History International Budo Kaikan
Founder and president Jon Bluming.
Kaicho Jon Bluming, was born in 1933 and he lives in Holland. He is regarded as a living legend in the home of Budo - Japan. He has been involved with Budo for over forty years, and his tist of Japanese issued grades must be unique: Karate l0th Dan, Judo 9th Dan , Bo Jitsu 4th Dan , Iai Jitsu 4th Dan, Kendo 2nd Dan. It would take a book to describe this man's career, so we will just mention some of the highlights of his extraordinary life. He was a royal marine and wounded three times during the Korean War. He received numerous decorations for bravery. Shihan Bluming has had leading and supponting roles in Dutch, Belgium American and Japanese films. In Judo, Kaicho Jon Bluming is of the same stature as Anton Geesink, the Olympic Champion. Among Shihan Bluming's students are Chris Dolman, three time World Sambo Champion and Willem Ruska, two time Olympic Champion.
It was in 1954 that Kaicho Jon Bluming was awarded his first Dan grade, when the was promoted to lst Dan in Judo. Then in 1956, 2nd dan. In 1957 he was the captain of the Dutch Team which became European Champions. The same year he was promoted to 3rd Dan try Tokyo Hirano (one of the most famous Judokas of the Kodokan) after beating 75 Judoka in 26 minutes at the Summer Camp in Holland. In 1959 he won various Tournaments. Later that year he travelled to Japan to train Judo.He also became interested in Karate and began training in the old Kyokushin Honbu. In November 1959, he was proposed by Donn Draeger and accepted for the Kenshusei class, which is for the 25 best Judo-kas in Japan. He soon climbed to the position of third best after Kaminaga San and Inokuma San. in 1960 he defeated Kaminaga San with his speciallty choke. At his peak, Shihan Bluming was invincible in Judo. Kaicho Jon Bluming also joined the Kendo Federation together with Donn Draeger and trained Bo Jitsu, Iai Jitsu and Kendo in order to better understand the Japanese fighting spirit. By 1961 he became 2nd dan in Kyokushin and he then introduced Kyokushin Karate to Europe. From then on he continued to return to Japan where he was, and still is, regarded as a living legend. Until 1970 Kaicho Jon Bluming was in charge of Kyokushin Karate in Europe. At that time he resigned in order to concentrate on his business. The promotions kept on coming and in 1980 he started his own organisation, which he named "Kyokushin Budokai".
To crown a magnificent career, which is far from over, Kaicho Jon Bluming wes promoted to l0th dan in 1994. As far as we know, Kaicho Jon Bluming is the only European who has ever been promoted to l0th dan in Karate by the Japanese. He is also an Advisor of several large Japanese Budo Organizations. Now at 71 years of age, Kaicho Jon Bluming still manages with ease, to tie his students into knots in Newaza (grappling). This is despite all the injuries that he has sustained during his career, such as a broken neck, two broken spinal vertebrae in the lower back, and a broken left shoulder. He has also severely damaged both knees. He has broken his right hand three times, his nose twice and most of his toes. It is now Kaicho Jon Bluming's dream, to give all he has learned in his 51 years of training to the students of The International Budo Kai. By doing this, when he has passed on to his Budo Heaven, he will have left something behind for others to have fun with, and to show to new generations of Budo-kai. .
Many of you have probably heard the name Kenji Kurosaki, 10th dan, but do not know so much about this man. He was born into an old fashioned Samurai family, on the 15th March 1930, on the outskirts of Tokyo. Around 1951 he joined the Yamaguchi Karate style of Goju Ryu, and trained there together with Masutatsu Oyama. In 1953 Kancho Oyama, and Kurosaki Sensei decided to make their own style and called it Kyokushinkaikan.