Nippon Kenpo

Does anyone have experience in this martial art? They are known in Japan for their devastating punching power and also the "Mach punch". Many experts went on to become famous boxers/kickboxers always carrying with them with their trademark knockout punches. Does anyone have more info on what this system is all about?

I thought Kempo was considered "Chinese Karate"...or something like that...a Chinese hard style martial art which resembled Karate in many ways. In fact, I thought it was influenced by Karate. I'm no expert on this topic. This is just from my observations and overhearing people discuss it. Nippon means Japanese, or rather, Japan...so it would be Japanese Kempo. It seems odd to me that there would be a Japanese Kempo.

No kempo was not influenced by karate. The proper name is "Shorinji
Kempo". Shorinji is the Japanese name for "Shaolin". So the obvious
influence is shaolin temple kung fu. It all came about when some
Japanese monks travelled to Shaolin temple in China for some cultural
and religious exchange (etc) and they brought home some of the kung
fu with them. That's why these days kempo has a mystic image of
monks .. almost cult-ish during the 70s actually.

Ahh, so I got it backwards.

Have you seen the movie "Shaolin Temple" with a very young Jet Li in it?
I did a double take when I saw it again a couple of years ago because
on one very quick shot during the huge battle towards the end, the
head monk was doing what looked very much like kempo moves, it was
amazing because you can immediately see where kempo comes from.

Nippon Kenpo is not related to Shaolin. Kenpo as in Nippon Kenpo is just a generic term for hand-to-hand combat arts. Nippon Kenpo is a modern martial arts created about 70 years ago from old jujutsu atemi, etc. (http://www.nipponkempo.org/profile/pro.htm)

>> They are known in Japan for their devastating punching power and also the "Mach punch." <<

In Nippon Kenpo you stand southpaw, thus the signature strong right jab called ``Mach punch.''

>>Many experts went on to become famous boxers/kickboxers always carrying with them with their trademark knockout punches. <<

Jiro Watanabe is one. http://www2f.biglobe.ne.jp/~love-me/eboxing.htm

``Jiro Watanabe WBC,WBA Jr. bantum weight

In his high school days in Osaka, he was a very good swimmer. Then he became a master of Japanese martial arts called Nihon Kempo at Ottemon Gakuin Univ. He became a prise fighter at the age of 25. He challenged the world Jr bamtum title-holder Kim Tekko but was defeated by points. That was his first loss. But his second challenge was successful. He defended the title 9 times then he challenged Payao Poontarut who then held the WBC version of the same title. It was nominally a unification bout in which he defeated and gained the WBC title but relinquished his WBA version of the title. He was one of the smartest boxer Japan has ever produced in his tactics and techniques.''

Hermeneus is correct. Nippon kenpo has no relation to Shorinji (where they use robes and the buddhist swastika).
From the articles I've read in Furukontakuto Karate and K magazine, the mach punch is actually a straight right (from the orthodox position), at least according to Igari forgot-the-rest-of-his-name, who's a former kickboxing champion and also a referee in K-1.
Jiro Watanabe is precisely one of the boxers I had in mind, others include the referee above and Takeda Kozo (whose master is a kempo expert) who lacks technique but can knockdown buildings.

wow, i have never come across this kenpo before..
as far as I've read, kempo is a shaolin derivative.

why did they have to assign a type of kempo to the
name? ie shorinji, or nihon. When they say "nihon",
it leads me to believe that they are saying it's the
japanese version of kempo.

Kenpo can mean 'fist method'. There is a bunch of styles in Japan that are blends of Karate (and other striking systems)and other arts that take the name Ken(m)po to differentiate themselves. i.e Ucuzen (sp?) Kenpo = Karate & Aikido in Osaka.