Martial art derived from traditional Okinawan martial arts, literally meaning "fist law". Kenpo (also sometimes romanized as Kempo) was first widely taught in the
west by James Masayoshi Mitose, who first taught Kenpo in Hawaii in the 1940's and 1950's.
The students of Mitose, including
Parker and Chow, went on to found schools of Kenpo throughout the west. Kenpo schools vary in their curriculum, but typically resemble Karate in being rich in strikes, blocks, and "
hard" techniques, although some schools incorporate various degrees of throws, chokes and grappling techniques. Kenpo is sometimes called "Kenpo Karate" and the term Kenpo is used synonymously with the word Karate on Okinawa.
Kenpo is still practiced in Okinawa and
Japan,
one popular form being Shorinji Kenpo, a martial arts
school combining Zen Buddhist teachings with martial arts instruction in a modern reconstruction of Shaolin temple practices (shorinji being the Japanese pronunciation of Shaolin).
