Bushinkai Chief Instructor Simon Keegan follows in a lengthy family martial arts tradition and over decades he has trained with some of Japan and China's senior masters. His grades have been awarded by the highest authorities in Japan and he holds black belt grades in several styles including a 5th Dan in Shobukan Karate. An internationally published researcher, he is dedicated to furthering our understanding of the traditional martial arts and is currently working on his first book. Simon is the pioneer of an effective system called Hakuda Kempo Toshu Jutsu. He also holds various administrative posts including international director of the United Kingdom Budo Federation. This page is intended as a scrapbook of some of the people who have influenced his martial arts thinking. He considers his greatest stylistic influences to be Kanazawa (Shotokan), Nobetsu (Nisseikai), Mochizuki (Yoseikan) and masters from the past like Matsumura, Itosu, Aragaki and Motobu. Throughout his journey however he has trained with dozens of instructors and these on this pages are some of the ones that have influenced our present methodology. 

Martial Arts Influences 


Some of the instructors who have taught me over the years Steve Bullough, Bob Carruthers, Reiner Parsons, Tadanori Nobetsu and Phil Handyside. There have been many others, who are documented on this page and all helped in some way to shape the arts of Hakuda Kempo Toshu Jutsu.

Early influences over the years

Above left : Mikonosuke Kawaishi came to Liverpool in 1928 and my great uncle Bill Nelson trained at his Dojo. Above right: Keinosuke Enoeda ran the Red Triangle in Liverpool. My dad and uncle trained with the Red Triangle in the 1960s.
   

Over 25 years ago I got started on the martial arts path. Top left: I am pictured aged about 7 with my Nunchaku. My dad had first studied Jujutsu in 1959, followed by training with the Red Triangle (Shotokan Karate) in the 1960s. In the 1970s he was taught Kobudo while in the army. In about 1988 when I was 9 my dad and uncle John went to work in Guangzhou and Hong Kong (middle picture). Above right: John was also a former Shotokan blackbelt and married to a Chinese Tai Chi practitioner named Mei Kwan. When I was young John was a goldmine of information on the martial arts for me. He and Mei Kwan still help me when there are aspects of Chinese culture I need help with.  

  
Above left: My first Dojo (my dad's garage). We had punchbags, makiwara and buckets of sand/gravel to condition my knuckles. Centre: My uncle Bill (Jujutsu blackbelt in the 1940s). Bill studied in Kawaishi Ryu and Koizumi Ha Jujutsu and he and I were very close, and often wrote to each other. 

  

Above left: I was lucky to receive boxing training with champion Lee Blundell. Before he turned pro he worked for the builder who lived next door to my grandparents so when I used to train in the backgarden he coached me and gave me tips. I was also lucky to meet pro boxer Gary Stretch as my mother's friend knew him and he encouraged my interest giving me his old boxing magazines and clippings of his fights. Both Blundell and Stretch were southpaws and I often fight with a right leg lead. As well as boxing, I was also keen on wrestling, particularly since Wigan's Snakepit was the leading Catch Wrestling Gym in the world, and shootfighters like Nobuhiko Takada (Pride), Kazushi Sakuraba (UFC) and Tatsumi Fujinami were trained in the Wigan Catch style.

Below left aged about 13 with Chinese broadsword and aged about 15 with my Wakizashi.

 

1995 Onwards... The competition era

Above: My sensei from 1995 to 2002, Stephen Bullough of the Bushido Academy, pictured in Kamakura, Japan

In the 1990s, I joined the Bushido Academy (studying Karate, Judo, Aikido and Kobudo) training with Steve Bullough, and my dad joined a Chinese martial arts academy, studying Tai Chi, Hsing-I and Chinese sword. Above left, having won my first British gold medal in 1995 I am pictured fighting the world champion in 1996. Above right: In about 1998 being taught the Yang style long form by my dad.
Myself and my best friend Paul Fernay aged about 16. We had trained together and experimented with many fighting styles, from fencing to Karate to wrestling and in 1995, Paul introduced me to Steve Bullough and the Bushido Academy.

 
Top left: In 1996 I joined the Territorial Army as a cavalry trooper and resumed my study of fencing. Middle pictures: Training in the garden in Japanese sword (1997) and performing Chinese sword at the European championships in front of the Mayor of Shanghai. Pictured above right: I was lucky enough to attend annual seminars with Professor Li De Yin, a Chinese national living treasure.

  
Above: Sparring with Steve Bullough

Pictured above right with my instructor Sensei Steve Bullough after he awarded me black belt 1st Dan in Bushido/Karate in 1999.  I opened my own branch of the school in 2000 which later became Bushinkai.

2000... The launch of Bushinkai

 

Above: Applying a kataha jime on Steve Chriscole who was one of my senior students in the early days. As a 21 year old instructor in 2001, Steve kept me on my toes since he had studied Karate since 1978.

  

Above left: In 2001 I began training with Sensei Bob Carruthers (second from left)  in Shotokan Karate. Bob began his training in 1972 in Bujinkai (a blend of Wado Ryu and Preying Mantis) before regrading in Shobukan Karate. I took my 2nd Dan Karate with Bob and my 2nd Dan Jujutsu with Jaimie Lee-Barron and George Scarrott (the two in red) and I also enjoyed seminars with Irish Jujutsu teacher Joe Carslake. Pictured centre: Mike Newton (7th Dan Budokan, 7th Dan Yoseikan) was an instructor who opened my eyes to the Chinese origins of Karate Jutsu. I only trained with him about 4 times.

Below: Steve Brennan (and Claire Horne) introduced me to the Okinawan methods of Koryu Uchinadi including the two man Tegumi Renzoku Geiko exercises, studied under Hanshi Patrick McCarthy. 

 


Below: being awarded 2nd Dan in London in 2002 and below right with trophy for Iaido.

 


Above: Some of my published work. Left: a Bruce Lee study, centre: a bunkai article in Kata Unlimited magazine and right in a self defence book

2003 Onwards... The Japanese masters

  
Above right: Myself and my teacher R Carruthers on a course with his former teacher Shihan P Handyside and above left, Shihan reunited with his teacher Hirokazu Kanazawa. Soon after I joined IMAF (the organisation that awarded Kanazawa his 10th Dan) and I was awarded 2nd Dan Shotokan in Kanazawa Sensei's division.

Below: Three of the Nihon Jujutsu masters I trained under: Hanshi Jack Hearn, Mitsuhiro Kondo and Shizuya Sato

 

 
Above: 2002 practising the Japanese Koryu art of Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu with Renshi J Lovatt. My dad also studied this art. He is pictured above right with Eishin Ryu masters Yoshida and Tose.

  

Above: In 2003 I was accepted into Kokusai Budoin (IMAF) and my grade of 2nd Dan Karate, 2nd Dan Nihon Jujutsu was recognised by such masters as Nobetsu (Nisseikai), Kanazawa (Shotokan), Higuchi (Shoto Ryu), Sato (Nihon Jujutsu) and the hereditary Shogun, Tokugawa Yasuhisa. Above: I am pictured with Nobetsu. By 2005 I had been made a regional director of IMAF. Below: I was personally invited to view the treasures of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

 
Below: Hirokazu Kanazawa (10th Dan IMAF), teacher of my friend Shihan Handyside and Tadanori Nobetsu (9th Dan IMAF) teacher of my instructor Reiner Parsons were two of my greatest stylistic influences and I was honoured to be in the same organisation as them.

 

 
Above left: Pictured in Poland with Aikido master Alan Ruddock (student of the founder Morihei Ueshiba) and Terry Wingrove (9th Dan Karate, 9th Dan Yawara).  Above right: I organised the inaugural UKBF Masters course in 2006 to celebrate 50 years of Karate in the UK and the British Jujutsu Federation. On the picture is Hanshi Tattersall 9th Dan, Shihan Ruddock, Hanshi Wingrove and Hanshi Hearn.


Above: Terry Wingrove teaching in my Manchester Dojo

 

Above left: During my 3rd Dan Shoto Ryu grading with Reiner Parsons. Reiner had himself been graded 6th Dan by Shoto Ryu headmaster Ikuo Higuchi a student of Makoto Gima.  And above right as a 4th Dan with Jujutsu master Hanshi Tattersall of the Dai Nippon Butokukai at the DNBK UK Headquarters. Below as Allan's Uke in Scarborough


 

 
Above: Pictured in Birmingham with one of my martial arts heroes Hanshi Patrick McCarthy 9th Dan Koryu Uchinadi

2007... Hakuda Kempo Toshu Jutsu: Returning to the Source 


In 2007 I finally began to formulated decades of Karate, Jujutsu and Quan Fa study into a system called Hakuda Kempo Toshu Jutsu. At the time I held the grade of 4th Dan Freestyle (Karate & Jujutsu) awarded by the World Karate Association, founder member of the English Karate Federation and I was also a director of IMAF GB (now UKBF).

 
Above left: With my students Jamie and Ben in 2007. I've just been awarded 1st Dan Taiji Quan. 

Strangely enough, as well as looked far and wide for teachers and knowledge, I also found myself returning closer to home. Towards the end of his life I spent a long time corresponding with my great uncle Bill Nelson on his Jujutsu training (pictured below left) and our family martial arts tradition and heritage and I also became closer to my uncle John in China and Ai Ye ('aunt') Mei Kwan, pictured (below centre) in Gyokusendo cave, Okinawa. Nearby she told me, they still referred to Karate as 'Toshu Jutsu.' Below right with the folded steel katana my father gave me.

       


Above left: I was invited to sit as a guest examiner in a Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu grading. Above right: Bushinkai returns to its roots as my student Kevin (wearing his Bushinkai T shirt) trains at the Shaolin temple

    
Above: Article on Hakuda Kempo Toshu Jutsu in Traditional Karate magazine. 

  

Above: Simon being interviewed on TV by Andy Crane when I headed a campaign to raise 0.25 million pounds for Christies in Salford. At this time our class was based in Salford at the Angel Centre.

 
Although most of my training has been in Japanese, Okinawan and Chinese martial arts, I have looked to other styles. Above left trying to keep up with Abaniko Tres Puntas (classical Arnis) grandmaster Rene Tongson and above right: Assisting my friend John Dang in teaching Muay Thai. Below in traditional Okinawan uniform and performing the Chinese art of Hsing-I Chuan.

    

 


Exploring the Chinese origins of our kata

 
Above: Teaching the first Bunkai masterclass seminar in 2012

 

Above left: In 2011 a proud moment as I present 1st Dan blackbelt to my senior student Dan Sanchez and above right: Reunited with Shobukan headteacher Shihan Handyside who graded me 5th Dan on December 18 2012.

2012-2013: Spreading the arts of Toshu Jutsu & Nihon Jujutsu 

  
Above: Here I am teaching Japanese Kenjutsu sets (Kumitachi) on a national course in Scarborough.

Pictured below: My 5th Dan (Godan) grading perfoming kata, kihon and kumite. I was examined by Shihan PAJ Handyside 8th Dan.

         
Below: Myself and Shihan Handyside on a seminar with Shikon head Steve Rowe (8th Dan Karate and Yang style Tai Chi) also chatting with points fighting legend and multiple world Karate champion Alfie 'The Animal' Lewis and his student Robert Ledger. I hadn't seen Alfie Lewis for about 15 years (since my competition days). Steve Rowe has not only got decades of experience in Karate but also studied Yang style Tai Chi in China with headteacher Ma Lee Yang, the head of the Yang family whose grandfather was Yang Cheng Fu. Steve also trained with Ip Tai Tak, the senior student of Ma Lee Yang's father Yang Sau Chung.



Below: Shihan Handyside teaching Simon at Van Dang in April 2013



Below: Simon introduces Hakuda Kempo Toshu Jutsu in a six page feature in Martial Arts Illustrated. Interview conducted by Alfie Lewis.


These pictures on this page just show a few snippets of some of my training and grading history over the last 25 years, just to document my training history for the interest of students and to show the many influences that have contributed to our system. The proof of the pudding is in the eating however, and my achievements are not so important as the skills I am able to pass on to my students. So if you would like to see for yourself how Bushinkai can help you to defend yourself and keep fit, please drop me and email or visit our club.

Manchester Jujutsu classes:
Sunday 7:00pm-8:30pm
Manchester Karate classes:
Tuesday 8:00pm-9:30pm
Manchester Tai Chi classes:
Tuesday at 7:00pm-8:00pm
Classes held at Van Dang Martial Arts, Newton Street, Manchester.
For more information email Simon on kaicho@runbox.com