shorinji kempo chinese lineage

[bacurrie45]

i was wondering if anyone who studies chinese arts has heard of a martial art called shorinji kempo? the founder doshin so spent 17 years in china and learned the following.this is a passage from the history of shorinji kempo


With Master Chen's introduction, Doshin was permitted to become Master Huang's direct pupil. Under him he learned the 36 grappling techniques known as the secret Dragon Techniques (Longxi Zhuji) -the greatest repository of fundamental training moves as martial techniques in the Northern Shaolin Yihemen Quan. He also learned the correct methods of goju ittai throws known as the Goka Ken (Wu Hua Quan), and direct and transverse methods of grabbing.

Doshin so learned from Master Chen was a man of importance in the Zaijia Li secret society and the Shifu (Master Teacher) of the Northern Shaolin White Lotus Fist society, which traces its roots to the Songshan Shaolin Temple.

Are these arts mentioned still taught today? does anyone have any knowledge of these arts at all?
thank you for your time

[sean_stonehart]

i was wondering if anyone who studies chinese arts has heard of a martial art called shorinji kempo? the founder doshin so spent 17 years in china and learned the following.this is a passage from the history of shorinji kempo


With Master Chen's introduction, Doshin was permitted to become Master Huang's direct pupil. Under him he learned the 36 grappling techniques known as the secret Dragon Techniques (Longxi Zhuji) -the greatest repository of fundamental training moves as martial techniques in the Northern Shaolin Yihemen Quan. He also learned the correct methods of goju ittai throws known as the Goka Ken (Wu Hua Quan), and direct and transverse methods of grabbing.

Doshin so learned from Master Chen was a man of importance in the Zaijia Li secret society and the Shifu (Master Teacher) of the Northern Shaolin White Lotus Fist society, which traces its roots to the Songshan Shaolin Temple.

Are these arts mentioned still taught today? does anyone have any knowledge of these arts at all?
thank you for your time

Heard of Shorinji yes, the rest nope. As far as their being taught today, haven't heard of anything by those names except for Douglas Wong's White Lotus.

[Tony Dismukes]

Are you asking about Shorinji Kempo or about the various arts that Doshin So supposedly studied in China? Either way, you might try posting your query in the Shorinji Kempo subforum here to see if any of our members who study Shorinji Kempo have the answers you're looking for.

[bacurrie45]

I did ask in the shorinji kempo section but no one knows there either. oh well thank you anyway

[Burzum]

I did ask in the shorinji kempo section but no one knows there either. oh well thank you anyway

That's because it's a Japanese art. Chances are the founder of Shorinji trained with somebody or people that trained at the Shaolin Temple but like in many cases these people that taught out of the Shaolin Temple were not actually monks at all but martial artist hiding there to escape from the Government.

[Dale Dugas]

Doshin So was supposedly a student of various Jujitsu teachers, among them Hakko Ryu which is a Daito Ryu off shoot.

a lot of those secret grappling techniques resemble Japanese Jujitsu Ryuha and not Chinese Chin Na.

Here is a link to an interview with the Founders son: http://www.aikidojournal.com/article?articleID=81

[cacodaemon]

There are some writings on the Shorinji Kempo lineage, though unfortunately most of it requires knowledge of Japanese - that part I can handle.
But, the downside is trying to learn the actual Chinese lineage, from White Lotus and the Northern Shaolin schools altogether. This requires proficiency in Chinese which I am lacking, and someone with knowledge of Shaolin's history during the 1880s to 1950s.
But, Kaiso trained at the Shaolin Temple in Song Shan (Suu-zan in Japanese) and returned their around 1975 to be honored by the monastery's abbot.
I would love to learn more about the White Lotus and Boxer lineage, but it seems most of the English stuff is garbled and inaccurate - people claiming lineage without the slightest proof/possibilities.
After practicing for nearly 5 years I still haven't learned much about the Shaolin kung fu kaiso learned - which is frustrating because I have found the few things I know help me teach my students.

[Rabu]

The Shaolin Temple and descended styles have a remarkable history, filled with fiction and wonderment.

Here is an excerpt from a magazine article on the Shaolin Temple in the early 80s.

"A nineteen-year-old contemporary Chinese martial arts champion by the name of Li Lian-jie (better known as Jet Li) was to begin filming the movie "The Shaolin Temple".It is interesting to note that Lian-jie's eyewitness account was that there was not much of the Temple left and only three people were there, a monk (actually the Head Abbot), the gatekeeper and a cook. He also noted that not one of them had any martial arts knowledge. This was in 1978."

Be advised that the 'secret societies' were in fact not so terribly secret. There are published books you can obtain which list every single verified one of them. If your secret society is not in those lists, then its probably not real.

Your best bet on the lineage of Shorinji Kempo is to look at what they present, read up on what you can and make a determination of whether you care about the voracity of their creation myth.

I think the style looks killer and totally fun. See if your goals and what they offer match, then decide for yourself.