[WC_Lun]

Originally Posted by Militis

I study an art called Shaolin Kempo Karate. We where karate gis and use japanese terms like dojo. Supposedly Grandmaster Fred Villari went around the world, got a bunch of really good styles, and combined them to make the four ways of fighting: Kicking, striking, felling, and grappling.

We use the 5 Shaolin animals: Snake, Crane, Leopard, Tiger, and Dragon. We have 108 Combonations, a thousand kempo techniques, and practical defence in every way. I know 10 forms right now, and I know that the high ranking black belts know way more forms than I do.

So I know there is a lot of valid stuff in my art, but is naming it Shaolin wrong? We do a lot of stuff from so many different styles. Our master seems to know a LOT.

I was always proud to say, "I do Shaolin Kempo", but after being on this forum for a while, I have come to just say "martial arts". It is like now I am ashamed to say I am apart of "Shaolin" because so many people here have said it is just a money making scheme or something like that.

So we have a completely legit art with seemingly unlimited material, and it has a name that people think is fake?

Someone please explain to me whether or not I can say I am a student of Shaolin Kempo proudly or not. It seems like if I did, I would just get cut down and told that I am not legit.

Militis, this is only my opinion and please take it as such, but think about this. If your art is composed of many different styles from around the world, why take the name Shaolin? If it is Shaolin, then it should have the hallmarks of that system. Shaolin Kempo has some of those hallmarks, but not others. There is only one reason I can think of to take the name Shaolin when you are not Shaolin kung fu, and that is to apear to make the system seem to be something it is not. This is not an arguement of whether Kempo is an adequate system in itself and I want to make that clear. However, some people will judge what you do harshly because of the inconsistancies within the art and its' name.