Kenopo

Kenpō

Kenpō (拳法, Kenpō?) is a term used to refer to a wide variety of martial arts, and is sometimes used as a blanket term for martial arts in general. The word kenpō is a Japanese translation of the Chinese word "quánfǎ. This term is often informally transliterated as "kempo," as a result of applying Traditional Hepburn romanization (which provides for use of the letter "m" when ん precedes a labial consonant such as "p"), but failing to a macron to indicate the long vowel. The generic nature of the term combined with its widespread, cross-cultural adoption in the martial arts community has led to many divergent definitions.

Contents

1 Japanese Usage
2 Hawaiian and American Kenpō
3 Okinawan/Ryukyuan Usage
4 Schools
5 References