Why did you start to practice Shorinjikempo?

Originally I had “dabbled” a little in both shotokan karate and Kendo but sort of fell into ShorinjiKempo when a friend of mine trained at Harrow college many years ago, subsequently he gave up and I continued, the rest as they say is history. I have mainly trained under Mizuno sensei (British Federation chief instructor) and also received some instruction from Jee sensei (British Federation), Morikawa sensei (Rakuto Doin, Japan) and my very good friend Anders Pettersson sensei (Swedish Federation). I have trained in Japan on numerous occasions, training at the ShorinjiKempo headquarters in Tadotsu, 6 different times. Also visiting and training at Dojo’s throughout Japan and in Sweden, Canada and France. I took over the running of the Harrow branch in 1997 after being the assistant branch master for a number of years before that, and was made official Branch master in 1999 In shorinjiKempo Taikai (competition) I have won the UK embu (overall) two years running in the early ‘90s and placed 4th and 5th in the World ShorinjiKempo embu taikai, along with my good friend Paul Browne.

What do you enjoy most?

The system of techniques used in ShorinjiKempo is very well presented and to this end the training is always very enjoyable, with everyone working together to try to better both themselves and their peers. But the chance to meet, train and build friendships with people from many walks of life and from many different cultures and countries is one of the over-riding benefits of ShorinjiKempo practice. Over the many years of training I have met people from as far afield as Australia and the USA, and among some of my better friends in the ShorinjiKempo community are Anders Pettersson (shibu-cho at Karlstad, Sweden) and John McCulloch (shibu-cho at Toronto, Canada). This, along with the practical and effective fighting techniques which we learn, is one of the most important concepts in ShorinjiKempo.

Other Interests

Alongside my ShorinjiKempo practice I also like to keep fit, training at a local gym (Panthers Gym, Uxbridge) and to travel and experience other cultures. The other activity that I do, apart from ShorinjiKempo, is Ice Hockey, training and playing with a local recreational team the Slough Tornados.