Starting Shorinji Kempo

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I started Shorinji Kempo about four or five years ago when I was in my late forties.

I started Shorinji Kempo because for most of my life I have done some sort of exercise. I used to box in the Royal Navy and I have run marathons and weight trained for many years.

I found that running on the roads and lifting weights was fundamentally a compressing exercise and that my flexibility was reducing annually as I was getting older. I decided to seek out a form of Tai Chi or Yoga that would increase my flexibility. Purely by chance I saw Shorinji Kempo advertised at Oakland's and it was partly the fact that it was local, that I decided to go along and have a look.

I did a little bit of Judo and Kendo in my teens and my knowledge of the martial arts was really limited to Bruce Lee films, so I was concerned that I would be made to smash typhoon roofing tiles with my head or lumps of wood with my hands. But all these fears were unfounded and as I watched my first Shorinji Kempo class I was impressed how all the senior grades were helping the newcomers and adapting the techniques to cater for the less physically capable.

As the class ended and the Kenshi were warming down, the instructor Sensei Pete was guiding the students to do the exercises to each persons capabilities. I was rapidly approaching fifty and these were just the words I needed to hear.

The philosophy aspect has also helped me as I am a Vegan and try to embrace Ahimsa, which is a stance of non-aggression and striving to appreciate all life as precious. Even the Shorinji Kempo manual states that we should all strive to live of a non-agricultural diet, which in these times is not only very easy but also healthy and contemporary.

I will always remember Sensei Pete stopping a class while he rescued a spider from the middle of the Dojo floor and placed it in a safe position away from dozens of tramping feet – a simple gesture that sets a great example and takes a lot of living up to.

Training has increased my flexibility, awareness, confidence and ability. Some may watch my techniques and think that I’ve got a long way to go, but they should have seen me at the start !!

Many times the thought of stopping training crosses my mind as it would easier to watch television or have a lay in on a Sunday morning. But at the end of each session the question seems irrelevant and if I am away from Shorinji Kempo on holiday, it is always great to get back into training. It is possible to do some training alone, but nothing compares to working with other Kenshi (Shorinji Kempo students) to help you progress.

I would like to see more people of “ more mature years ” entering Shorinji Kempo, to show that it is a way of life for everyone. If anyone doubts that ideal or thinks that Shorinji Kempo is only for extremely fit youngsters, then I would advise them to watch the Shorinji Kempo video from Japan which shows older disabled Japanese fathers ( i.e. one armed amputees ) carrying out very effective Gyaku Gote techniques ( normally a two handed technique ) on their twenty year old sons. Very impressive.

Ken Golding

Southampton dojo