Irith's Karate Page
 
Modern Kempo Karate is a combination of Ryukyu Kempo(as practiced by Grandmaster George Dillman), Modern Arnis (as practiced by Professor Remy Presas) , and elements of Small Circle Jujitsu (as practiced by Grandmaster Wally Jay) and the Korean art of Tang Soo Do. My Sensei (teacher) is Chas Terry (pictured below), a sixth degree black belt (yes, there are degrees of black) whom I met while I was an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a doctor, specializing in Sports Medicine, at St. Lawrence medical center, as well as a certified acupuncturist. He also happens to be a terrific trumpet player, as I discovered while we were both part of the Penn Band .
 
Sensei Terry demonstrates a side kick.

The hallmark of Ryukyu Kempo is the use of pressure points. A well-trained practitioner of Ryukyu Kempo can knock a person out with a few light touches, and the highest masters can knock a person out without any direct contact at all. Ryukyu Kempo pressure point techniques help even the playing field for small or lightweight persons. As a result, Ryukyu Kempo is particularly well-suited for women.

Modern Arnis is a fairly new form of Filipino stick fighting which was designed to teach flow and technique to the student without the risk of injury historically associated with stick fighting.

Small Circle Jujitsu is a recently developed form of jujitsu that takes the principles that have historically made Jujitsu such a powerful art and distills them to the true essentials. Jujitsu has been famed for centuries for its effective use of joint manipulation to control the opponent.

Irith breaks a board with a side kick during a belt test.

Small Circle simply makes the joint manipulation more efficient. Small Circle Jujitsu is particularly well suited to fighting in a limited space.

Modern Kempo combines the pressure point techniques of Ryukyu Kempo, which in many ways is a hard style, with the softer, more flowing training of Modern Arnis and the remarkable joint manipulation of Small Circle Jujitsu. The addition of the challenging kicks practiced in Tang Soo Do -- and Sensei Terry's penchant for energetic workouts -- make the style both more physically arduous and more satisfying.

For more information on martial arts in general, check out carbonecho.com.


Back to IrithandAaron.com

Back to Irith's Main Page