Kenpo and Kempo

Kenpo is not a single style, and that is the first thing to understand about it. The word is used by several related but separate martial arts, some of which are karate and some of which are not.

What the word means

Kenpō translates as “fist method”: ken means fist and pō means method or technique. It is the Japanese reading of the Chinese term quanfa. The spelling “kempo” is an informal variant; both refer to the same word.

Kenpo and karate

Some Okinawan groups use kenpō as an alternative name for their karate, or for a distinct but related art. Motobu Chōki’s karate, for example, is formally called Nihon Denryū Heihō Motobu Kenpō, usually shortened to Motobu Kenpō.

The Hawaiian line: Mitose, Chow and Parker

Much of what people in the West call kenpo comes from Hawaii.

• James Mitose learned his family’s style, Kosho-ryū (“old pine tree school”), in Japan and brought it to Hawaii.
• William Kwai Sun Chow trained under Mitose and developed his own teaching.
• Ed Parker studied under Chow in Hawaii for nearly six years. In 1957 he began teaching the kenpo he had learned from Chow, and refined it throughout his life into Ed Parker’s American Kenpo.

American Kenpo is usually taught as an art in its own right rather than as a karate style.

Shorinji Kempo

Shorinji Kempo is a separate Japanese art, established in 1947 by Doshin So, who combined his practice of Chinese quanfa and jujutsu.

Is kenpo right for you?

That depends on which kenpo you find. Ask any kenpo club which lineage it follows: an Okinawan kenpo club will feel like traditional karate, an American Kenpo school will follow Ed Parker’s system, and Shorinji Kempo is a different art altogether.