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Who's Who in
Shorinji Kempo
Doshin So
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Shorinji Kempo (少林寺拳法, Shōrinji Kenpō?)�note that the World Shorinji
Kempo Organization prefers the Romanization kempo to kenpo�is a martial
art form of Kempo that was founded by
Doshin So
(宗道臣, 1911-1980) in 1947, who incorporated Japanese Zen Buddhism into
the fighting style. This form of Kempo can be both a religion and a
fighting form at the same time much like Shaolin kung fu, on which it is
based (少林寺 is the Shaolin Monastery). However, since about 2005, a
stronger distinction is made between the religious aspect of the martial
art and the technical side of the martial art. For example, branches
within Japan can be a doin, whereas branches outside of Japan can only
be formally recognized as a dojo.
Looked at from a Japanese martial arts perspective, it could be
described as a combination of karate, judo, and aikijujutsu built on a
Kung Fu framework, except that this art generally has no killing moves
because of its respect for life. It is a form of Kempo that tries to get
its practitioners to move through life doing minimal damage whenever
possible.
The Buddhist influences of Shorinji Kempo emphasize cooperation and is
almost exempt of the bias that competition brings - turning martial arts
into sports. Instructors are forbidden from making profit from their
tutelage and there are no ladder-based competitions. Shorinji Kempo
competition relies on paired demonstrations called embu where the
accuracy, the rhythm, and the realism are noted and compared (with
something like "technical" and "artistic" marks, as in gymnastics or ice
skating).
Shorinji Kempo has grown into a popular art form in many countries
outside of Japan.
The practitioner of Shorinji Kempo is known as a Kenshi (拳士).
The three main aims of Shorinji Kempo are:
- Healthy Body - Improved physical
fitness and health
- Healthy Mind - Spiritual development
- Self-Defense
Shorinji Kempo teaches a wide variety of
techniques, ranging from goho (hard techniques) such as kicks and
punches, juho (soft techniques) such as grappling and throwing, to seiho
(correcting methods) acupressure techniques for revival of unconscious
persons. These three types of techniques are further divided into kogi
(offensive techniques), bogi (defensive techniques), shuho (defence
methods, mainly against soft techniques), tai gamae (body position),
sokui ho (foot position), umpo ho (footwork), and tai sabaki (body
movement).
Techniques are seldom practiced in isolated form. Often a technique is
put into a context, or pattern, also known as hokei. The hokei is
typically a defense paired with an attack.
Hokei is practiced either in isolated form, or during randori (free
fighting, a more literal translation being "to bring Chaos under order",
which is philosophically rather different from simply fighting for its
own sake).
The relationship between technique, hokei and randori is similar to that
of the relationship between words, sentences and essays. A word forms
the basis of the sentence, just like the technique forms the basis of
hokei. The sentence forms the basis of the essay, just like hokei forms
the basis of randori. In order to master the art of writing good essays,
one must first have a good vocabulary (words), and how you put them
together to form sentences that conveys meaning. Similarly, in order to
master the art of randori, one must know how to perform techniques, and
how to put them together into hokei.
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