Kenpo Karate is a complete
fighting system that is particularly popular in the
United States.
Kenpo places equal emphasis on the use of hands and feet and uses similar fighting techniques to other Okinawan fighting styles. Kenpo also practises Kata or forms like other martial arts. Whereas most Karate styles use white gis (uniforms) throughout, a visual characteristic of Kenpo is its use of black Gis for higher grades and even the mixing of black Gi tops with white pants and vice versa.
Kenpo places equal emphasis on the use of hands and feet and uses similar fighting techniques to other Okinawan fighting styles. Kenpo also practises Kata or forms like other martial arts. Whereas most Karate styles use white gis (uniforms) throughout, a visual characteristic of Kenpo is its use of black Gis for higher grades and even the mixing of black Gi tops with white pants and vice versa.
History
Like most Okinawan fighting arts, Kenpo Karate
can trace its roots back to the Shaolin monks of
China. Master
“To-De” Sakugawa
(1733-1815) from Shuri, the ancient capital of
Okinawa, travelled to China in the 18th century to
train with the Chuan Fa masters (Chuan Fa is what
Chinese Kung Fu was called at that time). On his
return to Okinawa
he developed what became known as Shuri Te,
from which Kenpo was later born. In contrast, the
Okinawan martial arts developed in Naha, the
modern-day capital of Okinawa, first became known as Naha-Te,
and developed later on into Goju-Ryu Karate).
In
1916 a young Hawaiian named
James Mitose travelled to
Kyushu in Japan where he
learnt Kosho Ryu Kempo. He
later returned to Hawaii
where he taught William Chow,
who further developed the
art. To differentiate his
system from that of Mitose,
William Chow called his
school Kenpo Karate.
As a visual break from the
traditional Japanese and
Okinawan Karate styles,
Mitose and Chow introduced
the wearing of black gis for
higher ranks, to indicate
that Kenpo was a different
and more of a “war art” than
the increasingly
sports-oriented,
white-Gi-wearing Karate
styles.
