TAKEDA RYU JUKEMPO is DIFFERENT (to many other japanese Kenpo styles)

There are many different Kempo styles in Japan. The most famous today is, of course, Karate. But historically, the old Japanese ryuha developed their own approaches to Kempo, each emphasizing different principles, techniques and ways of using the body. When Soke Nakamura created *Takeda Ryu Jukempo**, he took the Atemi-waza from Aikinojutsu Koryu and developed them into a specialized discipline. His intention was to emphasize that the principles of **Aiki* also apply to Kempo. This gives Takeda Ryu Jukempo a very different approach to movement and striking. In this video I explain one of the most basic movement principles of *Takeda Ryu Jukempo* — a principle that is later found throughout the other disciplines of Takeda Ryu. Everything starts with our joints. Our joints allow movement in many different directions. Rather than fighting against the natural structure of the body, we learn to use this natural resource to its full potential. The goal is not to create movement by simply using muscular strength. Instead, we learn to relax the body and allow movement to travel through the skeletal structure. When we need to generate energy, we use the connected muscle chains throughout the body to create power. This is why *relaxation, structure and the movement of the bones* are so important in our training. I often explain this through the image of a tree: **The bones are the branches. The muscles and skin are the leaves.** We therefore learn to work from the inside towards the outside — and, most importantly, we learn to feel that process within our own body. In this video I also demonstrate how this principle is applied to impact. Because ultimately, martial arts cannot remain theory. If a principle is not applicable under real fighting conditions, it has little value as a martial principle. The differences between Japanese martial arts styles do not mean that one approach is necessarily better than another. Different ryuha developed different ways of understanding movement, timing, distance, power and the human body. By studying these different approaches, we can discover the enormous variety of possibilities available to us. There is not necessarily only one path to the goal. But that does not mean constantly switching from one method to another. **Choose your way. Once you have found it, stay with it. But never become dogmatic.** Stay open. #Jukempo #TakedaRyu #Kempo #JapaneseMartialArts #Aiki