Okinawian Kempo, Shaolin Kenpo, American Kenpo

JowGaWolf

Sr. Grandmaster
MT Mentor
Joined
Aug 3, 2015
Messages
13,960
Reaction score
5,849
Fine, but I am saying, that if you turn your body to face on the downward diagonal parry, you can run a punch up the middle...
Having trouble visualizing this. What stance are the 2 people in? Close or Open. Which hand is doing the downward Parry? Lead or Rear?
 

Buka

Sr. Grandmaster
Staff member
MT Mentor
Joined
Jun 27, 2011
Messages
12,952
Reaction score
10,444
Location
Maui
Dude, it should knock him across the room. :)

A room this size, maybe.

2djp98x.jpg
 

Buka

Sr. Grandmaster
Staff member
MT Mentor
Joined
Jun 27, 2011
Messages
12,952
Reaction score
10,444
Location
Maui
Warning: This is a lot of information that is all somewhat interelated, so it may not be the most cohesive explanation. My apologies.
I explained in another thread about a month ago the differences as someone who has practiced both Shaolin Kempo Karate(SKK for convenience) and a form of Okinawan Kenpo, but will re-explain it here/link a resource here. There is also Shaolin Kenpo, which is different than SKK, and I will go into both.
Brief answer before I begin: The addition of Shaolin in the front is there for a legitimate (according to the founders) reason.
SKK, Shaolin Kenpo and Ed Parker Kenpo are somewhat related but all different styles. SKK and Shaolin Kenpo only share a similar name with Japanese kenpo and are not directly related. Shaolin Kenpo is derived from Shaolinquan and American Kenpo, while SKK is derived from American kenpo with a focus on shaolin animal philosophy.
So first, read through this ISKA [Shaolin Kenpo FAQs], specifically FAQ 3 and 8. Additionally, Ralph Castro trained in Honolulu as a student of Chow, and was part of the same club as Ed Parker. Due to this the two styles are similar since they have a similar background.
The only correction to the SKK part that I would make is that Villari learned from Nick Cerio, who learned both from George Pesare, whom it mentions, and Ed Parker, whom I don't think it mentions. Nick Cerio adapted Ed Parker kenpo to include shotokan karate forms.

To go more into detail about SKK, since that is the one I know: SKK was formed by Fred Villari, who trained under Nick Cerio and other instructors, becoming a 5th degree in Kenpo. He also went to the Caribbean (I believe, it's not important and annoying to find so don't feel like fact checking the location), and while he was there trained with local martial artists. These martial artists were practitioners of a local form of karate and a form of Kung Fu-I am unsure which one. He taught them kenpo, and in return they taught him both various techniques of their styles and the philosophies from their styles. He then took all three and created his own system that uses adapted kenpo for its techniques (similar to Cerio), adapted karate for many of its forms (IIRC almost the same as Cerio), and adapted Kung fu (different than Cerio) for its higher level forms and philosophy. Specifically, SKK has a 'five animal' philosophy, where each technique captures the essence of one of the five animals. Practitioners figure out as they train what animal(s) philosophy they fit best with, and focus on developing those techniques the most. Because of this combination he titled the style Shaolin Kempo Karate, and it forever gets confused with Shaolin Kenpo, which is explained in the link above.

There's also a whole thing about people having issues with Villari's teaching method, his claims, etc. and those people breaking away from him (my school included) but continued with SKK in their own fashion, but that's in-style politics that would bore anyone.

Going back to Kempodisciple's post......I'm rooting around in my closet looking for something else when I went into an old odds and ends box. In it was a business card from George Pesare's school from 1973 (when I used to go there and get the crap beat out of me)
It was a nifty card, one of those folding ones like a greeting card. The outsides of it were scratched to hell, but the inside is still pretty good. My wife scanned it at work and e-mailed it to me. But it was in html and I didn't know what to do with that. So I took a photo of my computer screen. Anyway, thought you guys might get a kick out of it. Especially it's less than political correctness.

15vfd0.jpg
 

hoshin1600

Senior Master
Joined
May 16, 2014
Messages
3,127
Reaction score
1,644
Going back to Kempodisciple's post......I'm rooting around in my closet looking for something else when I went into an old odds and ends box. In it was a business card from George Pesare's school from 1973 (when I used to go there and get the crap beat out of me)
It was a nifty card, one of those folding ones like a greeting card. The outsides of it were scratched to hell, but the inside is still pretty good. My wife scanned it at work and e-mailed it to me. But it was in html and I didn't know what to do with that. So I took a photo of my computer screen. Anyway, thought you guys might get a kick out of it. Especially it's less than political correctness.



15vfd0.jpg
How come on the right it says 3rd dan but on the left it says 6th degree black belt
 

Latest Discussions

Top