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Magnus Andersson
28th August 2001, 06:42
Greetings,

Maybe this has been covered here before, but I haven't been able to follow the forum for a while. My question: What is the difference between karate and kenpo? Is kenpo closer to Chinese martial arts or...? I have been wondering about this for quite some time now.

Best regards,

Magnus Andersson

komatsujin
28th August 2001, 19:37
Hello Mr. Anderson,

Karate is an Okinawan martial art which focuses on atemi(striking), and quite often has historical roots in Chinese chuan fa. Although there are Japanese forms of karate, they are historicaly from Okinawan lineage. Many of the mother arts from Okinawa have refured to themselves as kempo. This is usually an acknowlegement of their roots. Kempo in Japan has a few different,but acceptable definitions. Certainly one of them is identical to that of Okinawan karate in the sense of relation to Chinese chuan fa. Of course it should be noted that although (loosely speaking)Okinawan kempo and Japanese Kempo both have the same mother(chuan fa), they both developed in very different societies and under very different conditions, most notebly being that in Japan kempo developed within the warrior class and in Okinawa it developed among the commoners. Other than this, it should be noted that martial arts that refur to themselves as kempo, in general put an emphisis on atemi, but not as much emphisis as might be found in karate.

Hope this helps.

-Michael Brown

Kevin Meisner
29th August 2001, 05:15
Mike, I'm starting to get the impression, thanks to publications like Dragon Times and the Tsunami video series and other recent sources that Okinawan karate was actually an art developed by the "royal" Okinawan families, not the common folk. Any thoughts on this? Also, will you be at the Hanshi seminar in Connecticut (Bushidokai) next month? Have any idea which weekend it is? Thanks!

Ken Allgeier
29th August 2001, 16:00
To quote Michael Brown.

" in Okinawa it developed among the commoners "


In fact Karate on Okinawa was created by the " Shizoku " class, the pre 1879 upper class families



If you read through the historical literature you will often find the term " Pechin "( military officer) attached to the names of important figures in 18th & 19th C. Tode.







ken allgeier

komatsujin
29th August 2001, 18:37
Thank you Ken,

Your correction to my use of the word commoner is not only correct, but nessesary. I thought about what I had writen afterward. My use of the word "commoner" was actuallly designed to draw a destinction from that of the bushi of Japan, and although the upper class families of Okinawa did often have something akin to retainers this shouldn't be confused with the military class of Japan. Certainly the karate kempo of Okinawa was not intended for the battlefield nor did it ever get the opportunity to be used as such. The conditions under which kempo evolved in Okinawa were quite different from that of Japan. Which undoubtably can account for the differences between them.

-Michael Brown

Magnus Andersson
30th August 2001, 06:27
Thank you Mr Brown for your answer. The definitions of the multitude of words within the martial arts are sometimes quite arbitrary and people use them according to their own views and purposes. It is quite confusing at times, but also quite interesting. :)

Best regards,
Magnus Andersson