Waga-Michi Shorei Kempo. What is it?

Waga-Michi Shorei Kempo is a “neo-traditional” Martial art.

To better understand the style we teach lets look at the name. “Waga-Michi” roughly, “My Way” or “My journey.” This means what it says, this is a personal journey of truth through Martial technique and training. This journey can mean different things to different people. At first, and for a long time, the path the student walks is the path that Sensei guides. When a person has no knowledge of a place, they hire a guide to take them there. That is what a Sensei is, “some one who has been there” a “teacher” After years of practice and self discovery, the student will not follow a guided path any more. This seems complicated but is simple when you think of it this way. In the beginning, the student does what Sensei says, they mimic the way Sensei does it, they will for a time look like their Sensei when they move or do the techniques.

Not everyone is as tall or short as Sensei, or weighs the same, or moves as fast, or can get hit as hard, in short some are tigers and some are leopards. At some point, with enough practice, the student will start moving in a fashion that is “natural” for them. The “Way” Sensei moves will not be how they move anymore. This is the Heart of Waga-Michi Shorei Kempo. This is the secret of the art even though we say it up front; it takes years to understand. It truly becomes “Your” way. This is different than most “Traditional” schools. They require the same technique to be done the same way…forever. The same way even if it is not in the students “nature” to do it that way.

Shorei is an offshoot of Shorin-ryu. It means graceful and beautiful. It is characterized by low, powerful stances and heavy smashing strikes. Sensei taught Shorei-Goju-Ryu for years and liked the Shorei attributes more than the Goju ones. For this reason, the Shorei concepts have found their way into our Style.

 Kempo means, “Fist law” and is a generic term for Chuan-fa. Or fist way. This is the meat of our system. Now, Kempo/Kenpo is also a Style all by its self. This art  “Kempo” is Hawaiian in origin and is most notably thought of as pertaining to the Late Master Ed Parker. We have nothing to do with this form of Kempo. Thus, to say “We do Kempo.” Is misleading because the actual art of Kempo/Kenpo comes to mind. When used as we use it, it simply refers to our heavy Chinese kung-fu linage and techniques. Our Grandmaster is a chuan-fa (Kempo in Japanese) Grandmaster.

So, Waga-Michi Shorei Kempo is the correct style name. It means “My path of the graceful fist way.” So, how did this come to be? In 1990 Sensei was teaching Shorei-Goju-Ryu for a large Karate school. This school was mainly an American tournament style of karate. It had the elements of good karate in it, and Sensei was exposed to many great Okinawan (the home of karate) Masters, however, the school was still geared for competition. The actual “real” fighting technique took back stage to the sporting aspects. Being a bouncer at the time, Sensei found that the fancy moves that earned points at the Saturday tournament, did not effectively deal with real intoxicated angry men fighting in a bar. So he sought out other training, older training. He found Master St.Pierre.

 Master St.Pierre taught him Chuan-fa…or Kempo. This older art springing from the Shaolin temple was much more effective in real life encounters than the “play” he had found in the tournament style. He studied diligently for years, even learning Iron-palm, a closely guarded secret among kung-fu people.

Now, for better understanding, a punch is a punch and a kick is a kick. There are only so many ways the human body can move. Having said that, the difference comes in the way one trains the technique, and how one uses the technique. As an example, Tae kwon do fighters practice punching, however, in their tournaments they are not generally allowed to punch the face. Thus, they tend to fight with their hand down to protect their stomach from kicks. Even though they practice punching, they tend not to utilize punches because of the rules they play by. On the street, the bad guy is going to punch you. So, playing with the hands down is actually going to hurt you in self-defense even though it is a good idea in tournaments.

At any rate, in 1995 Sensei began teaching his own students and began incorporating the Kempo techniques in his program. In essence he stopped teaching Shorei-Goju-ryu. So what was it? In his program he began teaching weapons that were not part of Shorei-Goju-ryu, he was incorporating boxing, and grappling. Other things were making their way in too. So he could no longer receive sanction from the Shorei-Goju-ryu system. He was not teaching tournament martial arts any more. At this time, he had been accepted as a personal student of Master St.Pierre and spoke to him a length about his problem. It was decided that a name change was in order.

This point must be made clear! Sensei claims to have founded nothing. He did not “create a new martial art” People that claim this are just silly. There are no “new” martial arts. Just variations of the same arts that have been around for centuries. He simply found a way he likes to do things, hence Waga-Michi…or My way.

The Shorei aspects are the same as they have been, and the Chuan-fa (Kempo) aspects are the same as they have been. He just teaches them both. This is not uncommon as karate in Okinawa came from China originally anyway. So the difference between styles becomes the applications or reasons for the techniques.

There are two ways of studying Karate or applying Karate. One is Karate-Do (the way of the empty hand) the other is Karate-Jitsu (the science of the empty hand)

 Karate-do is what we teach the kids. It is a vehicle for character development. It is more concerned with personnel growth and less concerned with actual fighting. Sensei Funikoshi (the father of modern karate-do) said, “The true battle of Karate-do lies not with the opponent, but within, with the self”

The adults learn Karate-jitsu. This is the actual combat fighting technique. In short it means the Karate-Jitsu person is in the business of winning fights. Notice I did not say “starting” fights, but if attacked, and forced too, Karate-Jitsu techniques are not about winning a trophy.

In conclusion, to the novice or untrained person, it all looks the same. A kick, a punch, a throw…one style looks like any other. To someone with a history or background in the Arts, they can see the differences. They bottom line is…does it work? Many of our students are police officers as is Sensei. This art is getting real field feedback and it has been successful on the streets for over 10 years.

Master Pete Fleck, Sensei’s senior student is a Police officer and a Drill Sergeant in the United States Army Reserves. After 9/11 he was called back to active duty to serve as a D.I. at Fort Benning. While there, he took an instructors class on “un-armed combatives” what used to be called hand-to-hand combat. The instructors asked who had done Karate, and then made fun of the people that had. Most Karate schools are like the tournaments styles and do not teach the students how to really fight. To prove their point, the instructors made the students put on boxing gloves and began beating them up (well it is the army after all) this was until they came to Pete Fleck. After busting them all up, they did not make fun of his Karate anymore.

Waga-Michi Shorei Kempo is a field proven system. It is adaptable to many circumstances. Sensei has even trained amateur and Pro-Cage fighters for No holds barred Ultimate fighting style cage fights. Is Waga-Michi Shorei Kempo the best martial art in the world? Probably not. Does it work? Yes it does. It has proven it’s self on the street by cops that need to keep from getting hurt. It has proven itself on the playground by a nine-year old girl being hit by a bully, and it has proven itself in the Cage. Waga-Michi Shorei Kempo is; a Style that works.