What is Kenpo?

During the last decades, different martial systems from Japan and that were previously developed by the Chinese have become popular. Today, the Japanese name of Karate is widely spread in the West.

Karate means empty hand, which has a large number and variety of blows, which are executed with the natural weapons of the body.

Kenpo (the law of the fist)-Karate is one of the first schools that expanded rapidly in the US, Kenpo Karate strives to produce students who are free in thought, because each person is an individual and must act as such throughout the whole process. his life. Much of the knowledge of Kenpo Karate was taken from Chinese martial art schools, but improving the ideas in its application. Other principles were taken from Zen favoring interest in logic, in clarity of thought; only by perfecting oneself in the path of a true martial system can one have a real experience of life and spiritual growth; since, after a physical and mental training we can grow spiritually.

Kenpo Karate is widely distributed in the US, Europe, Oceania and Latin America, because it is considered an art of real approach. The movements to be applied must be in accordance with the needs of the modern days in which we live.

Some styles are stuck in the past, using movements called "defense techniques", which were originally created as a particular type of exercise, which has no real application, the problem is that no one questions its effectiveness. for the simple fact that his mind is closed to all disagreement. Another point not occupied by different combat arts consists of the psychological variations of each individual, which leads us to adapt each movement to each person in particular; "Art must fit the person, and not the person to the art."

A great controversy exists between practitioners of the various self-defense systems, as to which of the systems is superior to the other; when we approach the analysis seriously it is not difficult to decide; the point is: what are you looking for?, the answer is: to be able to avoid and redistribute an attack immediately; How? In practice, the development of speed, power and precision of movements should be emphasized.

In Kenpo Karate the point of speed is developed through the relaxation of the muscles and the continuity of movement. The various arms of the body move more quickly if they are relaxed than if they are tense, and just before contact the muscles must exert all their forces, thus generating power.

When consciously trained, the body is capable of releasing enormous amounts of power or energy in short periods of time; this is possible if the mechanism is known and how to activate it, known in Kenpo Karate as intermittent energy; which is nothing other than the application of physical principles that govern all things.

In Kenpo Karate there are countless principles, which contribute to making the art effective, for example:

• Direct movement: all unnecessary movement must be eliminated.

• The advance in the execution of a technique must be "one": the "and" must be eliminated, that is, not hitting and blocking, blocking and attacking; defense and offense must occur simultaneously, or without interruption. When you are hitting your other weapon it is already "loaded" to make another hit; that is to say; that it is not expected to finish the first action and then prepare the second; if this were done as separate movements, the principles of "continuity and economy of movement" would be broken.

• Combining several blows in a single movement or within a basic pattern of movements will increase speed: for example: with a single arm movement we can hit eyes, with our fingers; nasal septum, with the heel of the hand; and continue the circle and hit genitals.

Another question to be addressed is: What style offers a change for the small man in size or physical build?... Whether or not he can develop the same physical strength or endure the same punishment?... the strategy to use is the anticipation of the attack and the subsequent neutralization of the opponent, the check and the neutralization of the different weapons to be used by the aggressor, is essential in all self-defense techniques; in conjunction with the cancellation of angles of attack and subsequent penetration into their vulnerable points.

Kenpo Karate is flexible, with a wide freedom of blows that come from any part of the human anatomy. Over time our weapons become precise and diverse. Some weapons are more limited than others, for this reason it is necessary to learn and remember in what circumstances to use each one.

The regular part of Kenpo Karate fully develops all weapons in its wide variety of movements, which are based on the pillar of logic. The movements, their rhythmic changes alternating hard and soft movements, are comparable to the executions of the various techniques of art; this system avoids wasting effort and maintains a fluid and constant movement, giving us the possibility of graduating the damage to be inflicted.

In Kenpo Karate, most of the training has pre-established sequences, through which the beginner develops his coordination to the maximum. At the advanced level, the student is able to improvise his personal defense, alternating, inserting, adapting the previously learned techniques. The techniques found within the program contain varied and logical combinations. The different points of contact within a technique make it impossible for the opponent to react, since it is impossible to block each and every one of the parts in which he is suffering damage. We are in a position to affirm that Master Ed Parker's Kenpo Karate is the logical, fast, precise and final art in today's self-defense systems.

Methodology in teaching the art of Kenpo Karate.

Within every system, style, or simply sport, there is a method, a form or way of teaching art, this makes the student assimilate knowledge in a progressive and elaborate way, and through it said knowledge never leaves him in his martial way.

In Kenpo Karate, Master Ed Parker introduced a large number of principles and established various comparative methods so that they could be better understood; Today in this article, I will describe two comparative principles to keep in mind during the practice of Kenpo Karate.

Comparative principles of the art of Kenpo Karate.

• Comparison with writing: how to understand the essence of movement.

This principle brings us closer to the different types of movements that we can find during the practice of martial art.

This is how students can compare the movements with the three writing methods used today:

• Printing.

• Italics.

• Stenography.

Block letters use circles, diagonals, parallel lines, and dots. The problem is that the letters must be made separately, one by one, in this way the action is forced to stop and then continue with another letter. This stop and go action leads to wasted time. This type of movement can be seen in some Korean and Japanese styles.

The cursive letter, allows to make a letter continued from the other, without wasting time, because this type of letter combines straight, circular lines, etc., belonging to the different letters, with strokes that connect them to each other; the movement does not break until the word is finished. This type of movement related to cursive writing can be found within Chinese styles and ancient Kempo.

In stenography the base is symbolic characters, which make it extremely fast, fluid and economical; since even the position within the role of the same trait makes it change its meaning; comparing this with the martial art let's take "feature" as "hit" and "meaning" as "consequences or effects"; in this way, the same punch can change according to the angle at which it is being delivered, whether it is defensive or offensive, advancing or retreating, etc. Without decorative movements as in italics, without anything else; without cutting the action as in the printing press; only language, only action; all movement must be used to inflict damage, nothing more, just what is fair, but without cutting off the action; this is Kenpo Karate.

• Comparison with the different states of water: how a movement, being the same, can vary according to the way it is executed.

This comparison is to help students understand motion from different perspectives. Comparison with the three states of water:

• Solid.

• Liquid.

• Gaseous.

Movements that are stiff and powerful can be compared to ice; they are solid and forceful in their execution.

There are movements that are fluid, that draw circles, that adapt to the environment; these can be compared to the liquid state of water, which trickles down and escapes.

But there is, however, one more category of movements, which involves those who seek to capture two or more angles or directions simultaneously; they are the gaseous state of motion.

Through the practice of Kenpo Karate, the different categories of blows are known, their possible combinations, how and when to use them and most importantly why.

So far we have only seen two of the many comparative methods of the art of Kenpo Karate; in the successive installments the subject will be investigated even more.