The Kenpo Freestyle Logo has many meanings behind it.
History of Kenpo Freestyle Logo
Kenpo Freestyle Academy, located in Sydney, was founded in 2000 by Matt Klein, now a 6th Degree black belt. It is based on American Kenpo Karate, with the addition of boxing, kickboxing, grappling, and additional weapons skills. It is the system under which all students of Australia’s Youth Self Defence Karate grade.
The logo was created in 2000 at the same time Kenpo Freestyle was founded. Many of my students have asked me what the graphic elements on the logo mean, so I have devoted this blog post to the explanation of the elements.
The Elements of the Logo
Like American Kenpo Karate, the main characters of the logo are the dragon and the tiger.
The Tiger–The tiger represents strength and determination. The tiger never fights unless it is cornered or if needed to eat for survival. When attacking, the tiger fights with a ferocity rarely matched in the animal kingdom. The student of Kenpo Freestyle fights in self defence only, but like the tiger, is able to be ferocious when the situation calls for it.
The Dragon–The dragon represents wisdom and flexibility. A mythical beast, the dragon can turn into any other creature. This means it can adapt to any circumstances. The dragon’s head is above the tiger’s on the logo, because although the tiger is strong and ferocious, the dragon combines this strength with wisdom. The student of Kenpo Freestyle is expected to become flexible and wise in time, and to use these qualities in a positive way to help others.
The Covered Fist–The covered fist means the student of Kenpo Freestyle has the ability to defend himself or herself, but chooses the path of non-violence.
The Yin/Yang–The Yin/Yang symbol means balance. You have day and night, strong and weak, hot and cold. All are necessary. This means the Kenpo Freestyle student must train hard, but get plenty of rest. You must do your best in karate, but realize that other things in life are important too, like family and school. You must build your body, but also develop your mind.
The Everlasting Flame of Knowledge–The everlasting flame symbolizes that learning is a life-long process and that we can never know everything. A black belt soon realizes that there is so much more to learn in the martial arts.
Students, wear your Kenpo Freestyle logo with pride and always remember what it represents.
Find out more about our Sydney kids karate classes
What a find your blog is! I’m clearly going to learn a lot about teaching karate to kids from you. I love the meaning of your logo – it has such a rich meaning.
Thanks for visiting my blog by the way.
Great information! I’ve been looking for something like this for a while now. Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it Sue. You are welcome here any time. Thanks Medical Jobs, whatever your name is.
Thanks for the explanation. I come from an American Kenpo background, and love to hear your take on the symbols. One thing I had an instructor point out to me was how the tiger and the dragon were intertwined, or playing. (In some illustrations the tiger and dragon actually form a yin/yang symbol). Such is the nature of power and wisdom. Too much tiger-nature and one becomes tyrannical; too much dragon-nature and one becomes impotent/inactive. Why have power if you cannot control and direct it? Why have wisdom if you cannot act upon it?
Hi Bart. Yes, the tiger and dragon can be playing, or in some cases, fighting, and I have seen them forming the yin/yang symbol as well. Which style did your background include, Parker, Tracy, or other? Am always interested in comparing and contrasting them. Your tyrannical vs. impotent/inactive analogy is a good point. Power vs. wisdom–maybe a future post, as we can write a lot about it. Thanks for visiting.
With havin so much content and articles do you ever run into any issues of plagorism or copyright infringement? My website has a lot of exclusive content I’ve either written myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my authorization. Do you know any methods to help stop content from being ripped off? I’d genuinely appreciate it.
Thanks for commenting Kenpo, yes I have had several articles stolen. You can detect it using Google alerts for your keywords and for your name. If their site uses Google AdSense, you can report them to Google and they will come down on them. It works. I first contact the person who “borrowed” my content and try to get them to remove it from their site. I contact Google as a last resort. Google hates spammers and content scrapers.
great site matt i might come back to kenpo soon
Thanks Black Belt!