Embu is a combination of hokei (organized patters of goho and juho techniques) which has 6 sections. Embu is performed in the court, in the gym, at Taikai or other ceremonial occasions. In these hokei patterns one kenshi takes the part of attacker (kōsha 攻者) and one acts as defender (shusha 守者), they then change roles and repeat the technique. After the set form technique the kenshi perform ren-han-ko (連反攻: series of offence after defense) which is a free form counterattack which continues until the original attacker successfully blocks and counters. The juho techniques such as throwing are followed by katame (fixing or pinning techniques) or kime (finishing techniques with various hand strikes or kicks to nerve points).
Embu start with gassho-rei and are performed usually in kumiembu (performed by kenshis in pair), tandoku embu (performed by single kenshi) and dantai embu (performed by 6 or 8 kenshi in a group). The Embu of Shorinji Kempo is famous because of its speed, smoothness and the harmony of power and beauty.
Embu is rated out of 5 (sometimes 3 at preliminary selection) judges having 60 points each for the 6 sections and 40 points each for other comprehensiveness. A possible total of 300 points is the maximum, eliminating the highest and the lowest scores when 5 judges are judging. Kumi-embu and dantai-embu are performed within a time limit of between one and a half to two minutes.
Earlier in the Shorinji Kempo history, there was no regulation in performing embu. In this regard, embu was very powerful and practical since it was performed occasionally adhoc and ad-libed.
The most famous pair in the history of embu was Masuomi Nakano and Toshio Misaki whose embu was said to have impressed Doshin So.
(source: w:ja:少林寺拳法, in Japanese)
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