whats the difference between Kung fu and Kenpo? A little confused i was thinking that kenpo is like karate mixed with kung fu am i correct?
[QUOTE=Raipizo;932837]whats the difference between Kung fu and Kenpo? A little confused i was thinking that kenpo is like karate mixed with kung fu am i correct?[/QUOTE]
It’s pronounced Kempo although written kenpo (go figure). Kempo is a few things.
one is that it is mixed interpretation of Chinese martial arts. the japanse versions being the best really.
another one is that it is the mixed knowledge coagulated into american martial arts as distributed by Ed Parker, hence “kempo karate”
later iterations are variations of those two things, but yeah it is a mix of karate and kungfu more often than not. unless you are in Japan, where it is what it is.
It would seem taht every different school of Kempo has an entirely different curriculum from which they teach and learn martial arts.
like anything, some schools are good and others not so much.
thanks for the help yeah i see it written as kenpo all the time i figured it was right but would kempo kung fu kind of be ruined due to the complete opposites in technique of karate and kung fu? i kinda think it would.
[QUOTE=Raipizo;932845]thanks for the help yeah i see it written as kenpo all the time i figured it was right but would kempo kung fu kind of be ruined due to the complete opposites in technique of karate and kung fu? i kinda think it would.[/QUOTE]
punch, kick, lock and throw.
that’s all there really is, the dancing in between is transitional.
If it’s hard to understand, it ain’t likely to be useful in combat anyway. 
since when is karate “opposed” to kung fu (the umbrella term for hundreds of very different arts)
???
Well karate is slower and more rigid where as kung fu is flowy and fast.
[QUOTE=golden arhat;932853]since when is karate “opposed” to kung fu (the umbrella term for hundreds of very different arts)
???[/QUOTE]
Kung fu usually specifically refers to the Martial Arts style that comes from China. Its not really the umbrella name for all styles of martial arts either, perhaps you are thinking of the term wushu.
CMA and Karate does have many similarities, but are also very different in many ways.
I agree with you.
[QUOTE=Raipizo;932856]Well karate is slower and more rigid where as kung fu is flowy and fast.[/QUOTE]
nonesnse. Good, authentic, Karate is fast and fluid.
[QUOTE=David Jamieson;932842]… one is that it is mixed interpretation of Chinese martial arts. the japanse versions being the best really.
another one is that it is the mixed knowledge coagulated into american martial arts as distributed by Ed Parker, hence “kempo karate”
later iterations are variations of those two things, but yeah it is a mix of karate and kungfu more often than not. unless you are in Japan, where it is what it is.[/quote]Kind of. There are lots of different kempo styles. There’s American kempo, which has a lot in it, most of which is from Ed Parker. Within Japanese kempo, the two main styles are both called Shorinji Kempo. One of these is Okinawan which is pretty cool and as old as most other Okinawan karate (110-120 or so) and the other is modern mainland Japanese karate, and the name was chosen literally because the founder thought it sounded cool, and has nothing but a fleeting relation to kung fu.
I know you said Japanese kempo is what it is, but just to clarify, neither shorinji kempo is a mix of karate and kung fu: Okinawan is an Okinawan karate style, which like any other Okinawan karate means it’s a mix of traditional Okinawan fighting techniques with elements of kung fu thrown in… that’s what karate is; and mainland shorinji is made-up karate with no relation to kung fu.
[QUOTE=Raipizo;932856]Well karate is slower and more rigid where as kung fu is flowy and fast.[/QUOTE]You should try learning one. Or both. These statements are ludicrously mistaken over-generalizations.
High level Karate looks pretty much like Kung Fu. It’s all the same, different roads to one location.
bah idk, i just like kung fu better XD
[QUOTE=Raipizo;932875]bah idk, i just like kung fu better XD[/QUOTE]LOL, fair enough!
why didn’t ya just say so in the first place?!
Sure. The main difference between Kung-Fu and Karate is,
Kung-Fu is cooler!
-we all know that.
point is if someone says to me they do “kung fu” i have no idea what they do
because all styles of kung fu are very different.
if you cant see similarities between chinese martial arts and karate you are blind!
[QUOTE=Mr Punch;932861]Kind of. There are lots of different kempo styles. There’s American kempo, which has a lot in it, most of which is from Ed Parker. Within Japanese kempo, the two main styles are both called Shorinji Kempo. One of these is Okinawan which is pretty cool and as old as most other Okinawan karate (110-120 or so) and the other is modern mainland Japanese karate, and the name was chosen literally because the founder thought it sounded cool, and has nothing but a fleeting relation to kung fu.
I know you said Japanese kempo is what it is, but just to clarify, neither shorinji kempo is a mix of karate and kung fu: Okinawan is an Okinawan karate style, which like any other Okinawan karate means its a mix of traditional Okinawan fighting techniques with elements of kung fu thrown in thats what karate is; and mainland shorinji is made-up karate with no relation to kung fu.[/QUOTE]
shorin ji, there are 2 kinds (one is quite recent and also quite culty), but “shorin” transliterates as “shaolin” so it is indeed realted directly to cma. other okinawan styles have been tied to fujien white crane style and when observed, the direct connection is there. mainland karate is an entirely different animal altogether and pretty much exclusively japanese in style and content.
goju is similar to the white crane, shorin is the shaolin japanese style, isshin is a mix of those too with a en extra kata of it’s own, uechi is a hard style that shares some content with shorin and goju as well. The other okinawan families stem from these to the best of my knowledge and so, teh Okinawan karate is very much related to chinese martial styles.
also ‘kempo’ is basically the same as ‘chuan fa’ or ‘fist law’ or ‘fist methods’.
isnt the japanese for “fist” “ken”
as in
hakkyoku-ken (bajiquan)
[QUOTE=golden arhat;932930]isnt the japanese for “fist” “ken”
as in
hakkyoku-ken (bajiquan)[/QUOTE]
kenpo pronounced kempo.
i go with the phonetic pronunciation as it is the most common usage.
When it comes to Okinawan styles, just want to make sure that there’s an Okinawan Shorinji () and an Okinawan Shorin-Ryu ().
My buddy was pretty adamant that his stuff wasn’t really Shaolin-based.
http://www.rik.co.jp/karate/english/dojyo.htm
In Japanese there’s not really a difference between a terminating “n” and a terminating “m” - terminating meaning not immediately followed by a vowel, ie the character ; this is especially true when the is followed by a “p” or “b” sound.
Proper romanization; however, is with the “n”.