BUDOKAN

1960 - 2026

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

Katy Passmore Memorial Event

Katy Passmore Memorial event took place recently under the watchful eye of her sister Jo, 2 of Saisho's children, Caroline and Tilly along with grandkids, Eve and Josh.

Most Budokan members have seen Katy at the dojo taking the pictures and hoping not appearing in the 'The Funnies' at the end of the year. Katy also assisted in the creation and running of the website for Saisho. Before this Katy participated on the mat, briefly, until Saisho ask her to do roly polyies (read ukemi). Katy's words, not mine.

The event was opened by Sensei Darren Waghorne who performed a spirit cleansing kata. This kata is used to displel the evil/negative spirits lurking in the dojo.

Sensei Peter Bush kicked off the event by using karate as a Misogi (禊 ).

Misogi is an ancient ritual that purifies both body and soul rooted in Shinto. The main intention of the misogi is to break the self-limiting beliefs we carry around, and tap into hidden potential we didn't realize we have. Pushes, blocks and a kick were used in this section. Started with punching then adding blocks, body movement and a kick. Started simply and added on from there.

Long time friend of Saisho and Katy Sensei Dave Ansell, Nanadan Kyoshi took the a session of iaido. Over the past few years the ZNKR have been looking at the first 4 seitei katas to enable them to be done from a standing position. Altough there is no formal standardisation at the moment Sensei went through these ensuring that the 4 basic elements of iaido, namely nukitsuke, furikaburi, kirioroshi & noto were adhered to correctly. Sensei continued and chose a couple of Muso Shinden Okuden Tachi Waza katas to end his time.

Sensei Mike Clapham took the final session of the day and chose to practiced Kosokonshiho kata. The kata was chosen because although its quite a long kata it's full of basics and most people hadn't done it before. Sensei was surprised at how quickly everyone managed to pick it up, which was great as it provided him with the opportunity to pick out some of the trickier moves to focus more attention on ie stances posture and timing.

The feet of a Passmore graced the mat once more in the guise of Tilly and her son Josh. Not the first time Tilly was on the mat at Budokan, it was for Josh. Throughout their time on the mat they were supervised by Sensei Darren Waghorne. This included iaido with bokken. During the final session Sensei, instead of potentially getting lost in the kata, took them both trough some further karate basics including using himself as a punching bag. Afterwards Sensei Darren said "it was great to be hit by a Passmore again!"

After the seminar, and continuing the tradition, all adjourned to a pub, The Chequers Inn for some food and drink

Katy Passmore In Memorandum

It is with the utmost sadness that we announce the passing of Katy Passmore, on November 30th 2025.

For the last few months Katy has been battling a illness, which led to complications with her treatment.

She passed away peacefully at Oakhaven Hospice, in the company of her family.

It goes without saying that Katy was much loved and highly respected, not only within Budokan, but by all who knew her in the wider community.

She will be greatly missed.

Katy's funeral will take place on Friday January 9th at 12:00 at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, 11 Park Ln, Milford on Sea, Lymington SO41 0PT.

Following the service, Katy will be buried with Hanshi at New Milton, Milford Road Cemetery BH25 6PN.

All are invited.

It was Katy's wish that people wear bright clothing.

Any flowers you may wish to bring can be presented at the cemetery, cards of sympathy handed personally to family members.

DAVID PETER PASSMORE

16.04.46 - 23.10.24

A very honourable time was had at the Flag Ceremony, with the help of Sensei Dave Ansell, Sensei Joe Bracone, Sensei Mike Clapham.

Hanshi Passmore would have been delighted in the attention and due diligence that what shown by all.

Budokan Flag Ceremony on 21st June

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.

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.

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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.

ZEN IS NOT BUDDHISM

SHORT EVOLUTION OF JAPANESE MARTIAL ARTS

ON THE PRINCIPLES OF AIKIDO

INTERESTING FACTS ON HISTORY OF MARTIAL ARTS

TRADITIONAL MARTIAL ARTS V MARTIAL SPORTS

ANALYSIS OF KICKING TECHNIQUES IN KARATE

PHILOSOPHY AND TOKUGAWA BUSHIDO

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

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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.