How effective is Kempo?
For the purposes for which they were originally developed, the Kempo methods were very effective. Today people tend to have a distorted understanding of what martial arts are for compared to what they were actually used for in the past. To criticise Kempo for not being “effective” like a modern martial art would be like criticising a screwdriver for its inability to cook pasta. This is not the purpose for which screwdrivers were invented (i.e. to drive screws), and if you’re asking this question you’re probably not thinking about Kempo’s original applications when you ask it. Certainly Kempo is virtually useless for self defence and sporting applications in the commonly understood sense, and while an advanced practitioner could potentially use it in this way, a beginner or intermediate student probably could not do so. If Kempo were “really used” in such a situation it would produce undesirable results as it uses weapons, even when apparently “barehand”, so against unarmed arts serious
