United States Kenpo Kobujitsu

The United States Kenpo Kobujitsu Federation is the governing body of our martial arts as taught by Hanshi Dan Kennedy. As president and chief instructor, Hanshi Kennedy founded the organization in 1989. The purpose of the federation is to provide continung education in matial arts training under a central organization. Over the last 27 years, Hanshi Kennedy has trained hundreds of students and over 70 Black Belts. Many of these students are still in the Kansas City area and continue to teach the same Okinawan systems. Lenexa Karate Academy is the home dojo (hombu) and provides advanced training to many of the local instructors.

Our curriculum is Okinawan based martial arts. We have two separate styles that are taught to our students. Kenpo is the Okinawan empty hand system of the martial arts and is used as the foundation for all of our training. Although we have a lot of fun with drills and music in the classroom, these techniques are very old and we follow the traditional teachings as closely as possible.

Kobujitsu means "Ancient Weapons Techniques" and is the Okinawan weapons based martial arts. The Okinawan weapons were once considered very effective in personal combat. Although we do not practice sparring techniques with the weapons (much too dangerous), we do study the kata and practice the applications in drills called bunkai. The traditional Okinawan weapons system includes the Bo (staff), Tonfa, Sai, Kama (sickle), Oar, Nunchucks, and Nunte-Bo.

Since we are an American organization, our federation patch represents the heritage of Okinawa and the United States. The colors selected were of course - red, white, and blue with stars to represent the American flag. The central design of the patch is the widely recognized symbol for Okinawa and was originally used on the royal flag of Okinawa. The three circles represent the three kingdoms of Okinawa.

We often have guest instructors teach seminars at our schools and we encourage everyone to take advantage of the opportunity to learn from some of the very best martial artists in the country. Many of these people have trained with Hanshi Kennedy over the years in Okinawan martial arts. In turn, Hanshi Kennedy has studied their systems to learn more about their techniques.