have one problem with your info. You say that Professor Chow changed the word "kempo" to "kenpo". If you check Mitose's book (which you reference on the site), you will see that all through the book he spells the word "kenpo". In Japan, they probably just used the kanji, so the matter of spelling never came up.

Trying to avoid life's potholes,
Randy Strausbaugh

 

[Matt]

Originally posted by Randy Strausbaugh
Matt,
Wordiness is never a problem when you have something valid to say, and you did. Like your website, but I have one problem with your info. You say that Professor Chow changed the word "kempo" to "kenpo". If you check Mitose's book (which you reference on the site), you will see that all through the book he spells the word "kenpo". In Japan, they probably just used the kanji, so the matter of spelling never came up.

Thanks for the kind words.

You are probably right on the kenpo/kempo transformation pointer, but unfortunately, I'm just the hired help. If you went to the history section, you saw my writing. The opening page text is slightly altered 'company' text. I had to shorten my kempo/kenpo timeline to subtract much of the ugliness that was not suitable for a business site. When I get a personal site up and running, I'll get the full version up again(there is a whole bunch more, and I'm still adding). Right now although I do all the coding and create some of the content, I'm stuck with some of the existing ideas as well. I'm pretty happy with the site otherwise, as it's my first try.

Matt

 

[Touch Of Death]

I'm afraid all your iformation including input from any asian source is negated by the Encyclopedia of Kenpo; its just the way it is. Sorry you wasted all that time.

 

[Doc]

Originally posted by webpage20022003
i don't know much about Kempo/Kenpo history here. I always think Kemp/Kenpo is another Karate style. Why you ask?

it doesn't matter where I look at it. A word "karate" always comes after "kempo/kenpo" word such as Kenpo Karate. Can Kenpo/Kempo stands ALONE?

or this 2 words go together?

Is Kenpo/kemp a sub-directory of Karate?

anybody has any ideas why it is like that?

You have it backwards. "Karate" is a descendent of Kenpo. The word "Karate" has only been attached in recent history to make Kenpo marketable. Without the word "karate," no one knew what it was making the selling of the art difficult. In my small piece of the universe, the word "karate" is verbotten because it has no relation to Kenpo and was removed from our patch. Ed Parker himself hated it but was "stuck" with it for his commercial art for a variety of reasons.