Nippon Kempo or Nihon Kempo
Nippon Kempo or Nihon Kempo is a kind of Japanese martial art that uses special protection to God, consisting of a helmet on his head (man), gloves (kuroba), protection on his chest (before) and a shell on his groin. Campo Nippon members compete in full contact form. This kind of Kempo was created thanks to the Japanese martial artist, Muneomi Savayama, who used kicks and arms (atemi-waza), throws (nage-waza), blocks (uke-waza), wrestling in the ground, painful techniques and retention. Here, it is allowed to use the technique of other types of kempo, such as wrestling, aikido, jujutsu, karate, judo. Since all fights are in the form of full contact using appropriate protective ammunition, the technique of fighting nippon kempo during a fight can be quite diverse. It is this feature that nippon kempo differs significantly from other, highly specialized types of kempo. During the fight, it is allowed to use elbows and knees. Such Japanese martial arts are mainly engaged in student youth in most universities in Japan. Nippon kempo also give preference during training of police forces. Today, this type of Japanese martial art is also known in some countries of Europe. The rules of the nippon kempo fighting technique became the basis of the sekai no kempo fights, as well as the famous Mr. Strong Sekai fights. Therefore, kippo nippon can be called the first type of mixed and interstyle kempo type, in the fights of which both athletes percussionists and wrestlers can meet. Professional nippon kempo wrestlers can also successfully compete in non-rule fights such as the Octagon.
The word “Kempo” in Japanese means “fist”, and “Nippon” – “Japanese”, that is, Nippon Kempo – “Japanese fist”, Japanese martial art. It is worth noting that the word “Kempo” is often used as a generalization of all Japanese fighting directions of this type.
Nippon Kempo is considered a fairly young martial art, since it arose only at the beginning of the 20th century. The founder of this martial art is Sawayama Katsu from the famous Nakaoka Samurai clan.
Popular martial arts from Japan Nippon Kempo At the beginning of the 20th century, many similar types of combat were widely popularized and spread, among which was judo, which appeared on the basis of old schools of jujutsu, but at the same time as a sports direction, it lost its fighting aspects, excluding atemi and strikes to vulnerable points. When Dzhiuzhitsu gained wide popularity, it was mainly practiced as a discipline of training professional military men, which included a range of actions applicable to defeat an opponent, and where there were no such restrictions by sports rules or throwing techniques.
During the time when Japanese martial art gradually conquered Europe, the disciplines of Okinawan karate and boxing began to seep into Japan. Savayama also begins to get acquainted with new martial arts and even learns karate techniques from the very founder of the Shito-ryu school, master Mabuni Kenwa, while studying old scrolls with a detailed description of the first jujutsu techniques. All this knowledge prompted Savayama to the idea of creating a separate type of martial art called nippon kempo.
Thus, nippon kempo is considered a mixture of ancient Japanese and modern traditions of martial arts, thanks to the ingenious master who chose the most effective methods of hand-to-hand combat from all known to mankind. Nippon Kempo is an exceptional combination of technique and action from boxing, karate and jujutsu, using the entire arsenal necessary for full-contact combat, defensive actions and attacks.
The creative solution, thanks to which this direction began to spread widely, is the use of protective equipment during the battle, which allows you to strike, using all force, but at the same time, causing minimal injury to opponents. It uses a special protection to God, consisting of a helmet on the head (maine), gloves (kuroba), protection on the chest (before), a shell on the groin and overlays on the legs (campo-suzi). Such a defense system was first used in practice during the training of nippon kempo, after which it was adopted by other well-known schools, in particular, the Kosiki karate school and the Shoreji kempo school. It is important to note that in the 30s, the Military Virtue Society registered a new martial arts system called Dai Nippon Kempo. The head of the union of the same name was Savayama Muneomi.
Today, in Japan, there are several independent nippon kempo institutions headquartered in Osaka and Tokyo.
