KENPO KARATE
Kenpo Karate is a combination of two of the world's most devastating self defense forms. Actually, the two arts are very similar, differing only in detail. The word, Kenpo, describes the Chinese style of Karate, while the more modern term, Karate, best describes that system which is now practiced in Okinawa. Kenpo means "law of the fist" while Karate, its related technique, means "empty hand". "Empty hand" refers to the fact that no weapons are used. Instead, the hands, elbows, fingers, feet, knees and other parts of the body are developed and used as weapons.
Senior Master of the Arts Ed Parker is known world wide as the father of American Kenpo. He was the founder and president of the International Kenpo Karate Association, and Ed Parker's Karate Studios. He is the father of American Karate having originated the first American version of Karate. He opened the first professional Karate studio in the United States in Pasadena, California in 1956. He has been featured in national and international magazines: Time, Look, Strength and Health, Show Business Illustrated, Iron Man, Action Karate, Black Belt, Karate Illustrated, Official Karate, Inside Kung-Fu, American Karate, and Karate/Kung-Fu Illustrated; in newspapers nation-wide; articles in the World Encyclopedia and many others.
His contributions and innovations are endless, encompassing logic and reasoning not yet employed by others. His nearly four decades of experience, contributions, and endeavors establish him as the Master and Founder of our system, and the author of our training material.
MODERN ARNIS - TAPI TAPI
For more than 50 years, Remy Amador Presas has pursued his passion for the stick, knife, sword, dagger and empty hand - all in the name of Modern Arnis, the Philippine martial art he created and continues to refine. Modern Arnis is one of the most popular, efficient and easy to learn systems of self-defense in the world, and presas continues to spread the style by conducting seminars and workshops around the globe. In fact, the humble master is responsible for pioneering the martial arts seminar by teaching his art to students of any style or level, as long as they are willing to pick up a stick and open their mind.
Presas began his study of Arnis at age 6. He learned his farther, Jose Presas, in the small fishing village of Hinigarin, Negros Occidental, in the Philippines. He left home at age 14 so he could pursue his interest in the fighting arts practiced on the many islands of his homeland. These arts were blends of systems from all over the world: Thailand, China, Spain, Indonesia, Japan and India. They had reached the islands as the people of the Philippines interacted, traded and fought with these diverse nations. Presas refined and blended the important aspects of tjakele, arnis de mano, karate, jujitsu and dumog into the art he named Modern Arnis. "Long ago, Arnis was a dying art," Presas says. "The old practitioners believed the cane was sacred. This meant they would always aim at the hand of their training partner and not at the cane for practice. Most of the students got hurt right away and immediately lost interest. I modernized this and promoted hitting the cane instead for practice. Then I identified the basic concepts of the many Filipino systems I had learned to bring a unity to the diverse systems of my country. This way, we could all feel the connection.
Presas prefers to use the term "arnis" over the term "kali". "In the west you hear the words kali and escrima used all a lot," he says. "These terms mean basically the same thing, but if you say kali or escrima, not many people in the Philippines will know what you are talking about. Arnis best reflects the Philippine culture because it is a Tagalog word." Tagalog is the national language of the Philippines.
"In the Philippines," Presas continues, "if someone heard you were a good arnis player, they would challenge you - anywhere. I did challenging also. We fought in the streets, alleys, parks - all kinds of places. Sometimes there were very bad injuries, but I did not lose."
Presas' experience and prowess were unsurpassed. By 1970 he had created a sensation in his country. His Modern Arnis Federation of the Philippines boasted more than 40,000 members. In 1975 he left the Philippines on a goodwill tour sponsored by the government to spread Modern Arnis around the globe. Since arriving in the United States the art has grown rapidly.
Modern Arnis is often referred to as "the art within the art." The techniques are based on patterns ant theories of movement, instead of static moves and drills. Rather than learning complex forms and one-step sparring drills for each weapon, students learn the fundamentals of natural movement and use the same patterns of attack and defense in response to each direction, type and intensity of attack. This is true regardless of whether they are holding a sword, dagger, stick or no weapon at all. In addition, all the techniques lead into a countless variety of disarms, throws and locks using the maximum leverage available from whatever weapon is being utilized.
enhance the effectiveness of every technique.
