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

Two Laws

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Go no Te (Go no kempo) or Goho (Hard methods) or Ryu-te (Dragon Hand or Ko-ken こ拳 Tiger Fist)– the hand of strength (hard hands/fists) from Ryu-Te Kempo 龍手拳法and Stuart sensei. (Physical Fitness, technical proficiency, deep natural breathing) (External Style) from studies in Chinese chuan fa, wing chun, Japanese karate, and American Kenpo. Engaging from distance (maai) and crashing in (butsukari) as envelopment. Mastering posturing (gamae) and stance (dachi)

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Ju no Te (Ju no kempo) or Juho (Soft methods)– the hand of gentleness/yielding (soft hands/fists) from Kaku-Te Kempo カク手拳法 and Cunningham sensei. (Internal style) from both studies in Chinese chuan fa/chin na, Okinawan karate and Japanese jujitsu. Engaging from close with entry, evasion, and escape. Mastering angles with timing to target kyusho (vital areas) as you read the threat weaknesses.

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Range of Skills

Throws (Nage), locks (Kansetsu), chokes (Shime), strikes (Uchi), punches (Tsuki), kicks (Geri), weapons (Buki’gwa or Kobujutsu古武術) training & strategy (Sakusen Bukijutsu 作戦武器術)

 

Survival effectiveness

Kihon, Kata, Kumite, Renzokute or buki, Embu

 

Training Methodology (Five ways)

1. Kihon – Basics Practice

2. Kihon Kumite 基本組手 (basic grappling hands)– Basic fighting (start studying Kyusho attacking of vital areas as specific as possible. Take turns as an attacker and defender. Nothing is random in targeting. Also, kumite can be called Iri kumi and Jiyu Kobo.

3. Jiyu Kumite 自由組手 (Free grappling hands) Means to unite with, cooperate with, or grapple with. Progressive knowledge of Kyusho accuracy requires Bunkai and Oyo.

4. Bunkai 分解 – Analysis and disassembly of movements (Black belt grades emphasize the use of Bunkai. This then produces Oyo. Also, verb use: Bunkai suru 分解する the action of taking something into its different parts and in noun use as Bunseki 分析 detailed examination of the elements or structure of something. Some qualification of the word bunkai are Bunkai Omote, meaning the obvious, the surface, Bunkai Ura, Meaning the hidden, the secret alternative, or Bunkai Honto, the real, the true.

5. Oyo 応用 close combat implications and applications of motion (technique) of that which is extracted from bunkai. Also, in noun use: Oyo-ryoku 応用力 the special use or purpose to which something is put and in verb use: Oyo suru 応用する to apply.

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Renzokute 連続手 (Continuous Hand)

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.

 

Kinsei 均整 (Symmetry) & Maai (Interval & Time)

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.

 

The interval refers to the space between two opponents in self-defense; or the "engagement distance".

 

The concept of maai incorporates not just the distance between opponents, but also the time taken to cross the distance and the angle and rhythm of attack; collectively, these all factor into the exact position from which one kempoka can strike other – e.g., a faster opponent's maai is farther away than a slower opponent.

 

It is ideal for one kempoka to maintain maai while preventing the other from doing so, meaning that they can strike before the opponent can, rather than both striking simultaneously, or being struck without being able to strike back.

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

 

Effectiveness – maai (distance/interval) and hyoshi/choshi (timing) can convert blocks, strikes, kicks into throws, takedowns, locks. Skills must be grounded in reality or Jitsute (real hand/real skill). This is practice with a live uke but mind must be developed alone through astere, reclusive work in nature to target harden the mind, body, spirit, thus resolve.

 

Kata – model, pattern, form, type, style. Cmdr. Cunningham teaches one form of kata and that is Jiyu or freestyle, thus Garyu-jitsu (self-taught method) through countless drills in natures order and according to universal law. The fist law/kempo.

 

Jiyu – This takes the kihon, kihon kumite, bunkai, oyo, and renzokute and allows the Alaskan Kempo warrior to express fluidity from within on those impressions of motion that will flow naturally through Shi 士 (gentleman, scholar, warrior) or Shi 死 (death)/ Shi to sono genkai no kenkyu 死とその限界の研究 (study of death’s doorway and threshold, death’s limits) thus Katameru Hyoteki 固める標的 (target hardening), Ki (life, spirit, vital energy), Kokoro 心 (heart, mind, spirit, or a fusion of emotions, intellect, and the essence of one’s being, uniting thought and feeling and Chikara 力 (strength/power/authority, with Chakuriki ( borrow strength from nature).

 

Shakuriki 借力 (or Chakuriki) – “Borrowed strength” in Nature. Chakuriki is a concept of great significance to Alaskan kempo. It is an intense training method. It involves seeking out our ultimate limits and then finding the borrowed strength to keep on going. Aligning oneself to the basic elements of nature is at the root of chakuriki.

 

The communication and alignment with nature is daily in Alaskan kempo and integrates us to the earth or Koishidokai (old way of the earth/stone association). In our modern culture, it takes very specific practices and methods to purposefully utilize the power of nature by spending significant amounts of time in nature with kempo.

 

Methods of training, through chakuriki.

 

1.Seclude oneself in the deep forests or mountains and seek stability of body and mind.

2. Training under Alaskan waterfalls

3. Standing in stances at the base of mountain cliffs

4. Meditation and breathing in mountain rivers and glacier fed lakes

5. Sleeplessness to maintain alertness to dangers

6. Fasting to control desires

7. Living as animals in nature, eating natural food, and sharing the same environment.

8. Pushing the limits of the physical body: jumping, swinging heavy objects, running, walking long distances, etc. in nature.

 

This is the path of Koishidokai Kempo.

 

Misogi 禊 (Ritual Purification) – Cmdr. Cunningham spent his early life in Southeast Alaska growing up within nature in his conditioning. His body, mind, and spirit began to change. His feelings for nature became more amplified. The wind whispering of the animals and birds. It was a symphony in unison with all life, both flora and fauna. It was understood as the total sound of complete harmony in life and death. The skin became torn and ragged, allowing him to sleep on top of the snow, in rain, in cold. Sharp sight and vision, keen hearing abilities, an almost awe-inspiring sense of impending danger, abilities to remain motionless for hours at a time, as needed.

 

His heart became softer and yielding, i.e. soft and yielding, which is the power of survival defense personified, shielded with compassion and decisiveness of purpose. It is this power that overcomes the threat. In the threat’s mind and spirit, the justification for assaulting is attacked by Kempoka.

 

The threat cannot find anywhere to press their attack. Everything gives way to their assault. If the threat pushes, they are pulled. All of their attempts at striking are manipulated. All their attempts at violent behavior are invalidated. The threat feels as if they are standing on hallowed ground. The power that the kempoka places upon the threat absolutely holds them entranced, as well as, totally controlled. Controlled as if by puppet strings, to the notions of the kempoka.

 

Cleansing the spiritual self leads to a more developed kempo misogi.

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Thus, underlining that the polishing of the self is contained in the trilogy of the mind, body, and spirit of a kempoka’s existence. Well thought out applications of the kempo, encourage them to push themselves into a harmonious living condition with their environment, and therefore gain chakuriki from this union. Harmony with the environment meant that the environment could be better understood, and utilized. Man could double or even triple his mental, physical, and spiritual strength through the benefit of cooperation between kempoka and nature. This cannot be overstated. The search for this unification of kempoka and nature is an old and ancient study. Misogi is this vehicle that man used to find peace within, and gain peace from without.

Today, we can barely find any connection to these practices except in limited old ways like kempo. We find old lore about how working in the elements of nature bought about great strength and good health, but how this is managed, and why it became good for us, has become lost generally. When we connect with nature, we gain the earth’s energy and our able to wield in with flow and focus.

 

It exists in the Koishidokai.

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Embu 演武 – Mutual exchange is our form of embu, which is like the kote kitae of Pangeinoon/Uechi ryu or chi sao sticky hands of Wing Chun. The objective is the flow of energy and mutual harmony in practice movements. There is no resistance. The beginning kempoka gets tired easily 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

The five styles of Kempo

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1. Shinken (Hallowed Fist methods)

2. Himitsu (Strategy of escape or lightening)

3. Gogyo (Strategy of Five Elements of Water, Fire, Earth, Metal, Air)

4. Heiho (Strategy of a peaceful person)

5. Kamite (The Divine Hand)

 

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. From old Siam as Ti’gwa

(Ti) the study of recovery & giving percussive impact striking as in Japanese studies it would be Uchi/Uke/Atemi-Waza. Thus, Kyusho-Jutsu. Attacking of vital areas of the body.

 

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 as Tegumi from Shaolin based Chin Na for seizing and controlling and Chinese wrestling of Shuai Jiao. In Japanese Jujutsu: Kansetsu/joint manipulation, cavity seizing, limb entanglements; Nage/balance displacement, throwing, takedowns; Gatame/groundfighting/submission; shime/chokes/strangulation.

 

THE SPIRIT (KI) DEVELOPMENT

 

Kiai (Harmonious Spirit Within)

 

Aiki (Harmonious Spirit With Another) – 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 kempoka 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.

 

Yoki (Positive Spirit Without)

 

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

 

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.

 

JITSUTE (HANDS OF SKILL)

 

The key is bilateral symmetry, horizontal hands to hands; vertical, hands to feet; and single symmetry using same for both defense and offense at same time and space; thus no waste of time, space, energy, or target.

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1. Renzokute (Continuous Hand)

2. Meotode (Husband & Wife Hand)

3. Shitte (Dead Hand)

4. Hikite (Resuscitation, Waiting, Drawing Hand)

5. Jute (Gentle or Soft Hand)

6. Gote (Hard Hand)

7. Shinite (Active Hand)

8. Katsute (Passive Hand)

9. Jiyute (Free Hand)

10. Odorite (Dancing Hand)

11. Aikite (Harmony Hand)

12. Uchite (Striking Hand)

13. Torite (Grappling Hand)

14. Kamite (God Hand)

15. Heihote (Strategy Hand)

 

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.

 

Busan – Creativity (Takeumu)

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

 

Nagare Komi – To Flow In

River, air, life, combat, all life flow in anything and everything especially Alaskan Kempo Jitsute.

 

Aiki – blending

Ryuki – constant flow

With Target availability

 

KIME (FOCUS)

 

Ma (Interval)

Ai (Union)

Maai (Distancing)

Choshi (Rhythm)

Hyoshi (Timing) How to move in time?

Ritsudo (Rhythmic Movement)

 

VISUALIZATION

 

Shingan – Mind’s Eye

Shinsho - 3D Imaging

Shinzo – Other Senses

 

Alaskan Kempo Principles

アラスカ拳法の原則

 

Aite – partners

Kinsei – Symmetry

Between right and left High to Low, Hands and feet Advanced Kinsei

Shinite – Active Hand Katsute – Passive Hand

Kakie/Kakete – Contact exchange development

Kata (Entry, follow through, submission/finishing)

     1. Tori - Taker

     2. Uke – Receiver

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 for survivability.

     1. Toitsu Embu

     2. Goken Embu

Kumite (Full contact uchite to body and geri to whole body)

Bogu (Full battle in kempo gear)

Bunkai (Analysis) & Oyo (Applications)

1. Honte

Straightforward meaning as regular skill.

2. Gyakute

Backward motion meaning.

3. Kakushite

Hidden skill meaning.

4. Hente

Changing skill meaning.

5. Sutemite

Sacrifice skill meaning.

 

Buki’gwa/Kobujutsu (All weapon systems)

Heihojutsu/Sakusen (The Way of Strategy & Tactics)