Eight Dan Grading Passes (!!) at the JKA WF England 2024 International Spring Camp: 10th – 12th May

27 members of Cambridge Karate Dojo attended the JKA WF England International Spring Camp at Windsor Leisure Centre for an excellent weekend of karate with Kawasoe sensei (Chief Instructor, JKA WF England), Naito sensei (JKA WF Italy) and Izumiya sensei (JKA Honbu Dojo). We had three sessions with Izumiya sensei going through Bassai-Dai, Jion and Hangetsu, which were simply incredible in the high technicality of the teaching. Those who were there also saw me getting a bit of battering! (Was honoured to be battered 😂 See for example the video below.)

The big news is that we had eight out of eight grading passes! You did us proud. They were:

Joe Gaughan – 4th Dan JKA & JTKI
Simon Apen-Sadler – 4th Dan JKA & JTKI
Tamara Kissling – 4th Dan JKA & JTKI
Max Ratcliffe – 2nd Dan JKA & JTKI
Brittany Wall – 2nd Dan JKA & JTKI
Loizon Katsaras – 1st Dan JKA & JTKI
Salman Tamaddon-Jahromi – 1st Dan JKA & JTKI
Christian Nicolajsen – 1st Dan JKA & JTKI

A huge well done to everyone!

22-28 April 2024 – Japan Tour Part 2: Okinawan Karate and Sightseeing

The amazing trip in Okinawa continued onto the second week! We were extremely priviledged to be able to experience some Okinawan karate with the masters everyday. For photos and videos, click here. The remaining time was spent visiting Shuri Castle, the Karate Museum, Kokusai Dori, Former Japanese Navy Underground Headquarters, the American Village, Okinawa World, Urasoe Castle Ruins, the Peace Memorial Park, as well as a dip at the Naminoue Beach.

15-21 April 2024 – Japan Tour Part 1: Honbu Dojo, Okinawa Gasshuku and Grading Success!

6 members from Cambridge (Ken, Joe, Simon, Alex, Karen and Max) joined four others from the JSKE family to travel to Japan on a karate tour. The tour started in Tokyo, where on Monday 15th the team attended the lunch time session at Honbu Dojo taught by Ogane Sensei, focussing on weight transfer between legs in all stances. Then on Tuesday they visited Naka Sensei’s dojo, Taishijuku. Naka Sensei comes up with new ideas everytime we train with him! On Wednesday the team flew to Okinawa, where they joined 200 other JKA members from 33 countries to attend the four day 2024 Spring International Gasshuku, this year held at Budokan in Naka, Okinawa for the first time. The teaching was utterly incredible, taught by Senseis Oishi, Ogura, Imamura, Imaizumi, Naka, Hirayama, Okuma, Kurihara and Ogane. By the end of the week the members were all totally exhausted but extremely happy! The highlight of the week was the grading pass on Thursday:

Ken Hori, 6th Dan JKA

As you can imagine, the celebration went late into the Okinawan night!

3rd JSKE Spring Course: Saturday 16th March 2024

28 from Cambridge travelled down to Queensmead Sports Centre in South Ruislip, London, to attend the 3rd JSKE Spring Course to train with Sensei Masao Kawasoe, the Chief Instructor of JKA WF England. Everyone trained with Sensei Kawasoe in the first session, where the emphasis was on the importance of hip vibration, relaxation and hikite. In the second session, the lower grades trained with Sensei Roy and Sensei Ken, while the higher grades had a session on kumite and Nijushiho. It was a wonderful day training with Sensei and friends!

Kyu Grading News: Saturday 9th March 2024

81 trained and 59 students took and passed their kyu grading today (50 from Cambridge Karate Dojo and 9 from Cambridge University Karate Club) (both record!) with Sensei Roy Tomlin MBE. Many congratulations to those below, and especially to Scott and Indi who double-graded!

10 February 2024 – Sensei Tom Kompier Course

We had an insightful afternoon of training with Tom Kompier sensei, 7th Dan WTKO. Tom sensei was Cambridge University Karate Club’s Men’s Captain in 1993/94, after which he lived and trained in Japan, joining the famous JKA Instructors Course in 1998. In 2000 he was the KWF World Kumite Champion. Nearly 50 members from Cambridge Karate Dojo, CUKC and clubs in Hertfordshire and Essex joined the course at Kelsey Kerridge. Tom sensei focussed on the use of hips in tsuki, uke and keri, as well as explanations of how muscles are used in different techniques (my favourite – “Don’t use the hamstring. Let the hamstring use you.”) We look forward to having Tom sensei back in Cambridge!

3 February 2024 – JSKE Referees Course

Ten members of Cambridge Karate Dojo joined many others at the first JSKE Referees Course at the University of Hertfordshire Sports Village, taught by Sensei Roy and Sensei Ken. It was the first time for many to try out refereeing! Well done everyone.

3 January 2024 – Special New Year Kata Session

Sensei Andy Arnold (4th Dan, Haverhill & Saffron Walden Shotokan Karate Club) took us through a non-Shotokan kata called Tomari-Bassai. It was extremely interesting to learn a new kata and how its techniques are applicable in a real fight situation. For those interested here is the kata being performed by former World Karate Kata Champion Rika Usami. Here is a slower version which might be easier to see the moves.

Stats for 2023

Stats for 2023:

• We trained a total of 136 times.
• 194 students trained at least once including visitors (up from 177 in 2022), 108 trained 10 or more times (85 in 2022).
• Karen trained the most (105 times) and Loizos the close second (103). However as Loizos often trains both sessions on Saturdays, I am awarding the students of the year to both. Other notable students were: Inan (98), Salman (91), Julian (87), Patricia (85) and Chris (79). Thank you all for your loyalty!
• 106 members hold current JKA licences. I am quite confident that the number of active members has now reached 100 (up from about 80 in 2022).
• We held three kyu gradings. 73 students graded at least once (up from 46 in 2022).

Highlights of the year:

• March: we had a very successful inter-club competition with Zanshin North Herts SKA. A total of 52 students competed, 29 from Cambridge.
• March: a week later, 22 of us joined 110 others at the second JSKE Spring Course with Kawasoe sensei.
• April: Julian and I attended the Honbu Dojo Spring Gasshuku in Tokyo.
• April: Three Dan grading passes at the JKA WF England International Spring Camp in Windsor with Taniyama sensei and Kawasoe sensei. 12 from Cambridge attended the weekend course.
• Aug: Two more Dan grading passes at the JKA WF Scotland International Summer Camp in Paisley with Kawasoe sensei and Naito sensei. Seven of us attended.
• Aug: Over 70 karate-kas from across England as well as countries from Europe came together for the Matthew Last Memorial Seminar. The teaching was shared between Scott Langley sensei of HDKI and Ken sensei.
• Oct: Eight from Cambridge attended the JKA Munich Gasshuku with the incredible Naka sensei.

Finally, the most improved student award goes to… Daniel Osbourne. Well done Daniel!

27 December 2023 – Special Christmas Kata Session

22 members attended the special Christmas kata session including Nikos (Loizos and Antiopi’s dad) from Rhodes Island! We went through all 25 JKA katas, once with count and once without. That’s kata 50 times! Well done to all, and especially to kyu grades who kept going with Heian katas. The event was celebrated with a pint at Prince Regent’s.

16 December 2023 – Club Christmas Dinner!

Thank you for all those who came to the club Christmas Dinner at Brewdog. It was a great night! And thank you to Sensei Joe for organising it. Below are some photos.

Kyu Grading News: Saturday 2nd December 2023

A total of 78 students trained and a record 56 students took and passed their kyu grading today! (45 from Cambridge Karate Dojo, 10 from Cambridge University Karate Club and 1 from Zanshin North Herts SKA.) Special congratulations to Antonio, Noriko, Vincent and Emma who double-graded.

As ever a big thank you to Sensei Roy Tomlin MBE for the informational sessions. Here are some photos:

27-29 October 2023 – Cambridge visits JKA Munich Gasshuku

Eight members of Cambridge Karate Dojo plus two family members (Ken, Joe, Julian, Chris, Chris’s son Charlie, Simon, Max R, Loizos and Loizos’s Dad Nikolas), together with six other members of JSKE, travelled to Munich for a wonderful weekend of karate with Tatsuya Naka Sensei, 7th Dan from Honbu Dojo. This included amazing teaching on how to use breathing and centre of gravity to move and execute techniques, demonstrated using Heian Sandan, Jion, Tekki Shodan, Hangetsu and Sochin. There was also a highly interesting theory session explaining principles of Budo. Pictures below make it look like we did more drinking than training, but believe me, we trained exceptionally hard and the beer was well-deserved!
(Thank you Frank Debacher for the lovely photos.)

昨日の最終稽古は「半月」で呼吸を練り「壮鎮」に活かす❗ pic.twitter.com/9oXhPj3g3x

— 中達也 (@jkatatsuyanaka) October 30, 2023

23 September 2023 – Thank you card from Arthur Rank Hospice

We received a lovely thank you card from Arthur Rank Hospice for the money we raised at the Matthew Last Memorial Seminar:

26 August 2023 – Matthew Last Memorial Seminar

Over 70 attended the seminar in memory of our dear friend Matthew Last, which took place at Kelsey Kerridge Sports Centre in Cambridge. There were people from Ireland, France, Holland, Sweden and across England, including many clubs around Cambridge. Many more joined on Zoom, from places as far away as Denmark, Finland, Mauritius and China. It was Matthew’s long standing dream to bring HDKI and Cambridge Karate Dojo together in a dojo, and this dream finally came true today. Jane (Matthew’s wife) made a moving speech, which was followed by an award of 3rd Dan HDKI to Matthew by Scott Langley sensei. There were two sessions, the first by Scott sensei and the second by Ken sensei, forcussing on the technicality of body movements in how to generate maximum power in techniques. There was also a speech by the founder of FairFight, a charity that Matthew supported generously. It was really great to see so many people, who have had the priviledge of sharing karate lives with Matthew, enjoy training together, irrespective of their associations. Matthew would have been so proud of this day.

This was followed by a dinner at Little Petra in the evening, where 33 people shared more memories together.

We raised £1,404 in total, which will be donated to FairFight and Arthur Rank Hospice.

Matthew, this day was for you.

For more photos, please click here. Thank you Joe Cotton for the photos. A selection are below.

Two Dan Grading Passes at the JKA WF Scotland 2023 International Summer Camp: 18th – 20th August

Seven from Cambridge Karate Dojo (Julian, Karen, Chris, Chris’s son Charlie, Michael, Max R and myself), together with seven other members of JSKE attended the JKA WF Scotland International Spring Camp at Lagoon Leisure Centre in Paisley for a weekend of great training with Kawasoe sensei and Naito sensei (JKA Italy). We did so many kicks…! We also had a lovely evening out in Glasgow.

Many congratulations to the two members who passed their Dan grading on the Saturday:

Julian Hall – 3rd Dan JKA & JTKI
Chris Pratten – 2nd Dan JKA & JTKI

Well deserved after months of hard training!

26 June 2023 – Sad News

It is with great sadness that I bring the news of our friend Matthew Last who passed away this morning. Matthew first attended training with Cambridge Karate Dojo back in January 2017, as his then association WTKO did not have a club in Cambridge. Over the next 6 years, Matthew trained with us as well as with Scott Langley Sensei of HDKI, with the highlight being visiting Japan with HDKI in October last year. Matthew was a true gentleman who always tried his best. Our thoughts are with his wife Jane and his children, Tom and Rosie.

17 June 2023 – Johanna wins two golds at JKA England Nationals!

Johanna, competing for Oxford University Karate Club, has won gold in both brown belt individual kumite and individual kata categories at the JKA England National Championships at K2, Crawley. Well done Johanna!

Kyu Grading News: Saturday 3rd June 2023

A total of 61 students trained and a record 44 students took and passed their kyu grading today! Special congratulations to Myron and Daniel who double-graded.

Loizos Katsaras, 1st kyu
Christian Nicolajsen, 1st kyu
Salman Tamaddon-Jahromi, 1st kyu
Henry Eriksson-Martin, 2nd kyu
Elif Ekici, 2nd kyu
Momoko Hirai, 2nd kyu
Andrew Grieve, 3rd kyu
Dylan Grieve, 3rd kyu
Jessie Hills, 3rd kyu
Isabella Maqueira Ferrari, 3rd kyu
Jerome Maloberti, 3rd kyu
Louis Saito-Malberti, 3rd kyu
Peter Munn, 4th kyu
Eren Ekici, 4th kyu
Andrea Manrique-Rincon, 4th kyu
Gemma Chandratillake, 4th kyu
Nuwan Chandratillake, 4th kyu
Martha Barlow, 4th kyu
George Barlow, 4th kyu
Josh Gray, 5th kyu
Simrah Chowdhury, 5th kyu
Fabian Mahmud, 5th kyu
Ryuko Aoki, 5th kyu
Minako Sweeney, 6th kyu
Naohiro Harima, 6th kyu
Rohan Chandratillake, 6th kyu
Flavia Lemole, 7th kyu
Saikat Chowdhury, 7th kyu
Jakub Chudziak, 7th kyu
Ryotaro Harima, 7th kyu
Sarah Harima, 7th kyu
Adam Skidelsky Gaathon, 7th kyu
Avigael Skidelsky Gaathon, 7th kyu
Lucy Tei Barrett, 8th kyu
Victor Jurado Baviera, 8th kyu
Hana Azuma, 8th kyu
Kaho Hirai, 8th kyu
Myron Sukhanov, 8th kyu (double grade)
Daniel Osborne, 8th kyu (double grade)
Katherine Gwilt, 9th kyu
Mingzhu Tei, 9th kyu
Antiopi Katsaras, 9th kyu
Michalis Spyrou, 9th kyu
Nicholas Taylor, 9th kyu

Many congratulations also to the following two senseis who passed their coaching licence:

Julian Hall, 2nd Dan
Juan Pablo Narváez Gómez, 2nd Dan

A big thank you to Sensei Roy Tomlin MBE for excellent sessions. Here are the before and after photos:

Three Dan Grading Passes at the JKA WF England 2023 International Spring Camp: 28th – 30th April!

Twelve members of Cambridge Karate Dojo (Joe, Inan, Juan Pablo, Karen, Jessie, Patricia, Peter, Ernesto, Johanna, Michael, Adrian and myself) attended the JKA WF England International Spring Camp at Windsor Leisure Centre for a weekend of hard training with Kawasoe sensei (Chief Instructor, JKA WF England) and Taniyama sensei (JKA Honbu Dojo). The teaching was incredible, going back to basics and building upon it for kumite.

Many congratulations to the following three members who passed their Dan grading on the Saturday!

Ken Hori – 6th Dan JTKI
Karen Hills – 2nd Dan JKA & JTKI
Patricia Ricamara – 1st Dan JKA & JTKI

What a fantastic weekend that was!

Report on JKA website here.

20-23 April 2023 – Cambridge visits JKA Honbu Dojo Spring Gasshuku

Two members of Cambridge Karate Dojo (Ken and Julian) travelled to Tokyo for the 2023 JKA Honbu Dojo Spring Gasshuku (Camp). They joined 400 attendees (of which 230 were from outside Japan) for four days of incredible training with Honbu instructors including Senseis Ueki, Imura, Ogura, Shiina, Taniyama, Kobayashi, Shimizu, Kurihara and Hakizume. Ken sensei was also able to visit Hoitsugan Dojo, which was Nakayama Sensei’s private dojo, Naka Sensei’s dojo (and for the drink afterwards!) and Enoeda Sensei’s grave. All in all Ken sensei trained 11 sessions in 6 days!

2nd JSKE Spring Course: Saturday 18th March 2023

22 of us travelled down to University of Hertfordshire Sports Village to attend the 2nd JSKE Spring Course, and joined over 130 karatekas from across the country to train with Sensei Masao Kawasoe, the Chief Instructor of JKA WF England, Sensei Roy Tomlin MBE and Sensei Ken. It was a highly successful day!

Thank you Tina Wing Photography for the official photos here and for the video below!

Inter-Club Competition: Saturday 11th March 2023

A total of 52 students (29 from Cambridge) competed in the first Inter-Club Competition with Cambridge Karate Dojo and Zanshin North Herts SKA. An amazing effort from all those who competed, including junior and lower grade competitors! A big thank you also to the referees: Sensei Mick, Soren, Jon, Julian, Chris, Malcolm and Bill who was our first aider.

Results

Kyu Grading News: Saturday 18th February 2023

A record 31 students took and passed their kyu grading today!

Loizos Katsaras, 2nd kyu
Felipe Puccioni, 3rd kyu
Henry Eriksson-Martin, 3rd kyu
Elif Ekici, 3rd kyu
Joe Cotton, 3rd kyu
Lucas Madge, 3rd kyu
Andrew Grieve, 4th kyu
Dylan Grieve, 4th kyu
Jessie Hills, 4th kyu
Isabella Maqueira Ferrari, 4th kyu
Peter Munn, 5th kyu
Eren Ekici, 5th kyu
Ahileas Buka-Perez, 5th kyu
Oskar Piotrowski, 5th kyu
Josh Gray, 6th kyu
Simrah Chowdhury, 6th kyu
Fabian Mahmud, 6th kyu
Ryuko Aoki, 6th kyu
Minako Sweeney, 7th kyu
Naohiro Harima, 7th kyu
Braudel Maqueira, 8th kyu
Flavia Lemole, 8th kyu
Saikat Chowdhury, 8th kyu
Jakub Chudziak, 8th kyu
Ryotaro Harima, 8th kyu
Sarah Harima, 8th kyu
Kyle Coveny, 8th kyu
Lucy Tei Barrett, 9th kyu
Audrey Bouttier, 9th kyu
Victor Jurado Baviera, 9th kyu
Hana Azuma, 9th kyu

A big thank you to Sensei Roy Tomlin MBE for excellent sessions. Here are the before and after photos:

JSKE Spring Course 2023

We are absolutely delighted to announce that Sensei Masao Kawasoe, 8th Dan JKA and the Chief Instructor of JKA WF England, has agreed to come and instruct at our second JSKE Spring Course on 18th March! This year the venue is University of Hertfordshire Sports Village. For more details and to register, please go here. Scroll down for some great pictures and a video from JSKE Spring Course 2022.

Stats for 2022

Stats for 2022:

• We trained a total of 144 times.
• 177 students trained at least once (up from 110 in 2021), 85 trained more than 10 times.
• We have joint winners for the students of the year – Inan and Patricia, who both trained 107 times. Great effort!
• 109 members now hold JKA licences (up from 61 in 2021). The number of active members is above 80.
• We held three kyu gradings. 46 students graded at least once (up from 26 in 2021).

Highlights of the year:

• March: 28 of us joined over 100 others at the first JSKE Spring Course with Kawasoe sensei
• May: 5 Dan grading passes at the JKA WF England International Spring Camp in Windsor
• Nov: 3 of us attended the JKA Malta International Camp
• Nov: We celebrated our 5 year anniversary!
• Dec: 7 from Cambridge attended the JKA France Christmas Camp with Naka sensei and Ogane sensei

I’m going to give the most improved student award to two students this year: Peter Munn and Josh Gray. Well done to both!

Here’s to a great 2023!

9-11 December 2022 – Cambridge visits JKA France Christmas Camp

Seven members of Cambridge Karate Dojo (Ken, Joe, Bill, Julian, Sammy, Patricia and Johanna) travelled to La Roche-sur-Yon for the amazing 2022 JKA France Christmas Camp. There were incredible sessions by Tatsutya Naka Sensei 7th Dan, Yutaro Ogane Sensei 4th Dan and Daniel Lautier Sensei 7th Dan. You will see some of what we learned in the training at Cambridge soon!

November 2022 – Happy 5 Year Anniversary Cambridge Karate Dojo!

Cambridge Karate Dojo originates back to March 2014 when my eldest, Meggie, asked me if I could teach her karate for her Duke of Edinburgh. So Meggie (14), her brother Tommy (12) and I started to meet on Saturdays in the Lower Hall at St Andrew’s Street Baptist Church. In October that year we were joined by their two sibblings, Sammy (10) and Elsie (7), and Meggie’s friend Zoe who was also doing DofE. This continued weekly until January 2017, when I decided to test the market by doing a 4 week course at Mayfield Primary School (picture). 8 new people came, including Bill, Inan, Julian, Matthew and Tom A. Whilst I was still dithering about opening up the club more widely, Inan just kept turning up to Lower Hall! The word then began to spread and in September two other people insisted that they would join, so the club was finally officially opened to the public on 3 November 2017 with a membership of 13. This month we celebrate our 5 year anniversary, with over 100 JKA licencees (and over 80 active members). A big thank you to all your support for the past 5 years!

4 – 6 November 2022 – JKA Malta International Gasshuku 2022

Sensei Ken was invited to teach at the JKA Malta International Gasshuku with Sensei Roy Tomlin MBE and Sensei Dario Chircop (5th Dan, Chief Instructor of JKA Malta). Two members of Cambridge Karate Dojo, Karen Hills and Valerio Preite, travelled with Sensei Ken, together with members from Lewisham Shotokan Karate Centre and Zanshin North Herts Shotokan Karate Academy. We had an amazing weekend training and making new friends!

More Kyu Grading News: Saturday 29th October 2022

We beat the record again – 30 students took and passed their kyu grading today!

Loizos Katsaras, 3rd kyu
Jerome Maloberti, 4th kyu
Felipe Puccioni, 4th kyu
Henry Eriksson-Martin, 4th kyu
Elif Ekici, 4th kyu
Andrea Manrique-Rincon, 5th kyu
Gemma Chandratillake, 5th kyu
Nuwan Chandratillake, 5th kyu
Andrew Grieve, 5th kyu
Dylan Grieve, 5th kyu
Peter Munn, 6th kyu
Martha Barlow, 6th kyu
George Barlow, 6th kyu
Eren Ekici, 6th kyu
Ahileas Buka-Perez, 6th kyu
Oskar Piotrowski, 6th kyu
Josh Gray, 7th kyu
Simrah Chowdhury, 7th kyu
Fabian Mahmud, 7th kyu
Rohan Chandratillake, 7th kyu
Ryuko Aoki, 7th kyu
Adam Prada, 7th kyu
Yuemeng Xing, 7th kyu
Minako Sweeney, 8th kyu
Adam Skidelsky Gaathon, 8th kyu
Avigael Skidelsky Gaathon, 8th kyu
Braudel Maqueira, 9th kyu
Flavia Lemole, 9th kyu
Saikat Chowdhury, 9th kyu
Jakub Chudziak, 9th kyu

Well done all! Here are the before and after photos:

Kyu Grading News: Saturday 18th June 2022

A record 29 students took and passed their kyu grading after excellent training sessions with Sensei Roy Tomlin 6th Dan:

Johanna Hoffmann, 3rd kyu
Louis Saito-Maloberti, 4th kyu
Jerome Maloberti, 5th kyu
Felipe Puccioni, 5th kyu
Henry Eriksson-Martin, 5th kyu
Elif Ekici, 5th kyu
Jessie Hill, 5th kyu
Isabella Maqueira Ferrari, 5th kyu
Andrea Manrique-Rincon, 6th kyu
Gemma Chandratillake, 6th kyu
Nuwan Chandratillake, 6th kyu
Andrew Grieve, 6th kyu
Dylan Grieve, 6th kyu
Sadig Sadigli, 6th kyu
Peter Munn, 7th kyu
Martha Barlow, 7th kyu
George Barlow, 7th kyu
Eren Ekici, 7th kyu
Ahileas Buka-Perez, 7th kyu
Oskar Piotrowski, 7th kyu
Josh Gray, 8th kyu
Simrah Chowdhury, 8th kyu
Fabian Mahmud, 8th kyu
Rohan Chandratillake, 8th kyu
Ryuko Aoki, 8th kyu (double grade)
Minako Sweeney, 9th kyu
Tim Dinan de St Malo, 9th kyu
Kyle Coveny, 9th kyu
Henry Behjati Tate, 9th kyu

Well done all!

Sensei Ken at Karate@Home: 22nd May 2022

Sensei Ken was invited to teach at Karate@Home on Facebook live for the second time. It was viewed nearly 2,000 times within 24 hours!

Five Dan Grading Passes at the JKA WF England 2022 International Spring Camp: 6th – 8th May!

Twelve of us travelled down to Windsor for a weekend full of karate training with Sensei Kawasoe (Chief Instructor, JKA WF England) and Sensei Naito (Chief Instructor, JKA Italy), joining members also from countries including Ireland, Germany and Norway. It was a great opportunity to make new friends in the new association.

On the Saturday was the Dan grading and five of our members passed their gradings!

Michael Pal – 3rd Dan
Inan Ekici – 2nd Dan
Juan Pablo Narváez Gómez – 2nd Dan
Sergio Martin Alvarez – 1st Dan
Sammy Hori – 1st Dan

Well done to all!

Sensei Ken at Karate@Home: 3rd April 2022

Sensei Ken was invited to teach at Karate@Home on Facebook live!

1st JSKE Spring Course: Saturday 19th March 2022

What a fabulously successful day! 28 of us travelled down to AIM North London to attend the 1st JSKE Spring Course, and joined over 100 other karatekas from across the country to train with Sensei Masao Kawasoe, the Chief Instructor of JKA WF England, Sensei Roy Tomlin MBE, Sensei Stew Brown and Sensei Ken. There were also grading successes! Well done Fei, Henry and Adam.

Fei Yuan, 2nd kyu
Henry Eriksson-Martin, 6th kyu
Adam Prada, 9th kyu

Thank you Tina Wing Photography for the video below. There are a lot of photos here.

Kyu Grading News: Saturday 19th February 2022

An excellent day of training and grading with Sensei Roy Tomlin MBE, 6th Dan. A record 25 students took and passed their kyu grading:

Patricia Ricamara, 1st kyu
Joe Cotton, 4th kyu
Johanna Hoffmann, 4th kyu
Elif Ekici, 6th kyu
Jessie Hill, 6th kyu
Isabella Maqueira Ferrari, 6th kyu
Andrea Manrique-Rincon, 7th kyu
Nuwan Chandratillake, 7th kyu
Andrew Grieve, 7th kyu
Dylan Grieve, 7th kyu
Sadig Sadigli, 7th kyu
Rob Kerr, 8th kyu
Atlas Kerr, 8th kyu
Martha Barlow, 8th kyu
George Barlow, 8th kyu
Eren Ekici, 8th kyu
Ahileas Buka-Perez, 8th kyu
Oskar Piotrowski, 8th kyu
Peter Munn, 8th kyu (double grade)
Adam Skidelsky Gaathon, 9th kyu
Avigael Skidelsky Gaathon, 9th kyu
Josh Gray, 9th kyu
Simrah Chowdhury, 9th kyu
Fabian Mahmud, 9th kyu
Rohan Chandratillake, 9th kyu

Well done all!

JSKE Spring Course 2022

We are absolutely delighted to announce that Sensei Masao Kawasoe, 8th Dan JKA and the Chief Instructor of JKA WF England, has agreed to come and instruct at our first JSKE Spring Course on 19th March! For more details and to register, please go here.

Some Stats

Some stats for 2021:

• We trained a total of 163 times, 77 on Zoom, 81 in halls and 4 at the park.
• A total of 110 students trained at least once (up from 83 in 2020).
• 4 students (apart from Joe sensei) trained more than 100 times: Inan (127), Julian (103), Henry (101), Juan Pablo (100). Amazing effort!
• We joined JKA WF England in January. 61 members now hold JKA licences. The club membership is now about 70 (up from just below 50 in 2020), of which over 20 are Dan grades.
• We held two kyu gradings. 26 students graded at least once.

Also over the COVID lockdown period March 2020 – July 2021:

• We trained a total of 179 times on Zoom.
• We had students joining from Hertford, Ipswich, Cornwall, Paris, Germany, Italy, Spain and Washington DC (the last, Gena & Bert, 49 times!)
• 6 students (again apart from Joe sensei) trained more than 100 times on Zoom: Inan (153), Julian (136), Andy R (136), Juan Pablo (128), Joelle (110) and Sergio (108).

So the student of the year award goes to Inan, and I’m going to give the most improved student prize to… Sadig Sadigli. Well done to both.

We look forward to more great training in 2022!

Kyu Grading News: Saturday 30th October 2021

A fantastic day of training and grading with Sensei Roy Tomlin MBE, 6th Dan. A record 23 students took and passed their kyu grading:

Fei Yuan, 3rd kyu
Joe Cotton, 5th kyu
Louis Saito-Maloberti, 5th kyu
Jerome Maloberti, 6th kyu
Beatriz Jimenez Martin, 7th kyu
Henry Eriksson-Martin, 7th kyu
Gemma Chandratillake, 7th kyu
Elif Ekici, 7th kyu
Jessie Hill, 7th kyu
Isabella Maqueira Ferrari, 7th kyu
Andrea Manrique-Rincon, 8th kyu
Nuwan Chandratillake, 8th kyu
Andrew Grieve, 8th kyu
Dylan Grieve, 8th kyu
Sadig Sadigli, 8th kyu (double grade)
Rob Kerr, 9th kyu
Atlas Kerr, 9th kyu
Mateus Patricio, 9th kyu
Martha Barlow, 9th kyu
George Barlow, 9th kyu
Eren Ekici, 9th kyu
Ahileas Buka-Perez, 9th kyu
Oskar Piotrowski, 9th kyu

Well deserved after really hard training in recent weeks!

Kyu Grading News: Saturday 5th June 2021

We welcomed Sensei Roy Tomlin MBE, 6th Dan to Cambridge for two hours of hard training followed by the grading. Congratulations to all fourteen who passed their kyu grading:

Elinor Smith, 1st kyu
Janice Ebbutt, 1st kyu
Joelle Cyr, 4th kyu
Joe Cotton, 6th kyu
Louis Saito-Maloberti, 6th kyu
Jerome Maloberti, 7th kyu
Beatriz Jimenez Martin, 8th kyu
Henry Eriksson-Martin, 8th kyu (double grade)
Gemma Chandratillake, 8th kyu (double grade)
Elif Ekici, 8th kyu (double grade)
Andrea Manrique-Rincon, 9th kyu
Nuwan Chandratillake, 9th kyu
Andrew Grieve, 9th kyu
Dylan Grieve, 9th kyu

Well done to you all after so many months of Zoom training!

Update – May 2021

I am very pleased to confirm that we have resumed dojo training on Fridays and Saturdays at St Andrew’s Street Baptist Church and the YMCA from 21st May. The sessions will be restricted in numbers. On Saturdays I will be running two sessions (an hour each) so as many people as possible can train. The Monday session will continue on Zoom until we are completely out of lockdown. Please check here for the latest schedule. The booking system is up and running again.

Update – April 2021

(1) The venues have informed us that we should be back in halls after 17th May! In the meantime we are beginning outdoor trainings (weather permitting). Please check here for the latest schedule.
(2) The kyu grading is provisionally booked for Saturday 5th June. This is very exciting. More details to follow soon.

Update – March 2021

(1) There will be no training over the Easter Weekend, Please check here for the latest schedule.
(2) With the latest Road Map to end of lockdown, the current plan is to start trying some outdoor training after 12th April (weather-permitting). We are hoping to be back in dojos after 17th May when hopefully the venues reopen.

New Start – February 2021

After our expulsion from Japan Karate Association England in 2020, we are very pleased to announce that Cambridge Karate Dojo have joined the Japan Karate Association World Federation England (JKAWFE), headed by the world famous Sensei Masao Kawasoe, 8^th Dan.

Cambridge Karate Dojo, along with Lewisham SKC have formed Japan Shotokan Karate England (JSKE), which sits within JKAWFE.

Sensei Roy and I are looking forward with considerable optimism to what the future holds for our clubs and JSKE.

Update – January 2021

Happy New Year to all! Unfortunately we’re back to Zoom sessions four times a week while we are under national lockdown. They will be on Mondays at 6pm (advanced), Wednesdays at 6pm (kata), Fridays at 6pm (non-beginner grades) and Saturdays at 11am (beginners). Please go to training page for the schedule and the Zoom links.

Update – December 2020

We’re back in Dojo! Still on Zoom for Mondays at 6-7pm (advanced) and Wednesdays at 6-7pm (kata), but we’re back at St Andrew’s Street Baptist Church Upper Hall (Fridays at 7-8.30pm) and the YMCA (Saturdays at 10am-12noon). Please go to training page for detail.

Update – November 2020

We’re back to Zoom sessions four times a week during the national lockdown period. They will be on Mondays at 6pm (advanced), Wednesdays at 6pm (kata), Fridays at 6pm (non-beginner grades) and Saturdays (beginners). Please go to training page for the schedule and the Zoom links.

Update – October 2020

We’ve had a great start to Autumn 2020! Whilst we are still under the threat of a new lockdown, we have been training at St Andrew’s Street Baptist Church Upper Hall (Fridays) and the YMCA (Saturdays) for many weeks now, as well as on Zoom on Mondays and Wednesdays. And we have had 15 new people since the beginning of September! Mostly beginners, but also some Kyu grades and a Dan grade. Welcome to you all, I hope you will enjoy studying karate as much as we do!

If anyone is interested in starting karate, please contact me here.

Zoom Session continues under Coronavirus Lockdown

Cambridge Karate Dojo continues its training three/four times a week over Zoom with 20 – 25 students at each session. Good effort Cambridge!

Kyu Grading Successes! Saturday 14th March

Thirteen members from Cambridge Karate Dojo joined Stevenage JKA Karate Club for some serious training with Sensei Roy Tomlin MBE, 6th Dan. Congratulations for the six who passed their kyu grading:

Loizos Katsaras, 4th kyu
Joelle Cyr, 5th kyu
Joe Cotton, 7th kyu
Louis Saito-Maloberti, 7th kyu
Jerome Maloberti, 8th kyu
Beatriz Jimenez Martin, 9th kyu

Ken sensei was very proud of you all!

Burns Night Club Social!

Several of us enjoyed a drink or two at BrewDog celebrating Burns Night. Here is Joe earning us free food and drinks by doing his Scottish accent!

24 November 2019 – Sensei Ken at the Third JKA England North Regions Open Course

Ken sensei was invited by Rotherham JKA Karate Club for the third time this year to teach an open course for JKAE North Region at Hoyland Leisure Centre in Barnsley. Please see here for the promotion video for the course!

Five passes out of five! 15 – 17 November 2019 – JKA Europe Seminar in Brussels

Five members of Cambridge Karate Dojo attended the 2019 JKA Europe Seminar in Brussels. This is a large event held every other year, which this year was attended by nearly 500 JKA karatekas from all over Europe. It was a great opportunity to train with Ueki Shuseki Shihan (10th Dan, JKA HQ), Ogura Sensei (8th Dan, JKA HQ) and Bura Sensei (8th Dan, JKA Europe) over three days, as well as taking Dan gradings and international qualifications exams. Cambridge had a particularly successful weekend with five passes out of five!

Joe Gaughan – 3rd Dan Pass
Andy Reeves – 3rd Dan Pass
Juan Pablo Narváez Gómez – 1st Dan Pass
Ken Hori – International Referee B Licence Pass
Zelda Sales – International Instructor D Licence Pass

Well done to all!

1 – 3 November 2019 – JKAE International Winter Gasshuku 2019

Eleven members of Cambridge Karate Dojo attended the 2019 JKAE Winter Gasshuku at K2 Sports Centre in Crawley. Sensei Imamura (8th Dan, JKA HQ), Sensei Kurihara (5th Dan, JKA HQ) and Sensei Ohta provided the incredible teaching over the three days.

Congratulations to those who passed their kyu grading:

Sammy Hori, 1st kyu
Elsie Hori, 1st kyu
Janice Ebbutt, 1st kyu (T)
Elinor Smith, 1st kyu (T)
Louis Saito-Maloberti, 8th kyu
Jerome Maloberti, 9th kyu

Congratulations also to Joe Gaughan who passed his Coaching Assessment test.

18-20 October 2019 – Cambridge visits JKA Scotland

Three members of Cambridge Karate Dojo travelled to Dunfermiline for the 2019 JKA Scotland Gasshuku. There were very insightful teaching by Izumiya Sensei, Ueda Sensei and our very own Ohta Sensei.

22 June 2019 – JKAE National Championships, K2, Crawley

Four of our regular members from Cambridge Karate Dojo competed at the Nationals:

Juan – got through to the second round in both Senior Individual Men’s Kumite and Kata. In kata he lost to the eventual champion.
Max – Veterans Men’s Kumite and Kata, got through to the second round in kata.
David – Senior Individual Men’s Kata
Zelda – Bronze medal in both Senior Ladies Kumite and Kata!

Zelda and Juan were also “loaned” out to Saikyou Karate Club’s Team Kumite team, where they lost in the Semi-Final and received a bronze medal!

11 May 2019 – Sensei Ken at the Second JKA England North Regions Open Course

Ken sensei was invited by Rotherham JKA Karate Club for the second time this year to teach an open course for JKAE North Region at Concord Sports Centre in Sheffield. Over 40 karate-ka attended, including many from non-JKA associations. Third Open Course is already planned in November!

3 – 6 May 2019 – JKAE International Spring Gasshuku 2019

Cambridge took a record number of students to the exhausting but excellent four days of training at the 2019 JKAE Spring Gasshuku at K2 Sports Centre in Crawley. There was an amazing line-up of top instructors: Sensei Ogura (8th Dan, JKA HQ), Sensei Ogane (4th Dan, JKA HQ), Sensei Gneo (7th Dan, JKA Belgium), Sensei Sawada (7th Dan, JKA Belgium) and Sensei Ohta.

We also had six kyu grading successes:

Max Ventura, 1st kyu (cross grade)
Juan Pablo Narváez Gómez, 1st kyu (cross grade)
Janice Ebbutt, 2nd kyu
Sammy Hori, 2nd kyu
Elsie Hori, 2nd kyu
Louis Saito-Maloberti, 9th kyu

Well done everyone!

27 January 2019 – Sensei Ken at JKA England North Regions Open Course

Ken sensei was invited by Rotherham JKA Karate Club to teach an open course for JKAE North Region at Hoyland Leisure Centre in Barnsley. Nearly 60 karate-ka, including many from non-JKA associations, joined a three hour course on kihon and kata. A special thanks to Luis Bastidas sensei who organised the course. Sensei has already been invited back for another course in May!

30 Nov – 2 Dec 2018 – JKAE International Winter Gasshuku 2018

Had great three days in Crawley for the 15th Anniversary JKAE Winter Gasshuku with great teaching by Sensei Imamura (7th Dan), Sensei Hanzaki (7th Dan) and Sensei Ohta at K2 Sports Centre in Crawley.

We now have two new brown belts!
Sammy Hori, 3rd kyu
Elsie Hori, 3rd kyu

3 November 2018 – JKA England Open Championships, K2, Crawley

Five of our regular members from Cambridge Karate Dojo competed at the JKA England Open Championships. This is a high standard competition attended by JKA international competitors, which this year included JKA Scotland, JKA Norway, JKA Malta and JKA Berlin, as well as many competitors from other associations.

Well done to all of our members. No medals but you came home wanting more, which is always a good sign!

Joe – veterans kata: came 5th, missed out on the final by just 0.1 point! Sadly had to pull out of kumite due to injury.
Max – veterans kata and kumite
David – brown belt men’s kata and kumite
Elsie – 10/11/12 yr old green/purple/purple & white kata and kumite
Zelda (competing for Harpenden) – senior women’s kata (lost to European medallist) and kumite (lost to the Norwegian champion)

20-21 October 2018 – Cambridge visits JKA Scotland

Two members of Cambridge Karate Dojo attended the JKA Scotland Gasshuku in Dunfermline. There were excellent teaching by Imura Sensei (seen below doing a handstand!), Kurihara Sensei (current World Kata Champion) and our very own Ohta Sensei.

4 August 2018 – Cambridge visits JKA Malta

Four members of Cambridge Karate Dojo visited JKA Malta in St Julians, Malta, on 4th August. In the soaring heat, Dario Chircop sensei (Chief Instructor of JKA Malta, 5th Dan) and Ken sensei shared the teaching, broken up by many water breaks!

23 June 2018 – JKAE National Championships, K2, Crawley

Three of our regular members from Cambridge Karate Dojo competed at the Nationals:
Joe – veterans kata: performed Jion in the last 8 but did not quite make it through to the last four; veterans kumite: lost in the last 8 to the eventual winner.

Max – veterans kata: did not get through to the last four; veterans kumite: a combination of luck of draws meant he found himself in the SF; fought valiantly but lost, received a bronze medal.

Zelda – Senior ladies kata – performed Kanku-dai in the last 8 but did not get through to the last 4; Senior ladies kumite – fought a good fight against the eventual winner (World Championships Team Kumite twice silver medalist) in SF, received a bronze medal.

May 2018 – JKAE International Spring Gasshuku 2018

Had fabulous four days in Crawley for the 15th Anniversary JKAE Gasshuku. Senseis Imura (7th Dan), Kobayashi (7th Dan) and Mai Shiina (4th Dan – the current World Kumite Champion) from JKA HQ and Sensei Sawada (7th Dan) from JKA Belgium joined our very own Sensei Ohta for superb teaching at K2 Sports Centre.

Well done to our members in passing their grading on Saturday!

Janice Ebbutt, 3rd kyu
Meggie Hori, 3rd kyu
Zoe Ross, 3rd kyu
Sammy Hori, 4th kyu
Elsie Hori, 4th kyu