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Shorinji Kempo is a registered religion in Japan. This came about in the aftermath of World War II when, for obvious reasons, the Occupation forces banned the study of martial arts. However, a variety of new religions sprang up from the ashes of Japanese defeat, one of which was a “dancing religion.” So Doshin argued that if such a thing was tolerated, then why not a “fighting religion”? He won his point. The British forces on Shikoku even allowed the Shorinji Kempa group to use its boxing ring, gloves, and training facilities. The “religious” coloration of Shorinji Kempo must not be seen in the Western sense of a system of worship of a supreme being, but rather in a more Asian sense of a code of life, a “Way.”

Shorinji Kempo stresses the following basic principles (from www.shorinjikempo.or.jp/wsko/guide.html):

1. Ken zen ichinyo (body and mind are the same). Zen refers to the spirit. Ken to the body. Students of Shorinji Kempo should seek to develop both body and mind.

2. Riki ai funi (strength and love stand together). Strength supported by love, and love supported by strength. The condition in which the two apparent opposites are unified as one, is what a man’s way of thinking and acting should have as the core.