Founded in 1970
Budokan
Strong in hand, kind in heart
Welcome to Budokan
We have been established for 48 years in the UK and we cater for all adults of all ages, shapes and sizes.
Budokan teaches four traditional Japanese Budo - martial arts disciplines or ways.
Karatedo – Aikido – Iaido and Zazen - or seated meditation.
Our members enjoy a progressive syllabus of traditional Japanese martial arts, taught to them by some of the best instruction available in the UK today.
We hope you enjoy visiting our site.
© Budokanonline 2017
NEXT WORKSHOP
MEDITATION STOOLS
Individually hand-made and polished to a professional finish, visually attractive and the practical answer to comfortable meditation or a simple seating solution for improved posture.
A new feature of Our Dan Grades section, will be a Forum, where they wil be invited to post their observations and experiences of workshops and classes, covering a variety of techniques within all of the disciplines taught and practised by Budokan.
Come in an meet some of the people past and present in Budokan.
The range of books available on the Japanese martial arts and philosophy is considerable.
This list is based on many years of reading the relevant material that has stood the test of time.
with Passmore Sensei are available by arrangement at SenSpa in Brockenhurst.
Click here to contact him by email for further information.
PRIVATE CLASSES
Budokan is a member of the Nine Circles Giri discount scheme on mpst of their clothing and equipment.
If yoiu are a member of Budokan and wish to benefit from discounts on offer - just email us and we will send yiou our username and passward.
You can then buy direct.
TBA
ZEN AND JAPANESE BUSHIDO
THE MORALITY OF BUSHIDO
ALWAYS
REMEMBERED
Budokan has many Teachers Maaters and Students to whom we owe so much.
We have now created a permanent presence on the site, so that we can all remember who they are and be eternally grateful for the contribution they have made in the practice, promotion and dissemination of Japanese Budo.
Zen has been described as a special teaching without scriptures, beyond words and letters, pointing to the mind essence of our being, seeing directly into one’s nature, attaining enlightenment.
Zen is not a sect, but an experience.
It is the practice of self-searching through meditation to realise one’s true nature, with disregard of formalism, with insistence on self-discipline and simplicity of living.
The Zen spirit has come to mean not only peace and understanding but devotion to art and work, the rich unfolding of contentment, opening the door to insight, the expression of innate beauty and the intangible charm of incompleteness.
It has been said, that if you have Zen in your life, you have no fear, no doubt, no unnecessary craving and no extreme emotion.
Neither illiberal attitudes nor egotistical actions trouble you.
You serve humanity humbly, fulfilling your presence in this world with loving-kindness and observing your passing as a petal falling from a flower.
Serene, you enjoy life in blissful tranquillity.
Such is the spirit of Zen.
To study Zen, the flowering of ones nature, is no easy task
Paraphrased from Zen Flesh Zen Bones.
ZEN
Modern day practitioners of Japanese Budo do not include the essence of the spirit of Budo, because of the absence of the spirit of Zen. Shinto and Zen Buddhism and a better understanding of Bushido.
Dan Grades
Jan Clapham - 3 Dan
Steve Head - 3 Dan
Toby Mellows - 3 Dan
Paul Floyd - 2 Dan
Mark Joscelyne - 1 Dan
Brian Goodall - 1 Dan
Special Awards
Samurai of the Year - Brian Goodall
Best All Round Performance – Mark Joscelyne
Most Improved Dan Grade - Keith Molyneux
Most Improved Kyu Grade – Brian Goodall
Best Attendance – Alistair Carr
Silly Awards presented during the Dinner at
The Manor at Sway
Best Technical Photo - Peter Bush
Runners Up - Allan Pert - Brian Goodall - and many others
Best of the Funny Photo’s - Mike Clapham and Keith Molyneux
Runners Up - Alistair Carr - Alistair Reeves
3 in 1 Award - Ivor Hobbins
Runners up - Paul Floyd - Peter Benson - Alistair Carr
After 3 hours, still the smiling faces of Budokan students and Instructors at the end of the workshop at. the Lymington Dojo on Saturday 2 December.
A mixture of relief that it is all over or just looking forward to the Dinner coming up? Either way, the day and the evenng were both enjoyed by everyone.
The left hand of Keith Molyneux, 2nd from the right at the back, is noted, particularly as the mirror image has resulted in his intention being applied directly to himself!
More pictures and comment on the Workshop News pages shortly
This much anticipated event was slightly earlier than normal, but this was due to the need to book a venue for our Annual Dinner.
The 3-4 month lead in to the final workshop on 2 December was as frenetic as usual, with many of the students training hard in anticipation of the rewards that come with regular attendance and a willingness to progress along the path - the way - that had been set for everyone.
Only this year, one of us was missing.
And that was Len Blunt who, sadly, passed away from cancer in August.
There will be a memorial dedicated to him at a workshop in 2018.
This year will also be remembered for the hard work put in by those who were taking their Shodan or 1st Dan, who raised the bar on the technical standards and effort required for this "first step" on the Dan Grade ladder.
Thanks to all those who assisted in this effort.
Last, but certainly not least, this year is the first that will record the practical application of regular zazen practice, in a realisation, using the age old Buddhist concept of Non-Attachment - or letting go of things - that helped Brian Goodall to cope with his experiences, he so kindly shared with us all.
Do go and have a read in the Members section, when you can.
Budokan celebrates 2017.
A really good year all round, tinged with sadness.
New Year message from Richard Salmon
the Founder - the Doshu - of 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
Budokan bouquet
in Memory of
Evelyn Rickman.
With thanks from
Marion Hobbins