1960- 2023
Message from Doshu 2021
Hello to all our BUDOKAN and adjoining Martial Arts family members.
Here we are at the close of another year and what a year it has been for us all, but firstly back to our BUDOKAN WORLD.
I have to say, as I'm sure you will join me in agreeing, I am just so proud of Kyoshi David for his efforts, hard work and dedication in moving forward with his dream of building BUDOKAN WORLD into an honorable internationally recognized martial arts institution, encompassing many arts and a wide variety of respected leaders from around the world.
Some from our original Budokan of years ago, and others of different systems, thus forming an organisation for all to be proud of.
What makes me personally so proud and humbled is that after just on 60 years since my forming of the original BUDOKAN SA, Kyoshi David, who has been with me for nearly that long and has never strayed from the ethics and beliefs I formed at that time, HONOR, DUTY, RESPECT & HUMILITY... "STRONG IN HAND, KIND IN HEART", of this I can't tell you all what that means to me personally, for Kyoshi David followed all I believed in and dreamed of, and has taken it to a higher level and for this he has my lifelong respect and gratitude. I cannot ask for more than he has given. I do believe that those of you fortunate enough to be under his personal guidance in life and on the floor, no matter what the art, you have to know you are guided by the best.
The martial arts and its Great Masters of the many systems I was privileged and honored to train under back in the 1960s defined my life, and with their teachings I went out into the world to try and make our only home, Earth, a better place for all who share it with us. Recently I read a passage I would like to share with you, written by that great philosopher "Thomas Paine" who I felt well defined my profile, he wrote : THE WORLD IS MY COUNTRY...ALL MANKIND ARE MY BRETHREN AND TO DO GOOD, IS MY RELIGION.
In this regard I want to share the following with you.
Regarding the worldwide events of this year, as martial artists following our Budokan path, I ask you to make the following part of your path forward. I am saddened by what we have become as the human race; never have politics been so far down in the gutter, never have we had so may conflicts, prompted mainly by religion. Never have we had so many needy people, mostly children, without countries, shelter, food and water plus the criminal suffering of millions of children that goes unattended, and it just seems to become worse. My plea to you is to make it your mission this next year to offer whatever help you can to those in need in your areas, no matter how small; every little bit helps those in need and they need to see there are people who care and, perhaps through your generosity, they will find hope for better life in the future.
In closing may I wish you and your families all you could wish for yourselves for the future. May you have success in life, love and much happiness and may the Power that protects us, keep you from harm on the road you may travel.
Yours in the spirit of our BUDOKAN...
Doshu Richard Salmon
2019 New Year message
2018 New Year message
from Richard Salmon
Greetings to you all as we move toward the end of yet another year.
I hope that 2018 has been a good one for you and your loved ones and that you have achieved all you wished for.
On the BUDOKAN front, I have to say once again how impressed I am with the work KYOSHI DAVID PASSMORE is doing in developing the story of BUDOKAN past and future, and of what BUDOKAN really is and means.
When I see this, as my journey and path moves towards the top of the mountain [slowly I hope?] it gives me great hope that our BUDOKAN will be in good hands in the future, for there will be no excuse following his leadership and all he has shared.
You have no finer Sensei to show you the way.
In this troubled world, if we can follow our BUDOKAN KUN of HONOuR, DUTY, RESPECT AND HUMILITY and truly practice STRONG IN HAND, KIND IN HEART and share this code with others, we can, through our training, help make our World a better place for those that share it with us.
That's my challenge to you.
I have always taught :
" THE BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT IN LIFE, IS WHEN YOU DISAPPOINT YOURSELF"
Now for some well deserved news :
My responsibility as DOSHU/FOUNDER of BUDOKAN is to ensure our Members and Leaders receive the rewards they deserve for
THEIR YEARS OF DEDICATION TO AND PERFECTION OF THE ART, LOYALTY AND SERVICE TO THE ORGANISATION
and in that regard,
on this day of 27th November, 2018,
It is with HUMILITY, THE GREATEST HONOUR AND PRIDE that I award “KYOSHI” DAVID PASSMORE
the well deserved rank of
7th DAN KARATE
Finally as we move towards the end of this year, may I wish you and your loved ones all you could wish for yourselves for 2019, happiness and above all, be safe.
Yours in BUDO,
RICHARD SALMON
DOSHU
BUDOKAN
TO ALL "BUDOKAN UK" MEMBERS.
As we approach the end of still another year, I wanted to share with you all a little background and history of your SENSEI DAVID PASSMORE, for he was with me from the very beginning of his "BUDO JOURNEY". and I know, perhaps more than any others, how far he has traveled.
It was some 50 years ago that as a young man he stepped onto the floor in my original "BUDOKAN' dojo in the city of Durban to start a journey that even he, had no idea would take him to great heights in our ART OF KARATE-DO. From the very beginning he showed the potential and dedication that would be needed to take him to the top. Training five or six times a week, in the dojo, on the beach or in the mountains at training camps, he gave it his all to become one of the finest students I ever had the privilege of teaching. His standard and technique soon became the standard for others to follow. In competition he represented our "BUDOKAN" Natal Provincial Team on many occasions in both Kata and Kumite with good results.
A highlight I believe we shared together as Sensei and Student. was in 1969, when he teamed up with me to present a weapons demonstration at the first South African Games, the equivalent of the South African Olympics, which was put together after South Africa was expelled from the Olympics for it's Apartheid policy . At the games Sensei David also represented the "ALL STYLES TEAM" in Kata and Kumite that represented the Province of Natal against a team from the UK.
His departure for the UK was a great loss for me, for he was an inspiration to the newer students of what could be achieved with dedicated training, and he had become one of few I believed could go all the way, which is what he has done.
On leaving South Africa and developing his own "Budokan UK" he took with him everything I had tried to instill in all who trained with us, HONOUR, DUTY, RESPECT & HUMILITY and STRONG IN HAND & KIND IN HEART. and dedication to training and understanding the different and deeper aspects of our ART and he did that but took it to a higher level, for which I am so proud.
So with this little background, you, his students, have a slightly better understanding of the man you are training under, a TRUE "BUDO" MAN who has a complete understanding of what it means to be a "complete Karate-ka and Martial Artist". As his students you could not ask for a better leader, not only in our Art, but in life's journey itself.
I am privileged to call him my friend.
As we move forward to the NEW YEAR, I wish you and you family all you could wish for yourselves, love, success, happiness and above all, safety.
Finally I would like to offer you an old African Blessing :
MAY THE POWER THAT GUIDES AND PROTECTS US, ALWAYS STAND BETWEEN YOU AND HARM ON THE ROAD YOU MUST TRAVEL.
Sincerely,
Richard Salmon
DOSHU BUDOKAN
Richard Salmon
Founder - Doshu - Budokan
More Than One Life
By Richard Salmon
This is a fascinating book on the life of an extraordinary person.
The beginning covers his early life in Durban and his schooling, his Naval life and his marriage to his lifelong partner and wife Dot and the birth of his two sons Grant and Robin.
Richard started off his career by learning the art of Judo and later became interested in other Japanese Martial Arts.
Through sheer tenacity in trying to gain knowledge of these unknown arts in South Africa the author takes us on an experience that is difficult to comprehend.
Him standing wharfside and shouting to attract attention of Japanese fishing trawler crew members to inquire if anybody knew anything about Karate that they might be able to teach him.Through these contacts Richard traveled to Sao Palo in Brazil to learn from one of the masters that lived there.
This vast knowledge that he gained prompted him to open his own Dojo and hence Budokan was born. The sport quickly became very popular and spread throughout South Africa Richard also traveled extensively in Japan to study and train with some of the great masters of Karate. This pioneering spirit went on to become one of the largest karate Dojos in S.A. Now some sixty years later Budokan is a worldwide organisation and still going strong.
Richard always believed that by educating the youth about environmental issues it would later have an impact on the world we live in.
The Mountain Youth Leadership School was started in the Eastern Orange Free State mountains and later the Youth Leadership School at the famous YO Ranch in Texas.
Richard was a member of the World Wildlife Organisation and was also a personal friend of Prince Phillip Bernard of the Netherlands.
The book takes us on his travels around the world teaching conservation and youth leadership to young people.
Richard has met Presidents. Prime Ministers, Kings, Queens Billioners Popes and Paupers in his quest to make the world a better place to live in.
Salla gahle umfundi
Shihan Dix Wridgway
