What do you think the best martial art?

Question

what do you think of Kempo/Kenpo?

what do you think IS the best martial art?

Answer 1

In physical and fighting terms, there is no best martial arts.

The best art to learn is dependent on whether there is a good teacher available. A bad teacher of a good art will still produce either disillusioned or bad students.

Kempo is the Japanese distillation of the Chinese 'Chien Fa' boxing styles. For example, the name Shorinji Kempo is the direct translation of 'Shao Lin She Chien Fa' which is the same as 'Shaolin Kung Fu'. Within this style itself lies many different teachings and forms.

I have mentioned elsewhere that at the higher levels, the skill of true masters will level out, - these masters of individual martial art forms should rightly remain open to concepts available from other arts. This was how the founders of each art developed their system in the first place.

Any old or new martial art form and its master will know that remaining open and adaptive to learning from the effective techniques from various schools and forms remains the best way to remain relevant and effective as an art form.

It would be interesting to note that the history (eg. government control) and development of the structured syllabus in martial arts, for e.g., in the traditional Okinawa-based martial arts schools, has caused the advanced 'secret' techniques of one form could be part of the basic teachings of another, and vice-versa.

For example, the basic grappling and throws in Jujitsu are presented as advanced black-belt techniques in some Karate schools (and sometimes 'hidden' in the kata patterns until explained by a knowlegeable teacher), while the more lethal blows taught in Karate and Kung Fu are not practised except at an advanced level by other martial arts schools, including Aikido and Tae Kwon Do (mostly because these are frowned upon by the purists within these schools and focus on that particular school's own style and techniques).

All known Japanese and Chinese martial art forms are known to have evolved from various other sources, embellished with prevailing religious content and context, etc.

In spiritual and philosophical terms, each student can find the most suitable martial art form(s) which best suit his needs and psyche; sometimes this overrides the need to scrutinise the effectiveness of the physical techniques taught in that school.

Miyamoto Mushahi has his favorite sword techniques and developed his own philosophy (Book of Five Rings). Morihei Ueshiba changed the focus of his aiki-jujitsu techniques as his own philosophy evolved until he founded Aikido. Both great martial artists were known to have sought after technical knowledge during their lifetime, from various masters of other forms of combative arts.

Keep an open mind, choose arts which suit your physical ability and propensity, and spiritual needs. There is no one school or master for a true traveller of the Way.

The true master is within you and all the rest, no matter how great they appear, can only be your guides.

Answer 2

There truelly isn't any.
If you chose Kempo and enjoy, stick with it.

Martial arts cannot be ranked as better, best, and worst. They could be compared by means of benefits, however they all share the same common traits:

an art of discipline that teaches students respect, humility, honesty, self confidence, and positive thinking. (you'll hear that alot in any school). You learn to respect your higher belts, instructors, students, classmates, family, friends, and yourself. You will become more humble as you learn martial arts through mistakes and preservearance. Humility brought upon by the respect that martial arts instills will hgelp you to become more honest with everyone, including yourself. Self confidence is the benefit of knowing how to defend yourself, however this is often proved unnecessary as a true martial artist would first try to use his mental adversity over physical combat in order to resolve conflict.

Practice hard and study well, no matter what form you study. Fighting should not matter. If it is the best form of fighting, then you must spend years mastering any type so well that you will find yourself making the alterations and not your master or school's association. This is normally done by those who have been instructoring far more than training. If you are looking for a quick method to improve combat skills, then you should take kick boxing or a military style. But these are not as true of martial arts as others, unless you require the methods of self discipline and respect, which will not only improve your fighting skills, but leave you in combat only when absolutely necessary.

Answer 3

Martial arts ans sport are 2 totally different concept. They by no means are equal. The 2 look different and are practiced different. Unfortunately many today do not know the difference. Many are being taught a sport and never learn the art. Therefore people with no knowledge of the arts see a weak version of a true art and gauge everyone according to their knowledge of martial arts and they don' have any knowledge. I love how pugspaw, sensei scandal, stillcrazy put it. I have nothing against those that play games. That is great for them. However, I am interested in having the knowledge and ability of self defense. I'm interested in budo. I do not even want to use the term martial with sport. The 2 does not go together. One is a game. The other is war. There is nothing better than when attacked knowing how to position yourself in a manner that the attacker can't do anything, but is exposed to everything that will stop the threat immediately. When I was a child I played tag. I don't play that childish game anymore. We used to trade punches in grade school. I don't trade punches anymore. If I hit you I mean to stop you. I do not look for a referee to say you tapped out. I'll know you are out when the lights go out and you go limp. I'll know that you surrender when I hear or feel the joint snap. I'll know you can't use that limb right now to attempt to harm me or my family.

Answer 4

Kempo is the Martial Art that I study. I have nothing against any other Martial Art's and will not talk bad about them. Each Marital Art style has is pluses and minuses. No one style is good for everyone. You have to find the style that is best for you, that you like, so you will keep learning.
As for Kempo I like the striking combines with the kicks. I went to China and got to train with the Shaolin Monks last months. The school I belong to has over 170 dojo's in 14 states. There was 471 of us that took he China trip this year. what an awesome experience training with the Shaolin Monks at the Shaolin Temple, the birth place of Martial Arts.

Answer 5

I think any variation of kung-fu is the best martial art. Due to mainly the physics and the whole philosophy of the art. The people say that not one martial art is the best but i don't think their looking at it from your questions point of view. the person taht jsut asked this question

Answer 6

There is no correct answer... U should focus on a martial art that complements ur style..

Taekwon-do focuses more on legs than hands..
Karate focuses more on hands than legs..

Kung Fu more on stance and fundamentals that most people lose interest after a while.. If you have poor fundamentals in kung fu, you tend to not go far.. Some styles are more easier to learn.

But if I were to choose, I'd say Aikido.. Its the most practical martial art these days.. Quick to learn and easy to master.

Answer 7

Kempo is good art, but you have to be cautious.

This "SHOWLIN" art (yea..spelled that way on purpose) is great, but many schools..USSD, cough cough, do not teach what one would consider to be the original art...it is modified. Nothing wrong with that though but at least be honest.
But, this arguement of SHOWLIN being the original art...Hell, I thought the original art was created by guys with big clubs and that dragged their knuckles on the ground. This China thing USSD does is just a marketing item for China and USSD.

So, what is the best art...Each art has plus and minuses and should be taken for what they can and can not do. That said I practice Hapkido and Aikido with some experience in Kempo (4 months wow!). I find Hapkido to be great and Aikido to be a really good fit, however, I do love the hard strikes in Kempo and double/triple strike arsenal. I believe that BJJ also has a lot to offer...but that is why you should cross train...

Answer 8

Jujitsu, I think is one of the best Martial Arts. For complete training I would go to a studio that teaches Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).

Answer 9

I don't necessarily think there is one better then the other. It's about learning discipline and bettering your mind, body and soul. I like Shaolin Do it's considered the most comprehensive Martial Art in the world. There is nothing wrong with any of the others in my opinion, I just picked Shaolin Do and enjoy it.

Answer 10

That's one stupid question, what's the best martial art? What for? Self-defence? Fighting? Competiting? Talk about vague questions...

Anyway, any martial arts that teach correct and effective techniques, that have been proven to be effective in fights, videos, or full contact tournaments/matches. All of that, taught in alive way, e.a. against a resistant opponent (not always compliant), with alive drills and full contact sparring.

You can exclude all of these so called "martial" arts that teach more to dance or perform dances than actually fight and/or defend yourself, e.a: krotty kung fu, aikido, most of the traditional karate styles and so on... You'll never be able to beat someone who's a bit decent with whatever prayer mantis southern form bullshit, trust me.

Best martial art? There ain't one. Best martial artS? Most of the time, the MAs that are taught effectively are MAs in wich people compete in full contact events: wrestling, boxing, kickboxing, kyokushin karate and the likes, muay thai, BJJ, sport sambo, san da/shou, full-contact karate, pancrase, shootfighting and so on...