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| Also known as | Kenpo Karate, American-style Karate[1] |
|---|---|
| Focus | Hybrid[2] |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Creator | Ed Parker[1] |
| Parenthood | Kosho Shorei Ryu Kenpo,[1] Kara-Ho Kenpo,[1] Boxing,[1] Judo[1] |
| Descendant arts | Tracy Kenpo, American OkinawaTe |
| Olympic sport | No |
American Kenpo Karate (/ˈkɛnpoʊ/) (also known as Ed Parker's Kenpo Karate, American Kenpo) is a syncretic martial arts self-defense combat system founded and codified by Ed Parker synthesized mainly from Japanese martial arts such as karate, kenpo and judo.[1] As Senior Grandmaster, Parker did not name a successor to his art but instead entrusted his senior students to continue his teachings in their own ways.[3]
The word Kenpo is an English transliteration of a Ryukyuan and Japanese pronunciation of Chinese characters 拳法, the origin of which in Cantonese is pronounced Ken Fat.
Cantonese immigrants first came to Hawaii and California, bringing their martial art of Ken Fat with them when they formed Tongs (benevolent organizations) to look after each other. At the time, Canton (Guangzhou) and Fujian were the only ports in mainland China that were active in trade with and immigration to foreign countries, so the Min languages and Cantonese were the prevalent forms of the Chinese language that spread overseas. Ken Fat was refined by the Southern Chinese and spread into Fujian and Canton, from where the various styles developed in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Ryukyu (Okinawa), Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Japan.[4]
The de facto modern history of American Kenpo began in 1933 with Thomas Miyashiro (1915-1977), who began openly teaching Kenpo Karate in 1933 in Hawaii. Mizuho Mutsu and Kamesuke Higashiona, both students of Choki Motobu, joined him. They toured Hawaii giving public demonstrations of Kenpo Karate in support of the first public Kenpo Karate Dojo in Hawaii. They were featured in numerous local newspapers, and Kenpo Karate became very popular in Hawaii. These sensei also brought books written by Mizuho Mutsu and Choki Motobu to Hawaii, which were the most detailed books on Kenpo Karate at that time.
While they were teaching Kenpo Karate publicly, the Chee Kong Tong in Maui had been teaching Cantonese Ken Fat since the 1920s to Cantonese immigrants. Willam Chow's father, Sun Chow Hoon, immigrated from Canton and trained Ken Fat at the Tong HQ when he first arrived in Maui. He also taught his eldest son William Chow. William Chow became an enforcer for the Tong. His nickname, "the Thunderbolt", comes from a common punishment for those members who break the vows of the Tongs (death by Five Thunderbolts). Those who enforce the justice of the Tongs on members who violate their vows are often nicknamed Thunderbolt.[citation needed]
William Chow studied multiple martial arts in Hawaii, including Danzan Ryu Jujutsu, by observing his little brother John Chow's classes and working out with him, often using his knowledge of Ken Fat to device counters to the Jujutsu techniques.[5] Chow eventually developed his unique style of Kenpo Karate that blended his Chinese Martial Arts training with the more focused Ryukyuan Kenpo Karate methods popularized in Hawaii. It agreed with a linear and circular motion and emphasized practical fighting techniques designed to outperform the various martial arts in the melting pot of Hawaii. William Chow called his style by many different names over the years that he taught, but most refer to his method as Kenpo Karate. [6][7] Chow experimented and modified his art, adapting it to meet the needs of American students.[6]
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See also: Ed Parker |
American Kenpo originates from Ed Parker, the de jure founder of the style.[8][9] Parker started his martial arts training in Judo, earning a black belt. He then studied western boxing from his father, a boxing commissioner in Hawaii, before eventually training and earning a black belt from Chow in Kenpo Karate. After Ed Parker moved to California, he cross-referenced his martial arts knowledge with Chinese martial arts masters living in California like Lau Bun, Ark Wong, Ming Lum, James Lee, Bruce Lee and many more. Parker hosted a large martial arts tournament, the Long Beach Internationals, where he popularized the martial artists and gave many legends their start, eventually founding American Kenpo. Parker founded his own Kenpo association, The International Kenpo Karate Association (IKKA) after his students started teaching his art in other countries.[10][11] Al Tracy claims Chow promoted Parker to Sandan (3rd-degree black belt) in December 1961.[12]
Parker started teaching other Hawaiian Islanders attending Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, in 1954. By 1956, he was teaching commercially in Provo.[11] Late in 1956, he opened a studio in Pasadena, California.[13] He published a book about his early system in 1960.[10] The book has a heavy Japanese influence, including linear and circular movements, "focused" techniques and jujutsu-style locks, holds, and throws. When Parker increased the Chinese arts content of his system, he began to refer to his art as Chinese Kenpo. Based on this influence, he wrote Secrets of Chinese Karate,[14] published in 1963.
The system, which came to be known as American Kenpo, was developed by Parker as his Specific System and featured Parker's revisions of older methods to work in more modern fighting scenarios.[15] He heavily restructured American Kenpo's forms and techniques during this period. He moved away from techniques recognizable from other arts (such as forms familiar to Hung Gar). He established a more definitive relationship between forms and the self-defense technique curriculum of American Kenpo. Parker also eschewed esoteric Eastern concepts and sought to express the art through Western scientific principles and metaphors. During this time, Parker also dropped most Asian language elements and altered traditions favouring American English. Although he was challenged numerous times by experts and masters from multiple other Martial Arts, he remained well-respected in the Martial Arts world.[citation needed]
Parker continually developed his art, causing students to learn different curriculum interpretations and arrangements depending on when they studied with him. Since many instructors had gone their ways and didn't continue with Parker's updating, Kenpo today has several different versions of techniques. All versions are correct as long as it works for the individual practitioner. This set Parker apart from many traditionalists who wanted to make students into exact replicas of their instructors. American Kenpo should be tailored to fit each student by a competent instructor.[citation needed]
I come to you with only karate [meaning empty hands]. I have no weapons but, should I be forced to defend myself, my principles, or my honour, should it be matter of life or death, of right or wrong, then here are my weapons -- karate, my empty hands.
Although each American Kenpo school will differ somewhat, some common elements are:
American Kenpo emphasizes fast techniques to disable an attacker in seconds.[1] Kicks are less common and are usually directed at the lower body because high kicks are slower to execute and potentially compromise the practitioner's balance; higher kicks are taught to more advanced and capable practitioners. American Kenpo contains a wide array of kicks, punches, open-hand, elbow and knee strikes, finger strikes, some throwing and joint locking techniques, and club and knife training. The mountain of motion and principles are available, but after learning the basics, students specialize in whatever areas fit their needs and desires. A soldier may emphasize knife techniques, a police officer may emphasize locks and stick techniques and a civilian interested in competition may emphasize the less lethal options. At the same time, some specialize in the more lethal aspects of the system.[citation needed]
Physically, American Kenpo develops environmental awareness, structural stability, balance, coordination, flow, speed, power and timing in that order as the student progresses through a step-by-step curriculum. Memorization of the system is optional to gain functional skills and is primarily for students who wish to become instructors. All American Kenpo students are taught how to execute each basic movement in the system and when and why to execute each basic movement. Senior Grand Master Ed Parker emphasized concepts and principles over sequences of motion. He did not want his students to mimic him but rather to tailor his American Kenpo system to their circumstances and needs. Thus American Kenpo is not a traditional art but a combat science designed to evolve as the practitioners' understanding improves. This also placed the burden of effectiveness on the individual practitioner. It was up to them to make their American Kenpo applications effective by correctly applying the concepts and principles to the instructor's ideal phase techniques.[citation needed]
At the time of his passing in December 1990, Parker had created Short Form 1, Long Form 1, Short Form 2, Long Form 2, Short Form 3, Long Form 3, Long Form 4, Long Form 5 (Surprise Attacks), Long Form 6 (Bare Hands vs Weapons), and Long Form 7 (Twin Clubs) and Long Form 8 an introduction to the twin knives the final form developed by Ed Parker, however Ed Parker did have his best student of the knife working to develop more advanced blade forms... form 9 and 10 (single and double blade forms).[citation needed]
Parker also created 154 named (ideal phase) technique sequences with 96 extensions, taught in three stages (Ideal, What-if, and Formulation Phases).[citation needed]
Beginners are introduced to the concepts and principles of the system taught through scripted scenarios that serve as starting points for further exploration into the presented topic. Senior Grand Master Ed Parker's approach to American Kenpo was to introduce an updated and practical science of Martial Arts tailored to the needs of the individual and in a manner that would take a practitioner from being a mere follower to an innovator.[16]
The purpose of training in this manner is to increase physical coordination and continuity with linear and circular motion. When correctly executed, each movement leads into the next, keeping an adversary's "dimensional zones" in check, limiting their ability to retaliate. Should the adversary not react as anticipated, the skilled Kenpo practitioner can seamlessly transition into an alternative and appropriate action drawn spontaneously from the trained subconscious. In American Kenpo, you never try to select a specific technique in the middle of a sudden, violent altercation but just let your body do what the Kenpo training has already ingrained in you. [17][3][18]
Students are encouraged to formulate a logical sequence of action that removes the dangers of what-if scenarios, effectively turning a what-if problem into an even-if solution. Every American Kenpo black belt will have its unique and tailored style. However, Parker published minimum requirements for each belt rank instructor in his association - the IKKA - to follow. However, if a Kenpo Instructor starts his association, they can select their student's base curriculum as they see fit.
The design of the International Kenpo Karate Association crest was completed by Dave Parker, Mr Parker's brother, in 1958, as the art of American Kenpo was gaining international recognition. The crest design was meant to symbolically represent the art's modernized form while simultaneously acknowledging the roots of American Kenpo in traditional Chinese and Japanese martial arts.[6]: 122
| White |
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| Yellow |
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| Orange |
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| Purple |
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| Blue |
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| Green |
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| Brown (3 degrees) |
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| Black (10 degrees) |
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American Kenpo has a graded colored belt system consisting of white, yellow, orange, purple, blue, green, 3rd-degree brown, 2nd-degree brown, 1st-degree brown and 1st through 10th-degree black.[19] Different Kenpo organizations and schools may have other belt systems. The black belt ranks are indicated by half-inch red 'tips' up to the 4th degree, then a 5-inch 'block' for the 5th. After that, additional half-inch stripes are added up to the 9th degree. For 10th degree black belt, two 5-inch 'blocks' separated by a half-inch space are used. In some styles, an increasing number of stripes on both sides of the belt can indicate black belt ranks.
There are different requirements per belt depending on the school. Parker's IKKA schools stayed with the 24 techniques-per-belt syllabi, though some schools today have adopted a 16–20–24 technique syllabus as their standard. The 24 and the 16–20–24 technique syllabuses contain precisely the same techniques, but the latter groups them differently, so fewer techniques are found at lower belt levels, and there are more belt levels to be found. In addition to self-defense techniques, Parker set specific criteria for proficiency at each level. The requirements included basics categorized by stances, blocks, parries, punches, strikes, finger techniques, kicks, and foot manoeuvres, as well as the much neglected specialized moves and methods category, which includes joint dislocations, chokes, take-downs, throws and other grappling components.
Beyond proficiency, a student's character and attitude can also be analyzed as a significant consideration in the promotion to a new rank. Promotion after a 3rd-degree black belt has more to do with contributions made back to the art, such as teaching or other great works of exploration. For example, a third-degree black belt who further explores knife violence and brings that knowledge back may be promoted for his excellent contributions.[6]: 122
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For practitioners of American Kenpo, see Category:American Kenpo practitioners. |
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