Kenpo is an incredibly adaptable martial art; as such, its techniques may vary from one practitioner to another. There are, however, several core characteristics shared by nearly all forms of Kenpo:

​

• Kenpo is similar to Karate and Judo in that it makes use of a belt ranking system.

• Practitioners of Kenpo almost never fight on the ground; they prefer to attack from a standing position by kicking, throwing, striking with hands or elbows or knees, and occasionally trapping their opponents with joint locks.

• The sheer size of the Kenpo curriculum distinguishes it from many other martial arts: to move up in rank, a student must have command of several forms, as well as techniques to counter against grabs, strikes, and weapons. This, of course, varies from school to school.

•  Kenpo is not about fighting. A Kenpo practitioner does not engage in a exchange with his or her opponent. Once attacked, his or her only aim is to end the fight in the quickest, most efficient way possible, whatever that may be.

​

Kenpo is a martial art to be used only in self-defense. Typically, schools of Kenpo do not teach their students how to attack people, but rather how to counter the attacks of their opponents.

"Jiu" can be translated to mean supple, flexible, pliable, or yielding. "Jitsu" can be translated to mean art or technique and but its most commonly known to describe arts in which manipulating the opponent's force against himself rather than confronting it with one's own force is emphasized. Jiu Jitsu was developed to combat, armed and armored opponents in which one uses no weapon. Because striking against an armored opponent proved ineffective, practitioners learned that the most efficient methods for neutralizing an enemy took the form of pins, joint locks, and throws. These techniques were developed around the principle of using an attacker's energy against him, rather than directly opposing it.

Standing in stark contrast to the other systems in martial arts, Japanese Jiu Jitsu systems focus primarily, for the most part, on throwing, immobilizing and pinning, joint-locking, and choking and strangling techniques. This is because, during the era in which most older Japanese Jiu Jitsu systems were established, the martial artists’ primary opponents were samurai in full body armor, against whom Atemi-waza (striking techniques) were far less effective.