KEMPO

MASTERS SHAOLIN KEMPO KARATE

© 1996 Keepers of Shaolin
A BRIEF HISTORY


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(This Page Last Updated ) March. 17, 1997





ch. CHINESE - jp. JAPANESE -kr. KOREAN



From left to right.

Nunchaku - Sai - Kama - Tui-fa - Rokushakubo or (Bo staff)

Nunchaku

The art of nunchaku owes its technical excellence almost entirely to Okinawan endeavors. The nunchaku is a double-pieced hardwood weapon. The separate pices of wood are hinged by silk cords, end- to- end, by a universal point that permits freedom of swivel. Each piece is identical in shape, being about one foot to fifteen inches in length and of square, hexagonal, or octagonal cross section. Each piece may be of one diameter for its entire length, or may be tapered slightly. Attacks with nunchaku are used durning close fighting with the enemy.

Sai

The sai is primarily a defensive weapon. It has always been a truncheon, never a blade weapon. the sai may be used to deflect, block or parry a cutting or stroking attack of a bladed or staff weapon. Three sai are usually carried, one in each hand and one thrust through the belt or sash of the user. The third one is to replace one that might be lost in combat, or may serve as a projectile weapon .

Kama (sickle)

The sickle was an agricultural tool. This tool has been used as long as rice has been grown but was not long before it was used as a weapon. On Okinawa the sickle is called a kama which was probably brought there from the Asian continent. Kama tactics are primarily Okinawan. Some changes of this weapon had to be made in order that the operator would not wound himself. The hardwood handle is slightly larger at the butt end to keep the weapon from slipping out of the users hand. Kama attacks are chopping, hooking, hacking, striking, blocking,,deflecting, or covering actons against the enemt. Kama can be used singly or in pairs. In pairs swinging patterns are propeller-like actions.
Tui-fa

Early Okinawans were determined to continue their practice of te. The wooden handle normally wedged into a hole in the side of the millstone serves their combat purpose well. This handle, known as the tui-fa consisted of a tapered shaft of hardwood fifteen to twenty inches long. To this shaft was affixed a cylindrical grip projecting at right angles from the shaft at a place five or six inches down from the larger end of the shaft. The handle could quickly be dismantled from the millstone and brought into action. It was held by grasping the short grip loosely but firmly so it could not drop out of the users hand. Most commonly, two tui-fa were used, one in each hand. With the tui-fa lying along the undersides of the forearms so that the short projection beyound the grip extended foreward toward the enemy, the operator could punch or strike with great force. The hardwood projection acted like an extension of thr knucles. By a quickflick of his arms the user could reverse the tui-fa so the longer end of the shaft would fly foreward The alternate reversing of one or both was confusing to the opponet.
Rokushakubo (bo-staff)

Rokushakubo is the name of this weapon as well as well as a fighting system. In Japanese roku means "six,"shaku is a measurement of unit of about one foot in length, and bo means "staff". As its name implies, it is a hardwood polelike weapon about six feet in length. Chinese staffs usually are of an equal diameter the full length of their boby. Okinawan rokushakubo have tapered end, the diameter from between one inch and two inches. The staff operates best from outside the enemys body.