There are no secrets in Kenpo

– Al Tracy

There’s an idea that there are secrets in the martial arts – perhaps there still are – I don’t know everything. But without getting into esoteric/mystical/supernatural stuff (most of which is bullshit anyway) – there are no secrets.

There is only physical ability, and skill.

Years ago my Kung Fu instructor demonstrated the entire Wing Chun system to a guy that asked about it – just a prospective student that walked in off the street. My instructor informed the guy that it was going to take a while – then he proceeded to demonstrate:

• 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Empty Hand Forms
• The Wooden Dummy Form
• Wing Chun Double Knife Form
• Wing Chun Pole Form

I don’t think think my instructor walked him through Stick Hands, but that’s application anyway.

From the perspective of potentially “giving secrets away” – more than likely the guy was just someone who was curious about the art. Meaning he most likely wouldn’t know what he was looking at. In the case of someone with enough experience to understand it – okay he already understood everything – or he saw something he didn’t understand and that piqued his curiosity (no, I don’t know what happened to the guy).

Why Were There Secrets?

In a different time there were different concerns – particularly in martial cultures.

Imagine being a student or a teacher and possibly having to defend yourself from other practitioners simply for reputation – okay scratch that – we do have tournaments after all.

But imagine having to face down a potentially life or death challenge from someone potentially just as or more skilled than you. It would be very prudent to have some surprises you could pull out if needed.

Makes sense when you think about it like that.

What’s Wrong With Secrets?

The real problem with secrets is the “Bus Test” – if the head of a system were to be hit by a bus – how much knowledge about their system would be lost?

Pre World War II the Karate Masters in Okinawa had the tradition of keeping secrets within their schools.

But after Japan made the mistake of touching America’s boats on December 7th 1941 – a lot more people died. This was on top of the brutal stuff the Japanese had already been perpetrating in China, Indonesia, and the Philippines (stuff that made the Nazis look a lot less bad by comparison).

Prior to the US dropping the Sun on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki – there were a lot people that had martial secrets that died with them.

Meaning – that unique knowledge was lost – “Bus Test” failed.

Luckily, Post WWII the surviving Okinawan Masters started to share knowledge so that it wouldn’t be lost should the worst happen – “Bus Test” probably passed.

Martial Application

It takes a lot of skill an experience to perform martial arts at a high level under pressure.

The thing with really advanced techniques is that they usually require high-degree of timing and finesse that’s simply impossible to fake in a combat situation.

A Jujutsu master could walk you through techniques they’ve developed over their lifetime, break them down piece by piece for you and make sure you understand what’s in them – at least on an intellectual level.

But you wouldn’t be able to actually apply the information properly without years (or decades) of practice, patience, and focus.

So I’m going to channel my inner Master Ken here and say that secrets in the martial arts are “bullshit!”