< History of Shorinji Kempo >
Bodhidharma brought ekkingyo to Chinese Buddhism. Approximately
Kaiso established Shorinji Kempo.
Kaiso went to China in
1928, at the age of 18, and lived there for 17 years. During his stay there he learned martial arts (kengi) from the masters of various schools which had gone into hiding after the Boxer Rebellion. After much practice, he was permitted to succeed Wen'tau Tsung, the 20th master of Northern Shorinji Giwamonken, as the 21st master in the line.At the end of Japan's war in China in
1945, Kaiso experienced firsthand the chaos in post-war northeastern China (up to then a part of the Japanese Empire). He realized that the destruction and suffering of those times was natural result of the cruelty and injustice which had been done before. In English we have our own saying, "What goes around, comes around"; Kaiso was seeing things come around. His realization that it is individuals who make things happen and shape events became the basis for his teachings that the course of human affairs depends on the quality of the people themselves.Returning to Japan in June of
1946, he found turmoil in his homeland as well. Knowing that change comes only through action, he set himself to the task of helping to reconstruct Japan by gathering and instructing motivated young men and women to become part of the backbone of the country. In October of 1947, Kaiso established Nippon Seito Hoppa Shorinji Kempo Kai in the town of Tadotsu, in Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. There he began teaching Shorinji Kempo, and added techniques of his own to the ones he had learned in China.
Development of the organization
In December of
1951, he founded the Kongo Zen Sohonzan with Shorinji Kempo as its main teaching. In 1953, he created the Japan Shorinji Kempo Federation, and in 1974 set up the World Shorinji Kempo Organization. In the 33 years following the founding of Shorinji Kempo, Kaiso concentrated on developing young men and young women into adults strong and capable in both mind and body, and he did this through the practice and teaching of his philosophy of ken zen ichinyo. Since his death of heart disease on May 12,1980, his daughter, Doshin So Shike, has continued his work. At the time of this writing, there are approximately 3,200 branches in 33 countries around the world.The Boxer Rebellion: The Boxers were an underground self-defense organization of Giwaken adherents. They rose in rebellion in Shantung province in
1900 to expel the Western imperial powers from China. The rebellion was crushed by the modernised armies of the West, and the various martial arts societies were outlawed.
