Kenpo or Kempo Title


(Updated from the original copyrighted article of the same title published in Triumph magazine, 1991.)
Kanji 'kempo' Is it kempo or kenpo? Even among its practitioners there is disagreement. Some call their art kenpo (spelled with an "n"), while others say it is kempo (spelled with an "m"). More than a few have come to recognize that, for the most part, the art referred to as kempo (Chinese or otherwise), is the one that was transmitted to us from Okinawa or Japan. The term kenpo, on the other hand, speaks of the art that comes to us via Hawaii. Both share common roots, for kenpo from Hawaii originally came from Okinawa and Japan. Yet for all their commonality, there remains that puzzling difference in spelling. Why?
 
Many explanations for the discrepancy have been suggested. One author, for example, suggested that kempo referred to the animal nature in man, and kenpo referred to that same kempo (animal) nature, later disciplined and controlled.1 That explanation may or may not be valid, but the writer offers little evidence to substantiate it. Unfortunately, this is often the case.

Further, although many of the art's practitioners call it Chinese kenpo (or kempo), the word, as pronounced, is not Chinese. It is, to be precise, the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word ch'uan fa. Ch'uan fa has been translated variously as "fist law," "fist way," "way of the fist," "boxing principles," or just plain "boxing." These meanings correspond to those Japanese-speaking authors offer for kempo.
 
In numerous publications, Japanese-speaking authors consistently Romanize the word as kempo (with an m). For example, in his book This is Karate, Mas Oyama refers to this art as Chinese kempo and says it means '"fist fighting" or "boxing."2 Another author, Okinawan Master Ryusho Sakagami, makes a similar reference to Chinese kempo.3 These are just two examples of the many Japanese-speaking authors and martial artists who use the same term for this art — and their definitions provide the first key to determining the correct pronunciation of the word kempo.
 
The written language of the Japanese consists of Chinese characters (adopted by the Japanese centuries ago), and several good linguistic sources are available for those interested in its study. James Curtis Hepburn's Japanese and English Dictionary, a long-standing authority on the Japanese language, lists seven Romanized words pronounced ken.4 (Remember, ken is the romanized pronunciation; not the actual spelling.)

Multiple words having the same pronunciation but differing in both spelling and meaning are not at all unusual. They exist in all languages, and only the spelling or context indicates the intended meaning. In English, for example, the words there, their, and they're have different spellings and meanings, but their pronunciation is the same.

The seventh ken in Hepburn's dictionary is the kanji (character or pictogram) we seek and its definition is, "a game played with the hands". That having been located, the search shifts to the second part of the word kenpo: po. That one, however, proved a bit more difficult. In Hepburn's dictionary, po is not listed at all. It turns out that the kanji for po is actually a simple word (that is, not part of another word, but one that can stand by itself). As a simple word it is correctly pronounced ho. Hepburn lists six words Romanized to ho. The fourth one is our kanji character, and its meaning is "rule" or "law." The literal translation of these two simple words, then, is "a game played with the hands," plus "rule" or "law." Shifting gears from a literal (rearranged) translation of "the rules of a game played with hands" to a sense-for-sense translation results in "boxing rules" or "boxing principles" (also commonly known as "fist way," "way of the fist," etc.). However, it is not pronounced kenho; there are other linguistic rules that must still be applied.

Remember, the po is pronounced ho when it stands alone (as a simple word). However, making a compound word with ho as the second syllable changes the pronounciation: ho becomes po. If the search were to stop here, the result would be kenpo; however, according to some sources yet another linguistic rule remains to be applied. The other rule that comes into play when making a compound word from these two simple words is as follows:

final n (Kanji 'n'), when at the end of a word has always the sound of ng; as mon == mong, san == sang, shin == shing; but in the body of a word, when followed by a syllable beginning with b, m, or p, it is pronounced like m. ... Before the other consonants it has the sound of n.5

A similar linguistic parallel is found in English. The letter "p", for example, is always pronounced as "p" (as in the words grape, grapple, etc.), except when it is followed by the letter "h". In the word graph, for example, the "p" is pronounced "f". According to some, then, correct Japanese grammar dictates, then, that the word is kempo (with an "m").

Do these linguistic rules make kempo the right name and kenpo wrong? No. It may be, quite simply, an uncorrected mistake. The name of our school, Je du-too ( 'Je du-too' in Chinese ) is such a Romanization mistake. At the time when we chose that name we simply did not know how to Romanize the Chinese word we sought. It, therefore, might also be that some consciously decided to spell their art kenpo, feeling that it had sufficiently changed or evolved to the point that it was no longer the kempo of old. (Perhaps this is why kenpo from Hawaii is spelled with an "n".) Such an act is both honest and honorable. Honest because it says that any mistakes we may or may not make in our art are not to be laid at the feet of our teachers or predecessors. It is also honorable because it acknowledges the contributions of all who came before us.
 

References

  1. James Y. Lee, Modern Karate and Kung fu, 1963, p.3.
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  2. Mas Oyama, This is Karate, 1978, p.309
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  3. Ryusho Sakagami, Nunchaku and Sai, 1975, p.10
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  4. James Curtis Hepburn, A Japanese and English Dictionary with an English and Japanese Index, First Tuttle edition. Rutland, Vermont, and Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1983 (197).[Return to reference point]
  5. ibid., Introduction, xi. [Return to reference point]
 
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by Bob Orlando
Web Site of Bob Orlando: Instructor in Kuntao-Silat (Chinese kuntao and Dutch-Indonesian pukulan pentjak silat), author of two popular martial art books: "Indonesian Fighting Fundamentals" and "Martial Arts America: A Western Approach to Eastern Arts"; and producer of four martial art videos: Fighting Arts of Indonesia, Reflex Action, Fighting Footwork of Kuntao and Silat, Fighting Forms of Kuntao-Silat. Offering practical martial arts instruction to adults living in and throughout the Denver metropolitan area including, Lakewood, Littleton, Morrison, and Golden Colorado.