Budokan Karate School with Fabio Martella

About The School

Budōkan (karate)

The Founder

Mr. Chew Choo Soot was born in Alor Star, a Northern State of Peninsula, Malaysia, on February 7, 1922. As an infant, his father died and so he was brought up under the strict discipline of his grand father, an elderly Confucian scholar of the old school of China, who believed in education through books and not in martial arts.

At 15 years of age, Chew became very interested in weight lifting and enrolled for training at a small body building club in Epoh. Due to his dedication and training, he became the national Malaysian weight lifting champion in both the feather weight and the light weight classes in 1939, 1941 and 1942. During those years he also acquired an interest in martial arts and took up judo, jujitsu and wrestling.

It was not until he was 20 that Chew was introduced to Karate-Do, during the Japanese occupation of Malaya. He was then contracted by aJapanese military officer, who had seen him in health and strength magazines, to become a personal fitness and weight lifting coach. During one of his scheduled visits, the young Chew discovered the officer practicing movements which we now know to be karate ‘Kata’. The styles of karate practiced by the officer were Keishinkan and Shotokan. Chew was impressed and asked for tuition, which the officer agreed to. For more than 2 years afterwards, they spent the evenings training together in karate, jujitsu, judo and weight lifting until the Japanese Army officer left for Okinawa in 1945.

After the end of the Second World War, Chew went to Japan and Okinawa to further his karate training, as well as several trips to Taiwan to learn kung-fu and oriental weapons from a number of old kung-fu Masters of China.

In 1966 at the request of his friends, Chew then decided to start a dojo at Petaling Jaya with a small number of students and Karate Budokan International was first founded as a lesser organisation. There was a large amount of interest shown by people who wanted to learn karate, which became so great that he found it impossible to cope with the classes without seeking assistant instructors. As there were no other karate instructors in Malaysia, he then made two further trips to Tokyo and Osaka and employed 7 Japanese instructors to assist him to conduct the karate classes. These classes had then spread the art to the North and South of the Peninsula within 2 years.

Chew's ambition was to be able to travel to different countries and conduct karate classes when he reached the age of 80. Unfortunately, he fell ill by a paralytic attack on 4th February 1995 and died, in Malaysia, on 18th July 1997 at the age of 76 years.^[2][3]

Global Expansion

KBI logo

Karate Budokan International is now a global association with branches around the world including Australia,India, Israel, Germany, Malaysia, Pakistan, Norway, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Cameroon, Wales and England. The world headquarters for KBI is located in Noosa, Queensland, Australia.

The Shihan

Karate Budokan International's current Shihan is Wayne Macdonald of the Noosa headquarters. Macdonald started karate with Sensei Daniel Spice (from the NSW branch through HMAKarate ) on the same day in 1979. As cousins, they went together to their first karate class for mutual support, although Macdonald often recalls the situation differently. He recalls that Spice was too scared to go to karate by himself, so Macdonald went along to ‘hold his hand’.^[4]

MacDonald is currently a Sixth-Dan Black Belt as well as the World Chief Instructor of KBI. Wayne’s training has been under the guidance of the KBI Grand Master Mr. Richard Chew and Sensei Fabio Martella, and Wayne has been teaching Karate since 1983. Wayne and his wife Donna, now run a dojo (and International Headquarters) in Noosaville with over 400 members.

Macdonald has also been highly respected over the last two decades as one of Australia’s elite Karate athletes with six New South Wales titles (1986,87,88,89,90,91), two Queensland titles (1998 and 99) as well as 5 National titles.^[5]

Grand Master Mr.Chew Choo Soot was formed the All India Budokan Karate Federation in India for the betterment of all the members. he was appointed Mr.C.Hanumantha Rao as President Mr.Syed Ahmed as Secretary General and Mr.Praveen kumar as chief Technical Director. Mr.Hanumantha Rao now Chairman Asia Continent for World Union of Karate -Do Federations (WUKF).

Shaolin (Kung Fu)

he term 'Kung Fu' does not relate to any specific form of martial art, but rather translates as 'skill' or 'ability'. Scholars believe that the use of Kung Fu to describe the Chinese martial form originated in Hong Kong and Kwangtung province. There are records of the Jesuit priest, Pere Amiot, writing of the 'peculiar exercises' practised by the Taoist priests of his region which he called 'Cong Fou'.

Wu Shu is traditionally the term widely used to describe the traditional Chinese martial arts, though other descriptions such as Kuo-shu, Kuo-chi, Chien-shu and Tao-fa have also been used from time to time. (Wu Shu is the term currently used for Chinese martial arts by the People's Republic of China).

Exactly when Kung Fu first sprouted is unknown, with historians stating that Chinese martial forms most likely predate recorded history. Since the dawn of time there have been battles between man and animal, warring tribes, etc. during which conflicts combative techniques were executed and accumulated and passed down from generation to generation.

What is particular about the Chinese martial forms is that many schools or styles were created by imitating the fighting techniques of animals such as monkeys, lions, tigers, snakes, bears, etc. The adaptation of animal techniques stems from a belief that in order to survive in their harsh natural environment, all animals (even birds and insects) were naturally endowed with skills for fighting.

Hence techniques were born from the tiger's pounce, the eagle's sharp claws and the elusiveness and unpredictability of the monkey. Still, it is difficult to attach a precise date to the true birth of Kung Fu. Some traditional historians date it as far back as the Shang Dynasty (16th century BC). Others place it in the period of the Contending States (475 - 221 BC) and the Yellow Emperor, Huang Ti. Indeed, it would appear that modern Kung Fu has adapted and evolved from the warring experiences of China's past, with distinct traces of Mongolian, Tibetan, Indian and other cultural ideologies exhibited in many styles. If there is one common reference point in tracing Kung Fu's history, it is the Shaolin Temple and the journey of Buddhism from India to China.

Buddhism reached China during the period of the Eastern Han Ming Emperor (58 - 76 AD) and soon flourished. It is estimated that by 500 AD there were more than 10,000 Buddhist temples in China and many emperors became devout Buddhists. In 495 AD the Shaolin Temple was constructed by the order of Emperor Wei Xiao Wen (471 - 500 AD). The Temple was built to house the teachings of a Buddhist monk named Batuo, who came to China for Buddhist teaching in 464 AD. As such Batuo can be considered the first Shaolin Temple monk, though there is no record of how or what (471 - 500 AD). The Temple was built to house the teachings of a Buddhist monk named Batuo, who came to China for Buddhist teaching in 464 AD. As such Batuo can be considered the first Shaolin Temple monk, though there is no record of how or what Batuo passed down by way of religious Qigong practice, just as there is no record of how or when he died.

The most influential person in the study of Kung Fu's history through the Shaolin Temple is an Indian monk named Da Mo (or Ta Mo). Da Mo, also known as Bodhidarma, had been a small prince of a Southern Indian tribe. He followed the Mahayana school of Buddhism and was revered as a bodhisattva - and enlightened being who had renounced nirvana so as to save others. The legends of Da Mo in Chinese mythology are elaborate, to say the least. One legend has Da Mo sitting in a cave where he stared at the wall for nine years in meditation. After accidentally falling asleep, he became so angered with himself that he tore off his eyelids and threw them on the ground. Tea shrubs grew from the ground beneath the discarded eyelids and monks have used tea ever since to deter sleep.

Dao Mo was invited to China by the Emperor Liang Wu. He arrived in Canton in 527 AD but when the emperor disliked his preaching. Da Mo withdrew to the Shaolin Temple. Upon arriving at the Temple, Da Mo found many of the monks to be sick and weak. He pondered this problem for nine years (his nine year seclusion) and when he emerged wrote two classics: Yi Jin Jing (Muscle/Tendon Changing Classic) and Xi Sui Jin (Marrow/Brain Washing Classic). The classics taught the priests how to build their Qi to an abundant level and use to it improve their health and change their physicality to one of super strength. When this training was combined with martial forms, the priests found a marked improvement in the strength and power of their martial techniques.

It is believed that Da Mo may have authored the series of 18 exercises contained in a manuscript, the I-Chin-Ching, outlining the Shaolin method of Chinese boxing. The method that emerged from the Shaolin Temple, which is representative of the northern Chinese styles in general, was called wai-jya (wai-chia) or external family of Chinese boxing. Shaolin strove the increase speed, strength and elasticity. It was vigorous and calisthenic and became the basis from which Karate in Okinawa and the Korean martial arts were derived. The Xi Sui Jin was hard to learn and as such was passed down secretly only to a few disciples in every generation. Sadly Da Mo passed away in the Shaolin Temple in 536 AD but what he had started would live on for centuries.

Very quickly the Shaolin Monks would become revered for their fighting prowess. During the period between the Sui dynasty and the Tang dynasty, in the 4th year of Tang Gao Zu Wu De (621 AD), Qin King Li Shi-Ming had a momentous war against Zheng King Wang Chi-Chong. With Qin King in trouble, 13 Shaolin monks came to his assistance against Zheng. When Li Shi-Ming later became the first emperor of the Tang dynasty (618 - 907 AD) he rewarded the Shaolin Temple with approximately 600 acres of land. He also granted the Temple the right to train its own soldiers.
Such were the riches of the Shaolin Temple that martial arts training became a necessity to protect its wealth from bandits. The responsibility of defending the Temple was given to the soldier monks known as Seng Bing. For three hundred years the Shaolin Temple enjoyed a golden period in which it legally owned its own martial arts training organisation. The Temple also remained open to outside martial influences, absorbing what it could and incorporating these techniques and training methods into its own system. During this period one of the most famous Shaolin monks was Jueyuan. He travelled the country learning martial arts techniques and working with other famous martial artists. When in Lan Zhou he met the famed martial artist, Li Sou, who in turn introduced him to, Bai Yu-Feng and his son. Later all four men returned to the Shaolin Temple and studied together. After ten years, Li Sou left the Temple but Bai Yu-Feng and his son stayed on and became monks. Bai Yu-Feng's name changed to Qiu Yue Chan Shi and, according to the book of Shaolin Temple record, it was he who developed the then 18 existing Buddha Hands techniques into 173 techniques. He also compiled the existing techniques contained with Shaolin and wrote the book The Essence of the Five Fist, which discussed the methods and applications of the Five Fist (Animal) Patterns. This is proof that animal patterns had already existed for some time in the Shaolin Temple.

Wushu (sport)

History

Changing government policies and attitudes towards sports in general lead to the closing of theState Sports Commission (the central sports authority) in 1998. This closure is viewed as an attempt to partially de-politicize organized sports and move Chinese sport policies towards a more market-driven approach.^[9] As a result of these changing sociological factors within China, both traditional styles and modern Wushu approaches are being promoted by the Chinese government.^[10]

[edit]Events

A Jian dual event (choreographed)

Wushu events are performed using compulsory or individual routines in competition. Compulsory routines are those routines that have been already created for the athlete, resulting in each athlete performing basically the same set. Individual routines are routines that an athlete creates with the aid of his/her coach, while following certain rules for difficulty.

In addition to events for individual routines, some wushu competitions also feature dual and group events. The dual event, also called duilian (对练), is an event in which there is some form of sparring with weapons, or without weapons or even using bare hands against weapons. The dual event is usually spectacular and actions are choreographed beforehand. The group event, also known as jiti (集体), requires a group of people to perform together and smooth synchronization of actions are crucial. Usually, the group event also allows instrumental music to accompany the choreography during the performance. The carpet used for the group event is also larger than the one used for individual routines.

Previously, international wushu competitions most often used compulsory routines, while high-level competitions in China most often used individual routines. However, after the 2003 Wushu World Games in Macau it was decided to opt for individual routines in international competition with nandu (难度; difficulty movements) integrating a maximum 2 point nandu score into the overall maximum score of 10.

There is some controversy concerning the inclusion of nandu in wushu because many of the movements created for the specific events are not originally movements used in those styles. In addition the number of injuries which have resulted from the inclusion of these nandu have caused many people to question their inclusion.

Those who support the new difficulty requirements follow the assertion that they help to progress the sport and improve the overall physical quality of the athletes.