american karate/kenpo question

[FasterthanDeath]

Ok this will be posted in both Kenpo and Taekwondo forums. Here is the question. Kenpo is called American Karate, but when I go to dojangs and schools here in Texas, they say they teach American Karate, but its Taekwondo. So who is teaching American Karate? Kenpoists or Taekwondo practioners?

 

[guito]

I am from PUERTO RICO and we have the same problem .over here some kenpo school"s teach american kenpo like it WAS TAE KWON DO . I BELIEVE that happend when the instructor things only in tournaments and forget that american kenpo its for self defense for the streets. I think my school is the only one in my island who teach the curriculum with 24 technics ,low kicks and we never goes to tornaments.AMERICAN KENPO its very difference from tae kwon do , you can tell who is kenpo by lookig his hands move.

 

[8253]

philisophically they can both be american or americanized, but physically they come from china and korea.

 

[mhouse]

I beleive that some of what you are running into is the use of "Karate" for it's generic name recognition. Those of us who participate on this board and practice the martial arts, are aware of the differences in Tae Kwon Do, Kenpo/Kempo, Shotokan, etc.

However, when you are running a business and looking for new students who are largely unaware of the differences, saying that you teach "karate" gets the message across. I've seen a trend recently of using "martial arts" in the business name too. That seems to have replaced the generic "karate" for some folks out in my area.

 

[Old Guy]

IIRC, several types of Karate claimed the title American Karate early on. This was due to several reasons. EPAK because EP was an American and the system was composed here. TKD occurred due to the political splits that were happening in the 60's and early 70's. From what I can tell, several of the American-based school and systems broke off from their Korean roots and added/deleted items from their corriculum. With this said, and a little contrary to the above statement, in the DFW area American Karate (TKD) sticks closer to the original fighting art and is not near as sporterized as the McDojos. I originally took TKD from a group under Jim Benko call Midwest TKD Association. This is now called the World TKD Association, I believe. The teachings then were totally focused on fighting and not sport. There were about 30+ self-defence techniques to black.

I ran into an American Karate instructor from the DFW area and found that the system that they were teaching was almost identical to the TKD that I was taught decades earlier. Hyungs were the same. Focus was the same. Etc. I believe he was under Pat Burleson. If I was to do TKD again, I would seek out one of these schools. However, I don't think my old airframe could keep up with it.

Also, during the 50s-70s it was also a marketing issue. In the 40s-mid sixties, anything Japanese was considered bad (WWII and quality of products. Of course, in the early 70s, this view changed dramatically.) During that time, things called American Karate gained fame and other styles tried to ride this wave.

OG

 

[Michael Billings]

FasterthanDeath - you may be visiting the more commercial schools, running 45 minute hours and trying to keep the doors open.

Let me invite you to my school when and if you are in the area. See my website if you are interested. I know lots of Texas Kenpo Schools that train hard and it bears no resemblence ot the Taekwondo of my past and what I see now days at tournaments. I can refer you to my instructor, West of Fort Worth, to other schools here in Austin, or to a school in San Antonio school which does Chinese Kenpo.

-Michael