Kenpo Karate and Arnis

[RapidAssault16]

I watched the film, "The Perfect Weapon" starring Jeff Speakman a few years ago, and I noticed that in one of the climactic fight scenes he demonstrates the use of the sticks and knives. How did Arnis get integrated into Kenpo? I'm really interested in this because I've been thinking about giving Kenpo a fair go. What is Kenpo like? Is it good for self-preservation? I trained in Kenpo when I was like 7 years old so it's been a while and I can't recall much except for some bowing and a few basic drills and moves.

[JKD-Escrima]

like the majority of Martial arts, especially kung fu, karate, and TKD, you will have trouble finding a school that doesn't suck balls.
Kenpo is OK, I trained with a guy who used it. It is not a standalone system however, but you can take a little from it and incorporate it into your Kali/Arnis. but not much.

[haumana2000]

Where I am Kempo is a relatively common art (ok, where is it not?) anyway, what I have seen of the actual kempo stick or knife techniques is more form than application, and is used more as a tool for rank advancement in the upper levels. I have asked quite a few of the Kempo people that I know if they would be willing to give it a whirl so to speak, and try out their weapon stuff in sparring, but most thougt we were nutcases I mean really Why would anyone WANT to actually get hit by a hard rattan stick right?? (SARCASM).

[m.artist]

im doing kenpo right now! nad i have to say that i was really impressed..my sensi has been teaching for over 43 yrs now! so he is definetly experianced so maybe that's why i like it so much...but it's very effective...u can learn to take on multiple attackers and that kinda thing..it's very applicable...they have banned kenpo in alot of different tounrements cuz it proved to be to hard for all the other traditional martial arts competeing there....but that's what i have seen though

[haumana2000]

Faith in what you do no matter what art it may be is the most important thing one can possess. The effectiveness of the empty hand portion of Kempo I cannot speak on. What the thread initially was in question to was the relationship of the weaponry as it pertains to Filipino styles. What I have seen of the weaponry is more or less form driven. I know that many will say, well if you look at the hand interpretation of the form... But do you fight/or spar with it? The people I know do not, and most of them are all from one organization, there may be others out there who do. I know where I am from in Hawaii, the old Mitose guys were definately a force to be reckoned with.

[m.artist]

we do spar with weapon...we use the wooden swrods and stuuf like that though(which is understanable lol) but the way the form is the weaopns is exactly the same...so if u knwo athe form..then u know the weapons...basically...of course there is always mroe to learn

[JKD-Escrima]

Faith in what you do no matter what art it may be is the most important thing one can possess. The effectiveness of the empty hand portion of Kempo I cannot speak on. What the thread initially was in question to was the relationship of the weaponry as it pertains to Filipino styles. What I have seen of the weaponry is more or less form driven. I know that many will say, well if you look at the hand interpretation of the form... But do you fight/or spar with it? The people I know do not, and most of them are all from one organization, there may be others out there who do. I know where I am from in Hawaii, the old Mitose guys were definately a force to be reckoned with.

yeah, old filipino guys are nuts.
And there are a lot of them in Hawaii.
I remember when I went there a few years ago, I watched these two guys play a game, where you have a cigarette in your weapon hand (between fingers) and one in your mouth (both unlit) and these guys would play fight with sticks and the first one to lose a cigarette loses the game. The better guys would go for a few minutes without either one losing, and came within inches of eachothers faces multiple times!

[m.artist]

yeah, old filipino guys are nuts.
And there are a lot of them in Hawaii.
I remember when I went there a few years ago, I watched these two guys play a game, where you have a cigarette in your weapon hand (between fingers) and one in your mouth (both unlit) and these guys would play fight with sticks and the first one to lose a cigarette loses the game. The better guys would go for a few minutes without either one losing, and came within inches of eachothers faces multiple times!

ooo sounds good to me

[RAB]

kempo or kenpo is an evolving art. There are so many branches today and it has suffered by commercialism and poor basics. In fact, commercialism and poor basics seem to go hand and hand. It focuses is on technques, nummerous technques for a front two knunkle punch, too many.

However, if one focuses on the basics then you have a very good martial art. It gives allowance for a person disablities or short comings. It offers arts from the 4 corners of asia. It's creative and has well rounded program that includes meditation, striking, kicking, throws, and holds.

And for some people kempo is there way. Its not mine.

[kruzada]

"How did Arnis get integrated into Kenpo?"

[Escrima techniques, notably the use of the twin sticks, have long been associated with Kempo. Adriano D. Emperado was a skilled Escrimador. He was a senior student of William Chow when American Kenpo Karate Grandmaster Edmund Parker was working his way through the rainbow in GM Chow's dojo. He later was one of the principle founders of Kajukenbo, which heavily influenced later Kempo systems such as Edmund Parker's American Kenpo Karate, Nick Cerio's Kenpo and Fred]

- this quote was copied from http://www.urbin.net/EWW/MA/KEMPO/k-sticks.html

I met a Kenpo master in NYC that studied modern arnis with a close friend of his. I gather that many Kenpo practitioners are following suit to gain a better understanding of the escrima part of their lineage.