History of
Kenpo Karate
Kenpo Karate is a combination of two of the world's most devastating self
defense forms. Actually, the two arts are very similar, differing only in detail.
The word, Kenpo, describes the Chinese style of Karate, while the more modern
term, Karate, best describes that system which is now practiced in Okinawa.
Kenpo means "law of the fist" while Karate, its related technique, means
"empty hand". "Empty hand refers to the fact that no weapons are used. Instead,
the hands, elbows, fingers, feet, knees and other parts of the body are developed
and used as weapons.
A person proficient in this art can easily handle several men, or produce nicely
shaped halves out of solid bricks, with the bare hand. Yet no one can actually
imagine the deadliness, the speed, or the incredible power of Kenpo Karate without
an actual demonstration. Once observed it will be unanimously agreed that the
effectiveness of Kenpo Karate is the speed and power with which maneuvers are
executed with most techniques being measured in fractions of seconds.
The exact history of Kenpo Karate has been lost in the antiquity of time, and
consequently, no definite date can be established as to when it actually started.
The only definite link we have is a few recorded records. But, even then we cannot
tell how many writings have been destroyed, or how many happenings have never been
recorded. Nor can we ascertain the truthfulness of the existing records. Bits of
information seem to indicate that Kenpo Karate may have been practiced in India and
China as long as five thousand years ago. But, other records seem to link Kenpo
Karate even back to the time of the Egyptian Empire.
Although the true origin of Kenpo is obscure, credit has been given to Daruma,
the 28th Buddha from india. When Daruma emigrated to China about the year 525 A.D.,
armed marauders were playing havoc with their helpless victims. These marauders
resulted from the fall of the Han Dynasty (202 B.C. - 220 A.D.). During this Dark
Age period, the public realized that they were no match for swords and maces. Thus,
Daruma declared that parts of the body were to be hardened and developed into
weapons. He may have called upon some long forgotten self defense form, we cannot
say, for the writings are not that complete, but we do know that he taught his
system of self defense known then as Go-Shinjutsu. His system applied the mental
concentration of Zen meditation (a deep form of Buddhist meditation similar to yoga)
to the self defense arts of the open hand. The underlying priciples of Go-Shinjutsu
were the preservation of human rights which insured and promoted peace and happiness.
Because Daruma was a stern believer of peace, he decreed that each man had the right
to protect himself, so he made the following proclamation:
"War and killing are wrong, but so is it wrong not to be prepared to defend
one's self. They have taken our weapons but we have our bodies. We have n oknives,
so make every fist unto a mace. Without spears every arm must be unto a spear and
every open hand a sword."
Daruma's Go-Shinjutsu established the foundation for the development of the
Chinese Karate, known a little later as Kenpo.
Because of the geographic locations of India, China, Formosa, Korea, Okinawa,
Japan and surrounding areas, it would be natural to assume that there was an
interchange of ideas and priciples among these countries. From China, Kenpo soon
spread to these areas. However, Kenpo was never practiced unless national defense
induced them to protect themselves.
Originally, the Okinawan form of Kenpo primarily utilized the fists. The
Chinese Kenpo form used the open hand. In Formosa, Kenpo consisted mostly of poking
and thrusting with the fingers. The Southern Islands beyond Formosa, concentrated
their efforts on kicking. According to the oldest written records of Japan, Kenpo
was introduced there by Kosokun of China about two hundred years ago, but unfortunately,
it enjoyed little fame. The exact form of Kenpo practiced at that time is quite
vague, although it was referred to as Kumiai Jitsu (the tackling art). Other records
date even futher back to the time of the Ming Dynasty (1136-1644). During this
period a Chinese priestnamed Chin Gen Pin, or Chuen Yuan Pin, (1644-48, or 1627) was
believed to be the first to introduce the art of Kenpo to Japan. Since its
introduction, it has been a popular belief that Chinese Kenpo gave rise to Japanese
Jujitsu. However, contrary to this belief, Chinese Kenpo and Japanese Jujitsu is
quite different, although some knowledge of Kenpo did give stimulus to the progress
of Jujitsu. The art of Kenpo brought by Chen Gen Pin consisted mainly of kicking and
striking.
During the T'ang period (618-906 A.D.), Chinese Kenpo was renamed Tode, and the
Okinawan Kenpo (prior to the years 1901 and 1902) was called "te", meaning hands.
Okinawan history records a great sovereign named Sho-Ha-Shi, who controlled
Okinawa under one entity, about five hundred years ago. During this reign, he ruled
the government with the sole purpose of establshing a cultural country, and so
prohibited the carrying of arms. In the year 1609, Shimazu, a Japanese feudal lord,
under the influence of the rules of Satsuma province of Japan, attacked Okinawa, and
took it into his possession. He then, clamped an even firmer restriction on the use
of weaponbs by the Okinawan natives to prvent retalization. Thus, the Okinawans were
forced to practice their martial art of "te" in secret. This was the golden period
which brought about an upsurge in the advancement of this martial art. Through their
efforts and practice, many improvements developed, which eventually brought about
the art of Karate. However, it was not until 1902 that Okinawa begain to openly
teach Karate to the general public. Up to that time Karate was reserved for only
the upper class of people.
Because "te" was practiced in many different towns, the name of each town
preceded the word "te" in order to distinguish their individual styles of "te".
Nationally, they refered to their martial art as Okinawa-te. As a salute to the
Chinese T'ang Dynasty during which the empty hand arts flourished, the Okinawans
then named their martial art "karate".*
*Originally, the Okinawan connotation of "kara" was China, but has since taken
the Japanese word "kara" meaning "empty".
In 1924, Gichin Funakoshi introduced Karate to Japan and established a teacing
center in Tokyo. After its introduction by Funakoshi, many other Okinawan Karate
men followed him, spreading Karate outside of the confines of Tokyo. By 1930 almost
every school in Japan had a Karate department.
Karate's height of popularity grew during the era of Japan's military expansion
and lasted up to the end of World War II. Because of its lethal qualities and its
adoption by the former Japanses Military, Karate was officially banned, August 11, 1951,
by a special Occupational directive. However, after Japan regained its status with
the United States, the ban on Karate was lifted and the art has since been revived.
In the thirty odd years since its introduction into Japan, Karate techniques have
been modified and improved, with many Judo holds being incorporated into the art.
Compared to Japan's national sport of Judo, Karate is still an obscure art, but judging
from the rapid increase of Karate schools that are spreading throughout Japan and
Hawaii, it is fast developing into a major sport.
In China, the term Kung Fu, or also known as Gung fu, is now used to describe their
ancient empty hand art. In essence, their art is divided into two major forms, the
hard form and the soft form. Although in performance, both forms resemble a classical
dance, with fraceful and alert movements, the soft form is used more to discourage
an opponent by forcing him off balance. The hard form, on the other hand, is used
primarily to cause immediate injury.
Though Kung Fu is divided into two major forms, there are many variations of these
forms, with each borrowing from the other. Some schools in China place great emphasis
upon the use of their fingers when app;ying their techniques, while others place emphasis
on the knuckles or feet. This is also found to be true in many schools of Karate today.
However, whatever the differences are, the forms are still similar in context, and are
only distinguished from each other by a few individual features.
As the orientals emigrated to Hawaii, they brought with them these same empty hand
arts. Like other countries, after its introduction, improvements and modifications
soon developed. the leading modifier in the Hawaiian Islands is Professor William K.S.
Chow. Realzing that Americans fight differently, in comparison with the orientals,
he has revised many of the old techiques and has also added a few individual features
of his own.
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