About Shorinji Kempo

Shorinji Kempo is a Japanese Martial Art that draws from both Japanese and

Chinese traditions. "Shorinji Kempo" is the Japanese for "Shaolin Temple Fist". The focus of Shorinji Kempo is physical fitness, mental and spiritual enrichment, character building and community improvement.

Shorinji Kempo training methods are divided into three parts: self-defense training, mental training, and health training. The basis are the concepts that "spirit and body are not separable" (心身一如: shinshin-ichinyo) and that it is integral to "train both body and spirit" (拳禅一如: kenzen ichinyo).

The founder, Doshin So, wanted to establish not only an organization which incorporated mental and physical training but also wanted to educate people who had lost their way and rebuild society for the future. It is said that he tried to teach soley teach Buddhist philosophy but found it difficult to keep the youth's attention. Later on, he was inspired to teach martial arts, as Bodhidharma was believed to have done, which became the main training methods of Shorinji Kempo.

 Shorinji Kempo incorporates Zen or mental training. Techniques are mainly divided into 3 categories: gōhō (hard techniques - hand strikes, chops, hammers, elbows, knees, kicks, reaps, stomps, and blocks); jūhō (soft techniques - throws, pins, chokes, joint manipulations, dodges and releases) and; seihō (healing techniques - acupressure, bone setting, and resuscitation techniques).