BUDOKAN
1960 - 2024
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
DAVID PETER PASSMORE
16.04.46 - 23.10.24
It is with great sadness and regret that we report the passing of Saisho no Sensei, David Peter Passmore, who died on 23 October 2024 following a long battle with cancer.
David began his martial arts career in 1962 when he joined Budokan South Africa. He successfully represented the province (county) of Natal at various tournaments and at the South African Games. In 1970 he founded Budokan UK in London and in 1974 began traditional Aikido training under Chiba Sensei. In 1975 he was placed under the guidance of Kanetsuka Sensei and acted as ‘uchideshi’ to him. David also trained under Ueshiba Kisshomaru, Sekiya Masatake, Tamura Nobuyoshi, Saito Morihiro, Yamada Yoshimitsu, Yamaguchi Seigo, Sekiya Masatake, and many other eminent Japanese and European teachers, across Europe in Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulon and Nice.
In 1978 he began training in Muso Shinden Ryu Iaido under Ishido Shizafumi and Hiroi Sensei of Zen Nippon Kendo Renmei, under the tutelage of Vic Cook within the British Kendo Association.
David was a student of Zazen and practised Shikantaza every day in the tradition of the Soto Sect of Zen Buddhism. To our knowledge he remains the only senior Western Teacher to introduce Zazen as the 4th discipline of Budokan, which became a formal part of its Teaching and Philosophy.
At the time of his passing David held the title of Kyoshi with the Dai Nippon Butokukai (DNBK) in Kyoto, one of Japan’s oldest traditional martial arts organisations, and holds the ranks of 7 Dan Karate, 6 Dan Aikido and 6 Dan Iaido with them.
Upon receiving the news of David’s passing Hanshi Hamada confirmed that,
“based on his longstanding dedication and contribution to the development of Japanese traditional Budo in the Uk, the DNBK posthumously honour him as Hanshi Title and that the DNBK would conduct a Flag Ceremony in his honour at the forthcoming WBS in Kyoto Japan where he will be enshrined in the DNBK ID Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
David is the founder of Budokan World which now has many international affiliates.
David was a consummate teacher even whilst suffering greatly from cancer he used every experience to provide lessons to Shihonkai members so that they should learn from his teaching that death is not to be feared and that he expects to pass from this world into another where he looks forward to meeting us there.
David is survived by his wife Katy and three Children, Caroline, Duncan and Tilly
Eight Grand Children, Eve, Hattie and Niah, Lowri, Aimee, Oliver and Joshua. We remember Torin who passed away January 2022
Shihonkai Budokan
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.