About Shorin Kempo

Adapt and Overcome

The word Shorin in Japanese means young forest and Kempo when translated  means the Law of the fist or hand.

Shorin Kempo could best be described by the Japanese as  evolved form of Chinese Shaolin Kung Fu  ,but with the Japanese method of teaching and discipline, Some refer to this as To -De (the Chinese Hand) 

Kancho McInnes believes that it does not matter what the name of the style is and often says …

“If water is red with dye, or clear and sparkling, is it not still called water? It’s only described differently.”

The same goes for Kempo, karate and Kung Fu.
In fact the term Kempo in Japanese is used to describe martial arts that originated from China , in Okinawa often referred to in general as To-De (The Chinese Hand) .

In Shorin Kempo All Martial Arts stem from the same roots and therefore should be treated like brothers and sisters, the characters in the word Kung Fu when separated and translated mean

“An Acquired skill through Time Energy and Discipline”.

Is that not what Martial arts is about?

The system of Shorin Kempo differs from many in its ability to evolve. Shorin Kempo  has become a practical Martial Art as it has evolved over the decades with a large following of dedicated teachers and students .

The Concept behind Shorin Kempo can be found in its name . As stated previously Shorin when translated mean Young forest , the words Kung Fu means time energy and discipline .

If you look beyond the words and translation, you will understand that the meaning of Young Forest is to evolve , forever evolving like a new forest and its plants and trees and we all know to evolve this takes time , energy and a lot of discipline  as depicted in the Chinese characters of Kung Fu.

Our system or though based on To-De, is designed so that it has the ability to evolve and adapt . This is why Shorin Kempo Dojo’s around the world have produced many great champions and even more important skilled teachers to pass on knowledge .

Kancho McInnes believes that without the ability to adapt we lose focus on the key purpose of Kempo or Karate .