Coolsweetspiceoflife
White Belt
Hey Kenpo world. I'm moving to Okinawa next week. Anyone know of any Okinawan Kenpo dojos? I plan on moving to Hawaii in about 5 years to live and continue with the art long term.
Kenpo or Kempo in Okinawa
- Thread starter Coolsweetspiceoflife
- Start date
Flying Crane
Sr. Grandmaster
Are you understanding that Okinawan kempo is a different animal from the Hawaiian kenpo of Mitose/Chow/Parker/Emperado lineages? These are not related nor connected systems. I only point that out because you say you plan to move to Hawaii and continue with your (kempo?) training.
You posted this as I was typing the same thing
hoshin1600
Senior Master
This is a joke right? Your going to Okinawa the motherland of karate, where there are legit 10th dan national living treasures. The pinnacle of karate learning and your looking to train in a Hoge podge system that's a mash up version. No offense to the kempo practioners but that's like going to Italy and looking for an olive garden restaurant or going to Mexico and looking for a Taco bell.
JR 137
Grandmaster
What everyone else said. Okinawa is the Mecca of karate. If you’re definitely only there for 5 years or so and there’s no question about moving afterwards, find a teacher that teaches a style that’s relatively easily found elsewhere. Goju Ryu comes to mind immediately. There are many that are found outside Okinawa such as Shorin Ryu or Uechi Ryu, but Goju Ryu is probably the most common.
If you train Goju Ryu or any other art don’t expect your rank will automatically follow you everywhere you go. It’s pretty rare that it ever does, even between different schools of the same style.
Forget about rank and stuff like that. Train under the best teacher you can find for you.
If you train Goju Ryu or any other art don’t expect your rank will automatically follow you everywhere you go. It’s pretty rare that it ever does, even between different schools of the same style.
Forget about rank and stuff like that. Train under the best teacher you can find for you.
hoshin1600
Senior Master
For Uechi-ryu it's a smaller group than the Shorin styles and while not automatic I think Dan rank would be accepted world wide.
If I was going to be there for 5 years I would be training seven days a week, meet everyone I can and suck up the experience the best I could. My biggest regret in life is not taking or not making the best of those golden opportunities.
JR 137
Grandmaster
Uechi Ryu is a small and tight knit group, and there’s not a lot of variation as far as I know. I don’t foresee anyone not honoring a rank from an Okinawan Uechi teacher. But thing is Uechi Ryu is pretty small, so the chances there’s a local Uechi Ryu school locally after leaving Okinawa are pretty low.
There are quite a few different Goju organizations. Earning a verifiable rank from someone in Okinawa could definitely help if someone left Okinawa because there’s a lot of similarity between the Goju schools.
But earning carrying over a rank after leaving should be a bonus and not the point of training itself. And how high of a rank is someone going to earn in 5 years? They’ll have the basics down at that point but not much else. Maybe shodan?
As for Okinawa GoJu, 5 years is a short time to gain the trust needed to go past any kata and technique understanding. There won't be a question and answer time, just a do and correct phase. Chojun Miyagi, founder of the GoJu ryu school of karate didn't call Sanchin kata, which is the first kata you will work on, "3 year Sanchin kata for nothing". Good luck on your adventure of a life time as you walk in the foot steps of the great masters. Remember to remain humble as it will serve you well. 
