BUDOKAN
TRADITIONAL JAPANESE BUDO
1960 - 2022
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 through
the most rigorous mental and physical training, is self-realization in the tradition of Zen Buddhism.
Donn F. Draeger
Classical Budo
DRAW A VEIL OVER THE FUTURE. LET GO OF THE PAST. EMBRACE THE PRESENT. SHIKANTAZA. JUST SITTING
BUDOKAN SHIELD PILOT
A SUCCESS
PREVENTION, PROTECTION AND SAFETY PROGRAM FOR WOMEN
A full Report on the Budokan Shield Pilot was provided to all the members of the Sensei Group for their meeting on Sunday 11 September 2022.
To provide a flavour of the course from the participants, we asked for one sentence “what did you think of your experiences during the Pilot” and this is what came in from some of the participants.
"The course was really well taught, and has given me increased (self) confidence to be able to defend myself, to more consciously intuit situations to react more precisely and powerfully, and believe in my abilities; it's also been a great way to de-stress and great fun"!
"David and his trainers, Mike and Toby provided a safe, non-threatening, physical contact space for women of varying ages, improving emotional/mental/physical health, enabling personal safety and expanding horizons".
"I've absolutely loved the classes and they've made me feel more empowered and stronger mentally and physically".
"I've really enjoyed the 6 weeks. I learned so much more than I expected and surprised myself with how powerful I felt doing the movements. Thank you so much for putting on the pilot, I do feel like I've learned a lot even though it was only 6 weeks".
TAKEAWAYS
All of the women presented were total novices to this genre.
All volunteered.
All were in the target social demographic age group of 25 - 55.
All applied themselves from day one.
All wore the Gi provided very happily.
All felt they were part of a team.
All were pleased with their individual and group progress.
All were amazed by the range of weapons that we have in our hands and arms.
All aspired to the strike power of the experienced men and raised their game accordingly. This was very interesting.
All were able - with a bit of encouragement - to use their Kiai to strike harder and with more intent.
All began with shallow breathing of the upper body and ended up using their diaphragm more effectively.
All felt that conscious breathing helped them to focus with intent.
All began to see and experience the logic of Strike First to Safety.
All felt that 6 weeks was too short but that 8 weeks would be better.
All believed that the physical side was demanding but enjoyable.
Most wished to continue something like the Pilot in the future and would be interested in Karate/Self Defence classes for Women.
All would require more time to practise anticipation, perception and speed of an oncoming male attacker.
All were pretty good at striking whilst evading but all would need quicker evasion capabilities in all directions.
PLANS FOR FUTURE COURSES IN THE NEW FOREST AND ELSEWHERE ARE UNDER WAY.
PLEASE WATCH THIS SPACE.
SCROLL DOWN TO SOME OF PASSMORE SENSEI'S TIPS ON BASICS
RULES FOR BASICS
This is an invitation to all Teachers and Instructors of Japanese Budo to give our readers the benefit of your skills and experience with your very own Rules for Basics of any of your disciplines that you believe students need to remember.
Forever.
By way of example Passmore Sensei asked Mike Clapham to write up his rules for Oizuki - a simple standing Karate punch.
See what he had to say on the Lymington Dojo page.
BUDOKAN KARATE GENEALOGY
A few years ago now, Sensei Passmore sent over a Karate Genealogy spreadsheet to Renshi Bush, along with a request to see if he could do the research and build a story around the people responsible for creating the original Karate Kata, founded their different Ryu or styles and handed them down over time, so that we could enjoy practising and performing them today.
...and this is what Peter wrote - aleays a good read and a reminder of where our Kata came from.
OKINAWA
THE BIRTHPLACE OF KARATE
Okinawa, Ken Prefecture, Japan in the Pacific Ocean comprises roughly two-thirds of the Ryukyu Islands of Japan. It is the smallest and least populated of the five main islands of Japan. Before Okinawa became a prefecture during the early part of the Meiji period (1868 -1912) it was a semi-independent kingdom under the influence of both China and Japan
.
In 1429, the three kingdoms on Okinawa unified to form the Kingdom of Ryukyu. In 1477 Shō Shi became king and banned the practice of Tō-te and Ryukyu kobudō (weaponry) however these continued to be taught in secret. The ban was continued even after Okinawa was invaded by the Satsuma Domain of Japan in 1609. The bans contributed to the development of kobudō which uses common household and farming implements as weaponry. The Okinawans combined Chinese martial arts with the existing local variants to form Tōde Tuudii, (China hand), sometimes called Okinawa-te
By the 18th century, different types of Te had developed in three different villages Shuri, Naha and Tomari. The styles were named Shuri-te, Naha-te, and Tomari-te. Te often varied from one town to another, so to distinguish the various types of te, the area of origin was added, for example, Naha-te, Shuri-te, or Tomari-te.
Shuri-te, Naha-te and Tomari-te belong to a family of martial arts that were collectively defined as Tode-jutsu or To-de.
In 1879 The Ryukyu kingdom was annexed by Japan and was renamed the Okinawa Prefecture by the Meiji government. Naha is the capital city of Okinawa, Shuri is a district of Naha and Tomari is a neighbourhood where the Tomari terminal of the port of Naha is located. After 1926 Okinawa-te or Karate-jutsu was systematically taught in Japan
.
As you read this genealogy you will see that many of the styles of karate practised today inherited the characteristics of both the Naha-te and Shuri-te.
The reason for this is because the founding fathers of karate were either born in Naha or Shuri or were taught and practised these styles of martial arts. This paper focuses on the styles and teachers that influenced the way we practise karate in Budokan. There are other styles such as Shorin-Ryu (Choshin Chibana) and Wado-Ryu (Otsuka Hironori) which have connected genealogies. Although I include Gichin Funokoshi (Shotokan) it is because he trained under Yasutsune Anko Itosu whom I regard as the father of Karate although Funakoshi is sometimes referred to as the father of karate.
.....read more about the Sensei in our history....
JAPANESE BUDO RESEARCH
For your convenience and interest
we have set up a section on the website where we will publish schoLarly articles and academic papers
from Aikido to Zen in all things Traditional Japanese Budo,
that we hope will prove valuable to both teacher and student alike.
Selected articles will appear on the homepage for a short time
and then be migrated to the BUDO RESEARCH page.
Just click on any of the links below to read more.
(NB The views of the authors depicted in these articles and papers listed are for information purposes only).
DOWN MEMORY LANE
University of Derby Buxton 2011.
The scene of the First Open Traditional Japanese Budo 2 day Seminars in the UK for decades with Budokan heavily involved in the creation, organisation and management of the event with great back up from the University and from a legion of like minded people passionate about Budo,
like the very well known David Ansell who helped initiate the event and played an important part in its success.
SEISHIN DOJO JOINS BUDOKAN
Joe Bracone Sensei
5 Dan Shihan
Joe Bracone has had a page for his Seichin Dojo for a number of years on budokanworld.com.
During this time he has been impressed by what Budokan stands for and what we do.
And in one of their regular chats he reported as such to Passmore Sensei, who invited him to think about joining us.
In May 2022 he applied to join as a Budokan Dojo.
In July Bush Sensei was asked to chat to him and he reported back from this meeting very positively about his Dojo and also the man whom he liked and respected.
Bracone Sensei said "I am honoured to become part of Budokan.
I am looking forward to learn more and contribute to the promotion of Japanese Budo, as I believe that this organisation has an excellent leadership and infrastructure for expanding and divulging the knowledge of Japanese Budo".
PASSMORE SENSEI'S TIPS ON SOME BASICS
Basic Karate Blocking techniques and Deflections.
A quick run through of some Aikido Basics
On the art of drawing the sword - Nukitsuke
Basic Karate Striking techniques
Basic Aikido wristwork and handling the Bokken
On the art of putting the sword in the scabbard - Noto