I have heard Kenpo called the slapping art a few times, and for those who know about checking understand the underlying principals behind it. For those of you who don’t, you should find this rather informative.
In Kenpo, we will often hit our on chest or arm as we do a technique (hence the name slapping art). There are a few reasons for this. First of all, it helps you to stay relaxed. The more relaxed your muscles are, the faster you can move. Having fast hands is also something commonly associated with Kenpo artist. Another reason, is sometimes slapping certain muscles can cause the limb to retract faster than you can by pulling it back normally.
By holding our hand in certain places, it will also stop us from overextending a technique so works to make sure we do not injure ourselves. In the end, the effect of this “slapping art” causes us to hit faster, prevent injury, and get our limbs back quicker so they are not grabbed (if your fighting a K artist, the last thing you want is for them to get a hold of one of your limbs). The name slapping art has lost some now because there was a fight where they matched up a Sumo wrestler against a Kenpo artist, the Kenpo artist won the fight with one punch. I don’t know the exact details, but I do remember hearing the story once. Hope this helpful
Tags: checking, Kempo, kempo jujitsu, kempo jujutsu, kempo kungfu, kenpo, koshoryu, relaxed fighting, slapping, Slapping art
May 23, 2008 at 7:02 pm |
I think the kenpo guy was Keith Hachney. He beat a Sumo guy in a mixed martial arts match. However, I think he used more than one punch. It was a number of open hand strikes to the face.
May 24, 2008 at 8:23 pm |
Thanks for the information. I only heard it and did not see it myself so you may very well be correct. Now that I have the name I will try to look it up sometime and see it first hand. Besides, I think it would be interesting to see any Kenpo artist vs a Sumo wrestler in general.