Arnis vs Kenpo
Arnis and Kenpo side by side, from the facts recorded for each art.
| Arnis | Kenpo | |
|---|---|---|
| Country of origin | Philippines | Japan |
| Type | Filipino martial arts and combat sport | martial arts |
| Notable practitioners here | 1 | 1 |
| Top countries of practitioners | United States | Romania |
Arnis
Arnis, also known as eskrima/escrima or kali, is the national martial art of the Philippines. These three terms are, sometimes, interchangeable in referring to traditional martial arts of the Philippines ("Filipino Martial Arts", or FMA), which emphasize weapon-based fighting with sticks, knives, bladed weapons, and various improvised weapons, as well as "open hand" techniques without weapons.
From the Wikipedia article Arnis (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Kenpo
Kenpō (Japanese: 拳法) is the name of several martial arts. This term is often informally transliterated as "kempo", as a result of applying Hepburn romanization, but omitting a macron to indicate the long vowel. The word Kenpō translates to "Fist Method", "ken" meaning "fist" and "po" meaning "method/technique". The generic nature of the term combined with its widespread, cross-cultural adoption in the martial arts community has led to many divergent definitions. For example, in Suiō-ryū Iai Kenpō it refers to "Battlefield sword against sword forms". In modern Japanese, the term is generally used to describe any primarily striking based system, especially of Chinese origin.
From the Wikipedia article Kenpō (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Facts from Wikidata (CC0): Q752190, Q501672. Practitioner counts are the people with a profile on this site. Data retrieved 2026-10-22.
Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.