No luck yet with this guy
JWT,
No luck yet. Like most characters of this variety they disappear into the holes they came from...
I have enough students and friends out east to arrange for an education for this guy.
Best Regards in Kenpo,
Dave S ;)
Alright get comfortable...
I hate to stick my spoon in now, since it seems we are always talking about the SAME THINGS. How many Kenpo Bite's forums have I seen?! Atleast 4 or 5 in the last couple months.. BUT ANYWAYS lets start the pain.
NUMBER 1- Kenpo is a good art, as good as any! But don't call it something it is not people. Kenpo is not CMA, and whatever CMA flavor it used to have is basically GONE. ANY Okinawan style has 3 times the chinese influence and shows it alot better then Kenpo. Hate to say it! (For now I am talking about American Kenpo) Now this has nothing to do with the effetiveness of the art people, im not blasting it. American Kenpo Karate is just that, AMERICAN. Its roots are Mitose Karate, not Kung Fu! Parker slapped together forms, techniques, stuff he learned from Chow, other stuff from his studies and bam there you have it. Just look at the forms people, its not really Japanese and it sure as hell isnt Chinese. I will explain the rest later. Now, this isn't to say the art isn't effective! I have seen very good Kenpo guys, its always up to the individual. My end comment: American Kenpo is about as chinese as french fries.. Inspired by, maybe, but thats it.
Still I see alot of Kung Fu guys being attacked by the Kenpo guys so here is a little comment. I have a little peice of history for you AKK guys. How bout the FACT that Chow didn't really want to give Ed Parker his blackbelt and that it took a quite a bit of convicing from Mr.Emperado? Theres a little fat for you to chew on.
NUMBER 2- ON Professor Chow.. With all due respect, he was the Thunderbolt and an excellent martial artist. BUT his father was a shaolin monk? Yes and mine was the Prince of Egypt.. PLEASE! His own close relatives CAME OUT AND STATED that his father did NOT have any previous Kung Fu knowledge and was certainly not a Shaolin Monk. They said that Chow had studied from Mitose and then delved into the island's other arts available to him. But his pops wasn't a monk people! How many shaolin monks sit around China going.. "Hmm to hell with Kung Fu and my religion.. Hawaii and family life HERE I COME!!" I don't degrade any art, but I don't appreciate being spoon fed crap either :mad: So don't try to tell me otherwise.
You can say what you want, I have heard these things from very viable sources.
Shaolin Kempo? Shorinji Kempo(they are about as close to Shaolin Monks as you will get outside of China) is the only art that could REALLY be called Shaolin Kempo. If your not from that lineage its sure as hell isnt Shaolin, and I suggest asking some questions. Why? Because the Shaolin consist of Northern China Temple, Fukien, etc etc we all know this. KEMPO IS A JAPANESE WORD! If its Shaolin Chuan Fa, then there you go, its Chinese. What style of Chuan Fa is it? Who knows, there are hundreds, atleast you can be sure its Chinese. There was an article in BB Mag about a Shaolin Kempo guy. The second I saw the words I sighed.. He however did have training in Black Tiger and China Na so he was atleast somewhat viable. Nonethless, the applications I saw were once again VERY karate-like. He also stated in there that he went to the Shaolin Temple in China and that the monks were "very pleased with his combat applications" or something. Boy, I would sure love to explore all thier incredibly useful WUSHU applications! Come on people... By the way, if someone wants to change my mind by saying that thier kid has a blackbelt in Shaolin Kempo and its great, please don't bother. (I read it in one of the posts) Your kid has a blackbelt in Kempo, so what? There are many blackbelts in the world and I am going to say that 70% of them don't deserve it. As for your kid, he might be great and thats fine. Just don't try to use that as an arguement! I don't see any Honda Firebirds driving around, do you? Yet there is SHAOLIN KEMPO.
Ralph Castro's Shaolin Kempo is Chow Kempo. Like I said, about as Shaolin as I am Egyptian Royality.
Lets take a look at Chinese Kara Ho Kempo, another Chow related art. Can anyone tell me with a straight face this is any more then Karate with maybe different terms? (most are still Japanese terms anyways) Sorry guys, the only thing "Chinese" about this art is the name.
I hate to be so critical because who really cares if its Chinese, Russian, or African? As long as it WORKS; its fine. But you wouldn't call Kali a Polish Martial Art would you? So lets atleast get the records STRAIGHT.
In the end I saw a very agreeable post:
"This is a CHINESE MARTIAL ARTS discussion board, Kempo has NO relation within 600 - 800 years to chinese arts, Kempo is a JAPANESE art that was influenced prior to 1500 by chinese arts."
Thank you, thank you very much. I guess I didn't ingest any strange mushrooms today by mistake, after all.
Like I said before I don't degrade any art. I am sure there are low quality Kempo/Kenpo schools out there like in ANY ART. They all have the potential to shine.
Phew I am done.
"When you serpate the truth from the false, you serperate the men from the boys."
Always seeking to learn,
Kong Jianshen
Humble disciple of the ancient Boxing Arts
French fries were inspired by the Chinese? ;)
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>This is a CHINESE MARTIAL ARTS discussion board, Kempo has NO relation within 600 - 800 years to chinese arts, Kempo is a JAPANESE art that was influenced prior to 1500 by chinese arts.[/quote]I read a few posts cheering about this quote. Does that mean that non-Chinese stylists are not welcome here? Are some people so stubborn that they feel they can't learn anything from a non-KF style? Ridiculous. I hope most of the people on this forum don't want to hang out in a segregated, prejudiced forum. I certainly don't
Hey Kong I wish you knew Kenpo history better....
Kong and others,
It is sad that you are frustrated with Kenpo folk.
First of all, you do me a dishonor. You assume I am Ameriacan Kenpo stylist. I am not I am a Traditional Kenpo stylist. I am different from American Kenpo. I am a War Art with training in healing and honor.
My roots go back over 800 years in Japan and Okinawa. Before then to Shaolin - Chuan Fa.
Is this so hard to believe. We were and are known as a War Art. What you see sometimes is a pale version of what my Art is.
Don't be so quick to judge. Are you Really learning Original Kung Fu or a variation.
As far as Chow ( student of Mitose) is concerned he never taught sets or forms. Neither did James Mitose. Important fact they were known for self applications that were to the point and real!!!
Come workout with me and experience what REAL Traditional Kenpo is about... and our link with China.
You Have The Power,
Dave S ;)