Kebote

"From our martial art standpoint, the word 'Kebo' had its origin in 1950 when it began to be applied intuitively by a small boy to personify his alter-ego whenever he felt he could not take credit for actions which he determined were beyond his ordinary abilities.

The concept behind the word 'Kebo' is NOT new. To a Zen master it is the principle of mushin. The opposite of Mushin is a hard concentration or tunnel vision. With Mushin one would, instead, look at an opponent in a soft non-staring manner in order to perceive the truth of a matter. With Mushin one does not see 'this' or "that" but rather both focus and margin. The end result is that he can both act appropriate to the situation, and do so without a single hairs-breath between thought and action.

In 1976 the small boy, now grown, and with the highest technical black belt in Shorin-ryu Karate, founded a unique branch in the Shorin family tree. The term "Kebote" means "Kebo hand" and designates a method of study used by this one branch of the Shorin tree. The term "KejaBo" is used of those who practice Kebote as founded by Kebo himself. Steven Humphrey of Black River Falls, Wisconsin is 'First Teacher.' Instead of teacher or master, his students call him Kebo

Kebote has the classical priority of Kata first, as without Kata there is no Karate. But Kebote is also innovative in its use of martial principles to develop Kata-derived meanings far beyond the Karate stereotype of a 'hard external style consisting of blocks, kicks, and punches.'

In conclusion, we understand the word 'Kebo' to be both a name of intuitive origin and a term which corresponds to the Japanese 'Mushin.' The term 'Kebo' essentially fills a void in the English language since, prior to 'Kebo,' no English word corresponded to 'Mushin.'"

Kebo

Shorin-ryu Karate

Karate

Black River Falls, Wisconsin

References:
The Way of Karate, by George E. Mattson, 1963. (pp31-32)
Secrets of the Samurai, by Ratti and Westbrook, 1973. (p400)"Pulpit with a Punch," Amy Gades and Steve Humphrey. Inside Kung Fu, July 1990, Vol. 17, #7 (p5 and p92).

In answer to Weregerbil, (see above references): The word Kebo is a word of uncertain origin, yet it is used by many people for different purposes. It has appeared on Wisconsin state license plates. However, because of the ambiguity found within its use, we wanted to share our history; a history which dates back to 1950 and seems to be of more definite use and purpose than that used by other people.