--- In shaolinkempo@yahoogroups.com, "marlonanthonywilson"
<shaolinkempo@h...> wrote:
>
> If you had to limit your material to get yourself or a student to
> black belt. Pick 5 forms, 5 combinations and 10 animals kempos...2
> of each animal.
>
> Respectfully,
> Marlon


The best thing to do is select the kata based on its diverse
applications and reuse of fundamental movements. Therefore, I would
select Monkey Dance (MD) 1, 2, 5, and 8. I also like Kata 1, 2, 3 for
similar reasons but using both would be redundant. MD8 is the kicking
kata, unlike others. And MD11 (naihanchi) is the first kempo kata so
it should be in the list. So my list of five katas are: Kata 1, Kata
2, MD5, MD8 and MD11.

But I would really like to see more katas in the list: Statute of the
Crane, Kata 3, MD12 and one of these similar katas (MD9, MD10 or Kata
4). You'll notice I don't have any of the pinans. They feel very
different from Kempo, especially since they were adopted into our
system from traditional karate. I'd like to keep the Kempo feel and
footwork of the katas.

Which combinations and kempos to use was a tricker decision. We refer
to combinations, kempos, punch counters, and Kajukenbo alphabet
tricks as Defense Manuevers so I'll just pick 15 of these instead.
But it leads to another revelation, many of our techniques are
adaptations of earlier techniques. So, I thought about the technique
family groupings we discussed a few years ago. Here's a short, off-
the-cuff list of my selected techniques:

* 1 group (combo 1, 18, kempo E, G, etc) – these start with an
opening cat stance and utilize the absorbing concepts
* 2 group (combo 2, 5, kempo B, club 14, etc) – the opening L-step is
found so often in out kata and techniques that it cries out as
extremely kempo.
* 3 group (combo 3, kempo H, etc) – starting with an aggressive
forward movement, they tend to end with a throw, reap, or take-down.
* 4 group (combo 4, 21, 26, PC 5, 6, etc) – you can step back or step
forward with this high block and rake. These techniques are
adaptations off of combo 4.
* 6 group (combo 6, 7, 16, PC 1, 2, 3, 4, etc) – opening with a kick,
these techniques are really adaptations of the original 6.
* 8 group (combo 8, 9, Kempo A, C, J, K, N, etc) – a basic opening
with strong roots in karate.
* Club 3 group (Club 3, Knife 2, Combo 10, etc) – stepping off to the
inside right with a block and counter, very kajukenbo in flavor
* Knife 1 group (Knife 1, 5, 8, 9, 11, etc) – the side cat is very
common in the weapon defenses, and are obviously adaptations to the
original knife def. 1.
* 15 group (combo 15, Kempo Z, etc) – the opening twist step teaches
avoidance and adherence to the opponent. One of my favorites.
* X-block group (Club 1, 2, Knife 15, etc) – it starts almost every
kata and monkey dance, why teach it in bunkai? Popular and found in
so many techniques and kata I can't really count.
* M group (Crane tech, Kempo M, P, etc) – opening moves utilize the
wing deflection and other crane concepts. A keeper.
* And five other techniques. Can't think of them now, but they would
most likely deal with kicking attacks, defenses against grabs/locks,
and other common opening moves.

Of course, this question begets another question. Why would an
instructor want to do such a thing? Well, I think it's a great
concept for children's curriculums – simplify what they need to
memorize, work on refining these moves until they look fantastic, and
focus on what's really important. Kids need lots of structure,
repetition, and discipline. Having a small set SK sylabus might be
the ticket to making them quality black belts. When they are old
enough, we could fill in the missing material easily since they are
really memorized variations.

As always, great subject Marlon.

Sifu Bryan

PS: I wrote another reply two days ago but it never arrived. It's in
the ether somewhere. Oh well. This one says the same stuff.