BUDOKAN
1960 - 2025
STRONG IN HAND. KIND IN HEART.
The classical budo, or "martial ways" are not combat systems like their forerunner, bujutsu,or "martial arts"; nor are they sports like modern judo, kendo, or karate.They are first and foremost spiritual disciplines, whose ultimate goal, achieved throughthe most rigorous mental and physical training, is self-realization in the tradition of Zen Buddhism.
Donn F. Draeger
Classical Budo
Budokan Flag Ceremony on 21st June
We wish to invite you to Budokan's Ceremony to celebrate, the honour of Hanshi David Passmore at 14:00pm.
As many of you are aware, Hanshi has posthumously been honoured with the Hanshi title by the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai (DNBK) and enshrined in their Martial Arts Hall of Fame. On April 30th a Flag Ceremony will be held in his honour in Kyoto Japan. We will be receiving the flag and presenting it to Hanshi’s family on the 21st June at Lymington Sports Centre.
To mark this event we will be holding a Seminar featuring two guest Sensei affiliated with Budokan, as well as our own Lymington Sensei Mike Clapham.
The event will comprise of Karate, Iaido and Kobudo, as well as the presentation of the the flag.
There will be food and drinks at the Chequers Inn after the seminar, for a catch up with old faces.
Mat fees are £15,
Food at the Chequers is £10 for a Beef Chilli or Vegetarian Curry.
Please choose one of the options and let us know.
Please make payments to:
Budokan UK - 30-54-66 - 17906760
Reference - Flag
It would be fantastic to get a good turnout for this event, to celebrate the great honour the DBNK have bestowed upon Hanshi Passmore. It is also a perfect chance to try something new with two Sensei you may have not met before. Please bring Jo and Bokken/Iaito if you have them.
Sensei David Ansell – Iaido
Dave Ansell started Iaido and Kendo with Vic Cook of the British Kendo Association in 1976, 2 years before Sensei Passmore started iaido.
Dave has been fortunate to have trained in Japan for many years and he tries to make annual visits to his teacher, Hanshi Ichimura of the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai.
He has had the pleasure in demonstrating in the Butokuden, the foremost martial art hall in Japan, in the presence of members of the Japanese Royal family.
Dave has had the honour of represented the United Kingdom at international events across America and Europe, including the 1st European Iaido Championships held in Sittard, Netherlands 1993.
Currently, Dave holds the grade of Nandan in iaido with the title of Kyoshi and Yondan kendo with the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai. He was also a great friend to Hanshi Passmore.
Sensei Joe Braconi – Kobudo
Joe Braconi started studying Tenshinkan Karate in 2000 under the guidance of Hanshi Hans Haupt, Chief Liaison Officer for the Western World, in South Africa.
In 2006, he participated to a 7 days international seminar in Hasuda-Shi (Japan) at the HQ of Tenshinkan Karate Federation, conducted by Kancho Mamoru Miwa.
In 2006, he commenced studying kobujutsu with Ryukyu Kobujutsu Hozon Shinkokai (Eisuke Akamine branch) led by Sensei Marius Madgwick in Boksburg.
In 2009, Hanshi Hans Haupt personally trained him on Ryukyu Kobubujutsu Hozon Shinkokai (Inoue Motokatsu branch) and continued training under his guidance and under the Tenshinkan Ryukyu Kobujutsu standards, new and more attractive syllabus.
In 2009 he was appointed Tenshinkan Benoni Honbu Dojo Deputy Chief Instructor and taught Karate and kobujutsu until he left South Africa in 2014.
He attended international seminars held by Kancho Mamoru Miwa in Denmark and South Africa in 2013 and 2016 respectively.
He published a book Karate for over 40, its benefits, he took part to numerous regional, national and international championships placing himself in the top 3 places in kumite and kata.
He is a keen adept of Goshin-Jutsu and developed self-defence training for non-martial artists and introduced disarmament of firearms in their training. He provided many free self-defence seminars.
He graduated Tenshinkan Karate 5th dan in 2017 in Dundee UK and given the title of Shihan Dai, He joined Budokan 2021 and, while he is still teaching Kobudo and Karate, he is writing a book about the application of the various Sabaki concepts in Tenshinkan karate.
In January 2023 he was invited to join the Budokan Shihankai, assuming the title of Shihan.
On 25 June 2023 he was accredited with his Rokudan Karate by the Budokan Shihankai for certification later in the year.
Please could you reply to this email to confirm your interest in attending.
Further details will be published in the build up to June.
for more information email: info@budokanworld.com
Saturday 29th March 2024 Lymington Dojo
Kyoshi Darren Waghorn and Sensei Mike Clapham shared the dojo . Both taught two one hour classes. Kyoshi Darren was teaching laido and Sensei Mike was teaching Aikido.
Sensei Mike taught four nage waza techniques (projections) Kote Gaishi, Shihonage, Irimi nage and Kaiten Nage. We used the same six attacks for each Nage Waza. Aihamni, Gyakuhamni, Chudan Zuki, Tate Zuki Jodan, Shomen Uchi and Yokumen Uchi. Our focus was not on speed but correct technique such as good maai, ensuring the Uke is off balance, correct breathing and maintaining Zanchin.
After the first hour Kyoshi and Sensei swapped students. Sensei second class welcomed back some former students. During this class was back to basics. We started with Ikkyo and then moved on to Kote Gaishi, for both techniques the attacks were Aihamni and Gyakuhamni. We began with Gono keiko (static practice) making sure the Tori was stepping off the line and then attacking the Uke's center whilst encouraging the Uke to blend with the Tori all of the techniques were practiced Omote and Ura.
The main emphasis for both groups in the iaido training was the four building blocks of iai, namely nukitsuke, furikaburi & kirioroshi, chiburi and noto. Practicing these individually can only improve your iai so far. To take it up to the next level these need to be brought together in kata.
For the first group this was done by practicing standing versions of the 1st four katas of Seitai iaido. Martial artist must be aware of the surrounding in combat but also in training. An interesting sight for the people watching as a wall was used during Uke Nagashi (the third kata of Seitai) to help the students learn the first part of the kata.
The second group, consisting of more senior grades, utilised the first two katas, Yukitzure and Tsuredachi from the Okuden Tachi-waza from Muso Shinden Ryu to practice the building blocks.
2025 is upon us
Despite 2024 being a difficult year for the club, we are moving forward in the spirit drilled into us by Saisho Passmore.
We have several weekend, one day events planned. These are open to all current and former Budokan members who wish to attend. So dig out your Gi, dust off your weapons and join us on the mat. There will be the usual social gatherings at a local venue after each of the dates.
Please keep an eye on the website for any updates, emails will be sent confirming dates and weapon requirements for each session.
Saturday 29th March – Training Seminar
June 21st – Flag Ceremony & Training with Guest Teachers, a Celebration of Saisho.
Saturday 20th September – Training Seminar
Saturday 6th December – Training, Gradings and Annual Budokan Christmas Do!
There are weekly classes at Lymington Dojo with Sensei Mike Clapham
Wednesday and Friday from 7.30pm to 8.30pm
If you are interested please email with the address below.
for more information email: info@budokanworld.com
SENSEIS TIPS
We have found that the Sensei's Tips section we launched a good while back now - where does the time go? using local dojo created quite a bit of interest. - So we thought we would post some existing content on various pages highlighted across the site in various locations for all to enjoy.
And who better to start this section off, but our good friend of over 35 years now - Kyoshi David Ansell 7 Dan or Chichidan.
He accompanied a Budokan team to kyoto in 2008 where we all took part in a World Butokusai staying in a beautiful hotel overlooking this magnificent city.
Saisho and Kyoshi Ansell shared a room for 2 weeks and they are still friends to this day.
As you will find elsewhere on this site David Ansell helped to host a traditional Open Japanese event with Budokan in Buxton 2011, which was a great success.
Toby doing some solo Kata training in Lymington Dojo
Toby and Keith doing some Kumitachi training
JAPANESE BUDO RESEARCH
We publish news stories, schoLarly articles and academic papers
from Aikido to Zen in all things Traditional Japanese Budo,
that we hope will be of interest to both teacher and student alike.
All articles and papers will first appear here on the Homepage.
After that they will be posted on the Budo Research page under the name of the discipline or context.
When a single discipline reaches 12 or more articles or papers it will be given its own page.
All papers are the responsibility of each individual author and do not necessarily reflect the views of budokanworld.com.
Just click on any of the links below to read more.
SAISHO SENSEI'S TIPS
ON SOME BASICS
Basic Karate Blocking techniques and Deflections.
A quick run through of some Aikido Basics
Basic Karate Striking techniques
Basic Aikido wristwork and handling the Bokken
12 BEST GENERAL BENEFITS OF MEDITATION
Meditation has been shown to offer many benefits.
Although it’s well known as a technique to reduce stress and anxiety, research shows that it may also help enhance your mood, promote healthy sleep patterns, and boost cognitive skills.
Meditation is the habitual process of training your mind to focus and redirect your thoughts.The popularity of meditation is increasing as more people discover its many health benefits.You can use it to increase awareness of yourself and your surroundings. Many people think of it as a way to reduce stress and develop concentration.People also use the practice to develop other beneficial habits and feelings, such as a positive mood and outlook, self-discipline, healthy sleep patterns, and even increased pain tolerance.
This article reviews 12 health benefits of meditation - ....read more...
A JAPANESE GLOSSARY
FOR KARATE STUDENTS
First they published A Short History of Karate.
Now Michael Cowie and Robert Dyson are soon to publish another little gem this year.
Budokan has been given a glimpse of their work and you can too by clicking on the image below.
And its not that little either!
Enjoy.
A LINEAGE ALL BUT FORGOTTEN
The Yushinkan
SHINSEI DOJO
There are few martial artists in history who have been able to influence an entire generation of politicians, military personnel, police, educators, and civilians alike. Who’s student’s (if only for a day) talked about their experiences with him in detail nearly seventy years after his death. The first San-Dou-no-Hanshi in history. The “God of Kendo” ( Nakayama Hakudo.