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I’m gonna have to look that one up. Don’t think I know it.

But thanx.

I know a little about Kenpo and Hapkido. Both are Japanese terms. Billy Jack from the old movie did Hapkido as I recall, but I think the older version is called Aikido which relates back to Korea, like Tae Kwon Do. I’m no expert here, I just think I recall reading that somewhere.

Kenpo is Ed Parker fo sho, but I think it is a Japanese reference to Chinese arts on their island, lots of circular stuff like the mainlanders, not sure about that. I did Ni-Goju Ryu as a young man, mostly straight line strikes but with some circular kicks and I remember my instructor telling us about Kenpo. Seems like some dude showed up at one of our tournaments with Kenpo on his gi.

Whew, I think I broke a brain cell remembering all that ;)

In Japanese martial arts, kenpō is used to designate Chinese martial arts. Though there are some entertaining linguistics involved, Parker wanted to call his style "Kenpo", to distinguish it from the Japanese "Kempo", yet at the same to to evolve it into a uniquely American style. Here is some of the background to it all: http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57511 After creating a substantial organization in the US, Parker also fractured it by unexpectedly dying without any clear successor. Ultimately this might have been for the best, as there are, and always have been clear dividing lines between "shopping mall karate", competitive karate, and experts only interested in their own development and mastery. The three groups needed to go their own ways. This latter group are internationalists, and have their own rules and ethics, ignoring national laws that interfere with them. Even at the peak of the Stalinist terror they continued to practice illegally in the Soviet Union. This is creating some heartburn right now, because while martial artists are willing to teach secret police and military some skills, they refrain from teaching them mastery, for their own self preservation. But some teachers in Iran decided to teach advanced skills to some of the IRGC killers, and that breaks the rules. And as tightly controlled as Iran is right now, there may be martial artists traveling there to end this instruction in the only way they can. I know, real life vs. art.