Shaolin Kempo Karate

The Shaolin Kempo Karate fighting system as taught in Villari's Martial Arts Centers has become widely recognized and respected in the last three decades, and our international organization of martial arts studios has grown to be the largest such organization in the world.  The art traces its origin over a thousand years to the Shaolin Temples of China and India, and many of the basic methods are still used.  The present form has evolved and has become renowned for its very effective four ways of fighting.  These evolutionary changes in the style were necessary due to the cultural development of man, and the technological development of many different types of weapons.  People are bigger, stronger and much more knowledgeable about weapons and methods of combat.  Therefore, movements had to be changed and updated to suit the 20^th century.  Our Shaolin Kempo Karate system combines the Four Ways of Fighting into ONE. 

The Shaolin temple was first built around 495 AD by a Chinese Emperor Hsiao Wen for an Indian monk Batou or known by the Chinese as Fo Tuo.  It was in the great Shaolin temple in Songshan Mountain of central China that Bodhidharma, a sixth century Indian monk, first introduced Buddhism and powerful meditation methods and fighting techniques.  He introduced the temple monks to various forms of breathing exercises based on animal movements. These exercises were primarily for strengthening and conditioning the body.  Bodhidharma taught the monks these exercises to purify their bodies and develop inner strength. Then, came the movements of animals, which were taught for self-defense purposes.  Over a period of time, the monks changed and perfected these movements, gearing them towards fighting.  This style became known and feared as the art of Shaolin Temple Boxing.  Buddhism and Shaolin Temple Boxing or Shaolin "Ch'uan Fa" were the Shaolin Temples' main legacy to the world.  So it was in China that the philosophical and religious systems upon which many martial arts depend was first created and nurtured.  The teachings of Lao Tzu, Confucius and Buddha were blended with the development of the various Chinese martial art systems, which spread to many other Asian countries.

                                                                

In the 1600's, Japan conquered Okinawa, so the people of Okinawa were restricted from using any weapons to prevent retaliation.  The natives had no alternative but to practice the art of empty hand fighting known as Te.  This name was derived from the Chinese T'ang Dynasty, when many empty hand styles were developed.  It was eventually brought to Japan where even more styles developed.

Long before either the Chinese or the Okinawans practiced and developed their arts, the Tibetans and Mongolians had their own form of combat from which the venerable art of "Chin na" or the Art of the White Tiger, was further developed - a devastating form of locking, seizing, holding, and grappling.

Villari's Shaolin Kempo Karate system was founded and developed by Grandmaster Villari. After many years of studying and mastering numerous styles of the martial arts including: Shaolin Temple Boxing, Jiu Jitsu, Kung Fu, Kempo, various styles of Karate, as well as the secret art of the White Tiger (Chin na) Grandmaster Villari arrived at a great realization.

As a result of Grandmaster Villari's varied wealth of experience and his dedication to seeking the ultimate fighting system, he realized each fighting system offered something both unique and special, and each also had its glaring weaknesses that would make a fighter vulnerable.  After studying and mastering many different styles and principles, Grandmaster Villari realized that there were only four ways of fighting.

1.     Hitting (da) - with your hands (striking with hands open or closed) or using any part of the upper body to hit with: arms, elbows, forearms, shoulders, head, etc.

2.     Kicking (ti) - with the legs, using the foot, toes, knee, and shin.

3.     Felling (shuai chiao) - that is to knock an opponent off his feet by throwing, tripping, pulling, shoving, sweeping, or scooping him.

4.     Grappling (na) - The secret of grappling is to always have control of your opponent, by either wrestling, holding and locking joints, or attacking nerve centers, thereby directing your opponent by delivering excruciating and incapacitating pain.

Grandmaster Villari finally discovered that the ultimate in self-defense lay not in one way or style of fighting, but by combining the Four Ways of Fighting.  He then devised and developed ways to integrate these diverse methods of fighting into one, thereby, eliminating any and all weaknesses and vulnerabilities.  This is the CORE, THEORY, and METHODS behind Villari's devastating and impregnable art of Shaolin Kempo Karate.