Running head: AMERICAN KENPO KARATE: DEMYSTIFYING THE KANJI
American Kenpo Karate: Demystifying the Kanji
Clayton T. Falk
North Idaho College / American Kenpo Karate (Parker-Planas) Lineage / Dr. Dale H. Eberwein
EDD/ET
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Running head: AMERICAN KENPO KARATE: DEMYSTIFYING THE KANJI
American Kenpo Karate: Demystifying the Kanji
Throughout many years of studying American Kenpo Karate the patchwork suddenly
became very important and interesting. I liken Kenpo to MHC1, the abbreviated version, of
major histocompatibility complex I. MHC1 is a biological surface marker on most all of the cells
in the human body that recognize self, as self. Everything in Kenpo has a ‘surface marker’ that
allows us to identify Kenpo, as Kenpo. Whether it is our basics or vernacular, or simply the
motion within our technique’s and kata, they all have identifiable markers and that is what
makes Kenpo so great. That is why the patchwork became so suddenly interesting to me. The
‘Kenpo Patch’ is placed over the heart on the left side of the body, and this is symbolic of the
writing on the left side of the patch. Through much research I may have stumbled upon the
joint writing system, between Japan and China, believed to be completely Chinese within our
martial art for many years.
There are many different Chinese dialects spoken around the world, and about six
different classifications of Chinese characters; “Keisei moji, kaii moji, tenchu moji, shiji moji,
shokei moji, and kasha moji (Youshizou, Unknown).” The main dialect or simplest form of
Chinese kanji taught to children often times is Shokei moji, this form often uses characters to
represent whole complete things or objects such as animals, trees, and other tangible objects.
These forms of characters seem to have some Egyptian roots within them such as glyphs and
hieroglyphs (Suski, 2010).
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Running head: AMERICAN KENPO KARATE: DEMYSTIFYING THE KANJI
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During the time of the Han dynasty Japan did not have a written language, only a
verbally spoken one. The first instances of a written language to ever be seen in Japan were by
way of “official seals, letters, swords, coins, mirrors, and other objects imported from China or
given as gifts from Chinese Emperors to Japanese Emissaries (Anonymous, Gold).”
Because these symbols were designed to only be written and read in Chinese, over long
periods of time new writing systems in japan began to evolve from Chinese text. The new
writing systems involved some new ‘punctuation,’ if you will, that allowed the form and
sentence structure of Japan’s verbal system to fit and follow their grammatical structure
properly. After changing the word order to fit, some characters became rendered useless, and
some no longer made sense within Japan’s sentence structure. Thus began to emerge another
writing style to add in between these Kanji characters that represented whole words. The
characters added between the kanji are commonly known now today as Kana or the Japanese
writing styles of Hiragana and Katakana. When used in conjunction with kanji often times these
Kana are used as verbs, adverbs, and helping verbs. But this new kana could be used to stand
alone as well. Japanese Hiragana are used to write the own cultures words in their own
verbal/writing system, while Katakana is used to represent non-Japanese loanwords such as an
American word or American name written in Japanese. Take the name Clayton for example: it
would not be written in Hiragana because it is clearly not a Japanese name, but rather, the
structure would be slightly modified and written in Katakana as Kureton (Suski, Malatesha,
Insup). Kureton (Clayton) is also considered another writing style in itself. Although in Japan
they would write the name in Katakana, when spelled in the English language, in our alphabet,
it is referred to as Romaji, or the Romanization of the Japanese language.
Running head: AMERICAN KENPO KARATE: DEMYSTIFYING THE KANJI
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There is another instance of proof that Japanese Kanji have roots within Chinese Kanji
pertaining to American Kenpo Karate. The more common way to express ‘Karate’ is ‘Empty
Hand’ which has the literal translation of ‘without weapons in your hand’. In old China, empty
hand was translated into ‘tang hand’ during the tang dynasty (after the Han Dynasty). Tang
hand was also referred to as ‘China Hand’ in china, and the world ‘Tang’ is also used to
represent ‘China’ in the Japanese language. This is all only verbal translation. However, the kanji
character or written for ‘Tang’ is used to represent the word ‘empty’ in the Japanese language
(Oriental). So one could see how easily it is to get completely confused within the origins of the
two languages. These literal translations between Japan and China have verbal and written
connections deep in the roots of both the Han and Tang dynasties somewhere between 57 A.D.
and 600 A.D (Anonymous, Gold).
The American Kenpo Karate Patch utilizes both the right and the left side of the patch,
and is dedicated to this cross-cultural Japanese-Chinese Kanji writing. The writing on the right
hand side of the patch (拳 法 唐 手) , as most people within the martial art know, is
pronounced as ‘Chuan Fa Tan Chow’ or ‘quán fǎ táng shǒu’ in Japanese Romaji, and is
translated into the first two characters being “fist law” or “law of the fist,” more commonly
expressed as ‘Kenpo.’ Similarly, last two characters translate into “empty hand” or “open
hand,” and the most common way to express that translation, as previously stated, is “Karate”
and vice versa. Thus when joined together we receive the translation of ‘law of the fist and
empty or open hand’ or ‘Kenpo Karate.’
Most dedicated Kenpo scholars know what the left side of the patch is translated into,
but unlike the opposite writing on the patch, do not know the pronunciation in its language of
Running head: AMERICAN KENPO KARATE: DEMYSTIFYING THE KANJI
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origin. After long periods of time and research I have translated each symbol and learned the
Hiragana, Katakana, and Romaji spellings of the Kanji as well as their English enunciation. Many
kanji generators, books, dictionaries, and charts agree upon at least one common word or
meaning symbolic to each of the Kanji characters over the heart on the left side of the patch.
Saiga-Jp, 1776 Kanji, the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group, Google
Translator, and A list of Kokuji all agree upon the following research:
Translated: Literally means Dragon
Japanese Katakana: リョウ
Romaji (English Spelling): Ri Yu O
English Enunciation: Dyoh / Riyoh
Translated: Literally means ‘Ignorance of Tiger’
For our purposes: ‘Tiger’ is only the first symbols of the following segment:
Japanese Hiragana: とらがしら
Romaji: To Ra Ga Shi Ra
English Enunciation: To Ra / Toe Rahh
Running head: AMERICAN KENPO KARATE: DEMYSTIFYING THE KANJI
Translated: Literally into ‘Sacred Heart’ or ‘Show’ pertaining to the Katakana (below), however,
the Kanji (above) carries the more powerful meaning of Spirit, Mind, Soul, Heart, and or
Intention.
Japanese Katakana: ショウ
Romaji: Shi Yu O
English Enunciation: Shyoh
Translated: God, The Divinity, The Lord, A Goddess, A Deity.
Japanese Hiragana: かみ In this form the literal translation is BITE
Romaji: Ka Mi
English Enunciation: Kah Mee
Translated: Both characters are typically seen together to represent the spirit, sacred, or
blessed.
Japanese Hiragana: せいしん
Romaji: Se I Shi N
English Enunciation: Saysheen
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Running head: AMERICAN KENPO KARATE: DEMYSTIFYING THE KANJI
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The entire translation:
龍虎精神
Translation:
Spirit of the Tiger and Dragon
Literal Romaji Translation:
Ri Yu O – To Ra - Se I Shi N
Pronounced/Enunciated In English:
Dyoh Torah SaySheen
After translating the patchwork I began to relate the actual physical representations of
the Kanji characters to the depictions on the patch. The tiger is symbolic of the ‘physical phase’
or the beginning learning stages of the martial art. The ‘kyu’ belt levels in American Kenpo
Karate System. Whilst the dragon is mythical and represents the ‘mind or intellectual study’ of
the martial art and is representative of the ‘dan’ or upper division ranking in the American
Kenpo Karate System. The last two Kanji together represent the spirit or blessed, I relate these
to both thanking our mind for what our body has done throughout the continual study of
Kenpo, and to Edmund K. Parker, with his middle initial K for Kealoah or ‘the blessed one’ which
is also coincidentally what the singular K at the bottom of the patch represents.
Although there are many different Chinese dialects and styles of Kanji to write in, why
wouldn’t the American Kenpo Karate Patch be written in one that is completely Chinese? Why
does the Kanji on the patch establish both Chinese and Japanese roots? If our system were
completely Chinese it would be written in one of the many fore-mentioned Chinese styles, or if
Running head: AMERICAN KENPO KARATE: DEMYSTIFYING THE KANJI
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Kenpo was purely Japanese it would have been written in Hiragana, and if Kenpo was
considered Japanese ‘Americanized’ it would have been written in Japanese Katakana. The
evolution of the writing system between Japan and China is pertinent in establishing a fact. The
fact that specific kanji was chosen for our Kenpo Patch to represent our multi-cultural martial
art. It was long believed that the writing on the patch was purely Chinese, but evolution is a
perfect example of how Kenpo is related to MHC1. There are always surface markers that are
going to tell us where we came from.
Running head: AMERICAN KENPO KARATE: DEMYSTIFYING THE KANJI
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Reference List
Anonymous (2000-2012). 1776 Kanji. Retrieved November 30th, 2012, from
http://www.1776kanji.com/en/japanese/dictionary/index.php?search=spirit&kanji=
Anonymous (2009). Saiga-Jp Kanji Generator. Retrieved November 30th, 2012, from
http://www.saiga-jp.com/cgibin/dic.cgi?m=search&sc=0&f=0&j=&g=&e=&s=&rt=0&start=1&sid=1350607095_64864
Anonymous (Unknown). Gold Seal (Kin-in). Retrieved November 30th, 2012, from
http://museum.city.fukuoka.jp/english/eb/eb_fr2.html
Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group at Monash University (Unknown).
Denshi Jisho Kanji: English<>Japanese. Retrieved November 30th, 2012, from
http://jisho.org/words?jap=&eng=Tiger&dict=edict
Google (2012). Google Translator: English<>Japanese. Retrieved November 30th, 2012, from
http://translate.google.com/
Insup, T., & Taylor, M. M. (1995). Writing And Literacy in Chinese, Korean And Japanese.
Location Unknown: John Benjamis Publishing.
Malatesha, J. R., & Aaron, P. G. (2006). Handbook Of Orthography And Literacy. Texas A&m
University: Taylor & Francis Group.
Oriental Outpost (2002-2012). Law of the Fist Karate / Kempo Karate. Retrieved November
30th, 2012, from http://www.orientaloutpost.com/shufa.php?q=chinese+kempo
Suski, P. M. (2010). The Phonetics of Japanese Language: With Reference to Japanese Script.
Japan: Routledge Library Editions.
Running head: AMERICAN KENPO KARATE: DEMYSTIFYING THE KANJI
Yoshizou, S. (Unknown). 1.2.5.1. A list of kokuji. Retrieved November 30th, 2012, from
http://www.sljfaq.org/afaq/kokuji-list.html
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