American Kenpo is a self-defense system - not just a martial art. What this means is that American Kenpo just isn't a way of studying the art of defending one's self against an opponent, but rather the study of human anatomy and movement as it relates to self-defense and martial ways. This distinction implies certain differences from other martial arts. For one, a system is a construct. A large part of American Kenpo is the complete (or as complete as can be obtained) analysis of human movement as it relates to combat. And, through this analysis principles, rules, theories, concepts, definitions, motions, and actions are derived and refined; with the end result being American Kenpo.
Category Completion is one of the most commonly used terms in American Kenpo. Many people use this term but never really understand what it means. The term Category Completion is almost self-defining - completing categories. But, what is a category, how do you determine a category, and how is it completed?
First - what is a category? By definition, a category is a grouping of something through a common property or aspect. In practice, a category is the attempt to determine all possible ways something can be accomplished, cataloging it, and ensuring that American Kenpo exposes this analysis somewhere in the system, some how.
Second - how do you determine a category? The best way to create a category is to define the boundaries of what you are analyzing and breaking it down into all possible permutations. The boundary can be extremely broad, extremely narrow, or anywhere in between. To get a better understanding of how to do this, browse through the examples in the following sections.
Third - How is this category completed? A category is completed by demonstrating the permutations of the category. In our case, via a form.
Finally, there is one subject that needs to be discussed - Purposeful Omission. Purposeful Omission is purposefully NOT demonstrating one of the permutations of a category. Usually this is done because a permutation of a category is determined to be non-useful and is therefore excluded from the completing of that category.