Introduction to
Alaskan Kempo Fundamentals
アラスカ拳法の基礎の紹介

Two Laws

Go no Te – the hand of strength from Kaku-Te Kempo and Stuart sensei.

(Physical Fitness, technical proficiency, deep natural breathing) (External Style)

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Ju no Te – the hand of gentleness/yielding from Kaku-Te Kempo and Cunningham sensei.

(Internal style) from both chin na and jujitsu

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Range of Skills

Throws, locks, chokes, strikes, punches, kicks, weapons training & strategy (Sakusen Bukijutsu 作戦武器術)

 

Survival effectiveness

Kihon, kata, kumite, renzokubuki, embu

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Training Methodology (Five ways)

1. Kihon – Basics Practice

2. Kihon Kumite – Basic fighting (start studying Kyusho attacking of vital areas as specific as possible. Take turns as attacker and defender. Nothing is random in targeting.

3. Jiyu Kumite – (Free fighting) Means to unite with, cooperate with, or grapple with or sometimes translated as “grappling hand”. Progressive knowledge of Kyusho accuracy requires Bunkai

4. Bunkai – Analysis of movements (Black belt grades emphasize the use of Bunkai. This is interchanged with Oyo.

5. Oyo – fighting applications of motion

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Renzokute (buki)

Techniques or continuous hand (multiple synchronization of all tools in combination) The combination of all skills logically) Each movement should be able to put someone down Ikken or one fist or anciently Ikken Hissatsu one fist, certain death. Not always possible so practice of performing a continuous flow of strikes. No prearranged sets used.

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Kinsei (Symmetry)

Symmetry of movement, a constant flow of motion that allows each move to blend smoothly into the next, without interruption when the kempoka can do this, the opponent has no time or opportunity to recover and mount a defense.

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Connectedness – a time of intense bunkai training because a student must see how all movement is connected. Thus helping this is kata training.

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Effectiveness – maai distance and timing can convert blocks strikes kicks into throws, takedowns, locks. Skills must be grounded in reality. This is practice with a live uke.

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Kata – pattern or form Cmdr. Cunningham teaches one form of kata and that is Jiyu or freestyle, thus Garyu-jitsu (self-taught method).

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Jiyu – This takes the kihon, kihon kumite, bunkai, Oyo, and renzokute (buki) and allows the Alaskan Kempo warrior to express fluidity from within on those impressions of motion that will flow naturally through Shi, Ki, and Chikara.

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Embu – Mutual exchange our form of embu is like the chi sao sticky hands of wing chun. The objective is flow of energy and mutual harmony to practice movements. There is no resistance. The beginning kempoka gets tired easy as physical pressure is the natural result. As expertise increases and through detaching oneself from achievement, the kempoka begins to conserve energy thus producing flow and the ability to accept and redirect the opponent’s flow of energy. Embu can close through separation in attack or through manipulation and dominance of the flow in technique leading to a throw, lock, hold, or choke.

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Three Arrows of Alaskan Kempo Practice

This is the secret to Alaskan Kempo training. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

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Renshu, Keiko, Shugyo: these follow the natural laws of shi, ki, and chikara or intention, compliance to intention, application physically to obey the innervation

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Renshu – Ren (to polish) Shu (take lessons) lets us know how important it is to have a good teacher; it also tells us that we must polish what we have been taught. “The need to polish skills is the most important lesson that can be learned. The old way is work!

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Keiko – Kei (think, consider) Ko (Old) looking what you already know as if you are seeing it for the first time. In essence bunkai at its finest. More advanced, more Keiko because there is more to think about. True kempo masters have incredible intricate and sophisticated skills only because they have been contemplating for 20 to 30 years or more the techniques that they learned during the first five years of training.

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Shugyo – Shu (govern oneself, conduct oneself well, study, cultivate, or master) Gyo (exercise control or act) thus exercise control to conduct oneself well (study and mastery of the endeavor) also this could mean through religious austerities one should govern oneself.

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Constraints in Training for Safety and Combat

Cmdr. Cunningham’s teacher expressed the constraints of battle as a set doctrine of control like unto the law enforcement use of force continuum or military rules of engagement. It is to “hit before maiming, maim before killing, and kill before being killed” This saying seems to be an intuitive concept, yet, it goes beyond contestation because of the legal nature of the rule of law that each citizen of most countries must live by.

 

When Cmdr. Cunningham was training in sakusen goshinjitsu principals with his father in the early days of the mid 1960s there was only these three levels of constraints: Hyomen Dome/Karada o naguru 表面止め / 体を叩く (surface stopping/hitting the body), Hyomen Hakai/Shogai 表面破壊 / 傷害(surface destruction-maiming), and Naibu Hakai/ Shi / Korosu 内部破壊 / 死 / 殺す(inner destruction-death/killing) thus the saying above.

 

Cmdr. Cunningham’s teacher told him of a time when a novice student of Alaskan Kempo and her roommate were practicing kempo in their apartment without supervision of a master. One of the girls unintentionally struck her training partner/roommate in a vital area on the neck and killed her. This story shows that without “advanced” training control through disciplined practice under the watchful eye of a master, the novice kempoka on both sides of the training (offense and defense) were incapable of harnessing the power of kempo. Later the training in sun dome 寸止め (stopping an inch from contact in striking) became the focus of training for the novice kempoka and is still in practice today.

 

Alaskan Kempo Practice Methods

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Level One – SUN DOME 寸止め

The most important issue in this level is for the attacker to make a single attack and then freeze in place so that the defender can practice one response for kihon kumite or multiple responses for renzokute (buki) practice. The don’t move is critical for the attacker. The defender cannot management risks that are produced during real movement when they are practicing a single or multiple response option to the attackers Ikken Hissatsu. This practice should be at ¼ speed to ½ speed only! This is injury prevention restraint as an element of practice.

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Level Two – HYOMEN DOME 表面止め

This practice is making surface contact with the skin; the force therefore penetrates no further but dissipates on contact. This is not for beginners who have no control of motion acceleration or deceleration, but for the advanced kempoka, hyomen dome is pleasing because the body’s motion seeks justification of effort. This is the beginning essence of Bogu (fighting in armor) practice. This is still not salient for combat effectiveness because you begin as in sun dome at ¼ to ½ speeds. Plus, as in teppojutsu practice, “smooth is fast and fast disrupts the flow of motion efficiency.” Stopping at the skin does nothing to be effective in stopping a threat force from reaching their objective but allows contact.

 

Alaskan Kempo Combat

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Kime (decisiveness) – generally represented by the term focus in reference to ones shi invoking ki invoking chikara. All Alaskan Kempo is about control with discipline. We kime on a particular kyusho left open by Uke during the attack. We then apply the course of action response best suited in application to reach Uke’s kyusho that is exposed and we kime the control necessary to sun dome just before the kyusho or hyomen dome depending on the skill level of the kempoka. Then we Bogu for strength and power striking on a moving body.

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Level Three – HYOMEN HAKAI 表面破壊

This is the other side of the hyomen dome coin, so to speak. In hyomen dome, I stop at the surface of the skin once contact is made. In hyomen hakai, we destroy the surface through more acceleration and penetration deeper into the body with just enough force to destroy the surface of the threat. This makes Bogu practice a gem to Alaskan Kempo.

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Level Four – NAIBU HAKAI 内部破壊

This is total penetration and the term means “inner destruction.” The use of kime to project chikara of any uchite to penetrate to the internal organs thus causing damage. In Alaskan Kempo, Naibu hakai is about precision targeting. Thus the Ki shindo or energy pulse. The idea is to penetrate as deep as possible into the body. Obviously, uchite atemi to a secondary kyusho such as a muscle group has localized effect, but the primary kyusho such as the eyes or groin would have greater effect.

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ALASKAN KEMPO PRINCIPLES & CONCEPTS

 

 

Uchite Atemi-waza – Striking with any hand formation, to reach or cover every angle, so as to achieve positions of advantage thus maximizing threat kyusho exposure.

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Torite Atemi-waza – The taking hand is the ability to manipulate a threat in order to restrain them from conducting harmful applications. A kempoka must be able to neutralize all attackers’ courses of action.

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Aiki – mind, body, and spirit training to invoke harmony of effort through ki. This is the intuitive ability for the shi (intent) of the mind to have the body through ki and chikara to be where it needs to be in space and time. This is the blending through chikara the uchite and torite applications thus producing complete harmony to response for the formulation of applicable courses of action intuitively. The heart of the jujitsuka must be purified, because if the heart of the kempoka is not right then the practice of Alaskan Kempo is worthless. As the heart becomes pure, then the kempoka becomes gentler. This is the advanced levels of Alaskan Kempo.

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Mushin – no mind

Shi should not be confused with mushin.  Which is “no mind” practically speaking mushin gives the kempoka an open mind that ki will express itself through chikara through complete spontaneity and creativity. Thus odorite has no prearranged form, it only carries out shi. This is complete acceptance of what truly is and not preconception or myopic point of view overlay. Mushin contributes to the kempoka

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Senshin – mainly mind

Undivided attention and singleness of purpose, thus concentration. When the mind is focused on moving from one point to the next, that level of concentration does not consider that the movement will not happen.

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Renzokute

Two Types in one is known as jute or pliant hand

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Toitsu – Unity

Advanced level of MPJ™ where there is unity between all uchite atemi and torite atemi into one. All movement is the same or renzokute atemi. The motion for a strike is the same motion for a block, throw, choke or lock.

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Busan – Creativity

Accomplished through applying bunkai to renzokute (buki) which brings the kempoka to busan.

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Ryuki – Energy flow

          Aiki – blending

          Ryuki – constant flow

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Alaskan Kempo Principles

 

Aite – partners

Kinsei – Symmetry

          Between right and left

          High to Low

          Hands and feet

          Advanced Kinsei

                   Shinite – Active Hand

                   Katsute – Passive Hand

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Embu – Martial practice or a performance of martial skill

Embu does not have sparring’s imbedded nature of contentiousness. It is mutual practice of gleaned martial skill. The end of a set is Tori clearing with a cover out.

          Toitsu Embu

          Goken Embu

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Tori - Taker

Uke - Receiver