My Budo
I was born in Western Australia in 1971.
During my years at high school I began training at the “Korean Martial Arts Academy” with Australian martial arts pioneer Frank Clark. In 1988, after having read much material on the Bujinkan, I joined “Bujinkan Dojo Perth“ where I began my training under Stewart Jarvis, James Mcloy and Steve Revnac.
I was dissatisfied with my life in Perth and in December 1990 I travelled to Japan. For the first year and a half I was a construction worker, then English teacher in the Hiroshima area. I made my first visit to the dojo of the grandmaster, Masaaki Hatsumi, during this time and also travelled to Osaka to train with an old Bujinkan teacher Taguchi-sensei on Hatsumi-sensei’s recommendation.
In April 1992, after receiving a job as a draftsperson in a major bridge engineering company in Japan, I moved to Tokyo where I was able to attend the classes of the grandmaster twice a week.
Originally I only trained in Hatsumi-sensei’s classes but I realised this wasn’t enough so I also began training at the dojo of one of the grandmaster’s senior students, Isamu Shiraishi-sensei, from 1993. After a period of time I also began attending the classes of Noguchi-sensei, at this point I was training five or six times a week.
In 1995 I moved back to Western Australia as a fourth dan. I began training again in Perth with Andrew and Stewart Jarvis as well as opening my own dojo at a sports centre in South Lake near Fremantle.
I returned to Japan for a month in 1995 where I took my fifth dan test and qualified as an instructor in the Bujinkan. Since then I have returned to Japan almost every year to train intensively for two to four weeks. In Japan I continue training with Hatsumi-sensei and Shiraishi-sensei in addition to training with other senior teachers such as Noguchi-sensei, Seno-sensei, Nagato-sensei, Nakadai-sensei, Hosoda-sensei and Sakuma-sensei.
Because of a lack of work as a bridge draftsman in Perth I moved to Brisbane in 1997 where I have lived ever since. It was on moving to Brisbane that I started this club, Bujinkan Dojo Brisbane.
Since June 2007 I have also been training in Judo at the UQ Judo club which I continue to this day.
In December 2001, Hatsumi-sensei awarded me with his gold medal - The Golden Dragon Award. In April 2009 I was awarded the highest rank in the Bujinkan. In October 2011 I was the first Australian to be awarded with the gold and red “Bujin” patch and certificate for long service.