Here’s a bit of good news (at least for me!). I went and completed the certification requirements for Middle School Math / Science for the state of Massachusetts, and I’ve been hired as a grade 7 and 8 Math and Science teacher at the middle school in my town. Hooray for full time employment!
So what have we done for Kempo lately?
I got a comment regarding the kempo timeline I have (read: should be updating) on the site, noting how little of significance has happened since 1974. Fred Villari went solo for the most part that year, stepping up into his ‘I created sho ton kwok, I’m the 10th dan’ phase. After that, in about 78-81 the dreaded ‘material explosion’ happened.
I have a few entries on the timeline after that, and admittedly I should have more, but really what has happened of significance in Kempo since then? There’s been some shuffling, some rank dilution,a few followers of the ‘I’ll promote myself to 10th too‘ school, whatever, but what really has happened? I’m not sure anything has to happen, as I’m sure there haven’t been too many earth shattering developments in Shotokan over the same period, or Hung Gar. Was that when the system matured or is it when it jumped the shark?
I see the current period of development as a particularly promising one. There’s enough pseudo-reactionary practitioners out there that the ‘roots’ movement seems to be gaining ground. I don’t think we’ll ever be in the majority, but I do think that the day is coming that Kempo will no longer be synonymous with ‘Franchise’ or ‘strip mall’. I think that now that everyone is a tenth dan big cheese, that no-one is a tenth dan big cheese. The establishment is collapsing under the weight of red felt stripes. What will it look like after the crash? I’m shooting for a divergence. A species of Kempo that splits, sheds the bloat, and rejoices in what made it a force to be reckoned with in the early days. What’s my contribution to Kempo? Ironically it has to do with the archive. I’m trying to get it all, so that each person can decide whether they need it or not. Then we can have Post-kempo kempo.
Posted in KempoBlog, Personal
Tagged contribution, evolution, Kempo, Post-kempo, roots, Timeline
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I don’t mean to blame TKD…
During my various rants about sparring, I sometimes imagine the effects of WTF style fighting if applied in the real world. I stumbled across a posting suggested by ethesis in the comments section of 24fightingchickens.com. It was a page simply entitled, “How to spar a Tae Kwon Do Black belt.” It reminded me of a friend who spent a month at his local WTF TKD school. He had moved to a new area and was looking to continue his training. When he tried out the TKD school, he found the sparring really puzzling. They would get ready in their stance with their hands down, and he’d stroll up and punch them. He said, “I don’t mean it’s like I could walk up and punch them, I mean I literally walked up and punched them.” That aspect was so alien, the instructor (6th Dan) decided to spar my friend (Sankyu), to demonstrate how to deal with such an ‘unorthodox’ style. Apparently, once you beat the 6th dan, you don’t get to go there anymore. He’s moved on, and now he’s back at a Kenpo school and much happier. There was nothing wrong with the punches or kicks at that TKD school, they just were practicing for a different game than he was playing. He wasn’t even going outside of the rules, he was just doing things they didn’t see as valuable to address. You’ll never see my friend in the Olympic TKD finals though. He doesn’t have the kicks for it.
