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In Japanese, the kanji for Quan fa, (pronounced chuan fa) is pronounced Kempo. There are many styles or systems of Kenpo, as Kenpo is a generic term describing martial arts with Chinese influence and as such shares the same history as the Shaolin/[Chinese Martial Arts].
You may ask, "Isn't Kenpo a form of [Karate]"? In some cases, yes it is. But in others, it isn't. Almost all forms of Kenpo/Kempo has similar movements, techniques, strikes and blocks of Karate. So some could be considered an off-shoot of Karate, or an older version of it. So in essence these systems are a form of Karate, such as Okinawan and Ryukyu Kempo. But there are systems that have more [Jujutsu] than Karate in them. While some of the more recently developed systems may resemble [Kung Fu] more than the Japanese/Okinawan cousins. Hence why Kenpo and Kempo are considered a generic term.
So where does that leave us? There a basically two broad divisions of Kenpo that you will find. Traditional and modern. These are of course subjective terms, and they can mean something different depending on your point of view.
Traditional:
These systems are in essence very similar to Traditional [Karate] or in some cases [Jujutsu]. Some of these systems include Kosho Ryu, Ryukyu and Okinawan Kempo. Shorinji Kempo is also considered by many Westerners as a traditional Japanese system. But if you asked a Japanese traditional stylist, they would say it is modern system (as I said, the term can be subjective).
Modern:
Many of the modern systems focus more on what works than tradition. A majority of these systems stem from the Chow lineage or Hawaiian Kenpo. They a generally termed Kempo Karate or Kenpo Karate. They tend to be more eclectic in nature and has a stronger focus on the Chinese side of the martial arts. Some of these include American Kenpo, Tracy Kenpo, Shaolin Kenpo/Kempo, and Kajukenbo.
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