Sensei Lee Hasdell with Grand Master Azuma and Sensei Watanabe after passing the official Daidojuku Kudo Blackbelt test.

 

Kudo

Kudo is an all-round martial art method from Japan, founded by Grand Master Azuma who was one of Sosai Mas Oyama's Kyokushin students. Grand Master Azuma saw the vision for a well-rounded martial arts system that included safety, reality and popularity.

In Kudo you will learn strong, solid and basic skills that can work in real self defence situations. Not only will you learn martial arts and self defence, you will also be taught traditional samurai ethics and values like: rectitude, courage, benevolence, politeness, sincerity, honour, loyaty and self control.

By learning Kudo you will develop a strong mind and body, and it places a strong emphasis on the development of a deep ethical value system for all of its students.

Now you can learn Kudo with Sensei Lee Hasdell who is the first British Kudo black belt in the UK under Master Azuma.

Osu!

Kudo History

Daido Juku also known as Daidojuku and Kudo is a martial arts organization founded in 1981 by Azuma Takashi. Azuma, originally a Kyokushin Karate 1977 full contact karate champion, resigned from the Kyokushin organization to form Daidojuku in Sendai city located in northern Honshu, Japan. Daidojuku literally translated means The Big Way. It incorporates techniques which were not present at that time in full contact karate styles. Azuma, being a 3rd degree black belt in Judo as well as a 4th degree black belt in Kyokushin karate, recognized the potential for a hybrid martial art. These would not be restricted by the boundaries of a single style but would utilise techniques from various martial arts, namely, at the time of its creation in 1980, Judo and Karate. In the late 80's and early 90's the style began to incorporate various techniques from muay thai, boxing, jiu-jitsu, sambo, submission wrestling, and other martial arts, fine tuning each technique for use within the Daidojuku style. One of the fundamental goals of Daidojuku being the creation of a versatile and realistic fighting style without compromise to safety, Azuma created a style which incorporated various offensive as well as defensive techniques which includes punches to the head, elbow strikes, head butts, judo throws, jiu-jitsu jointlocks and other standup and ground fighting techniques. In 1981, Daidojuku made it's public debut at the '''1981 Hokutoki Karate Championships''', also known as '''Hokutoki.'''

Originally known as Kakuto Karate Daidojuku or Combat Karate Daidojuku, the name of the style was inevitably changed to recognize its unique and unorthodox techniques as a mixed martial art. In 2001 at an official press conference held for Daidojuku, founder Azuma Takashi and president of Daidojuku, N.P.O., renamed the mixed martial art Budo to Kudo. This renaming allowed Kudo the opportunity of becoming an official Japanese Cultural Budo sport under the same category as Judo, Aikido and Kendo. Kudo and Daidojuku are world wide copyrights and all of its instructors and branch chiefs are certified under the Kudo International Federation, also known as K.I.F.

Azuma currently holds an 8th degree black belt in Kyokushin Budokai, awarded by Shihan John Bluming and an 8th degree black belt in Daidojuku, awarded by the board of directors of Daidojuku.

Equipment Daido Juku competitors wear an official Kudo Gi gi (sleeves and body of the top gi, like a single-weave judo gi, are created out of a single piece of cloth, unlike the traditional karate gi where the sleeves are sewn onto the body). This design of the Kudo gi makes it ideal for throwing and grappling techniques. Also required for competition are groin guard, mouth piece, official Kudo hand-wraps, official Kudo fist protectors and SuperSafe (official Kudo protective helmet). The fist protectors are MMA style gloves which cover the wrist, back of the hand and up to the 2nd joint of the knuckles. The SuperSafe head guard is a unique foam helmet developed by Hanshi Masayki Hisataka for the Koshiki fighting system practiced by Shorinjiryu karateka to protect a fighter from facial injuries and head trauma. It is this helmet which allows the fighters in Daido Juku to punch and elbow the face, not allowed in more mainstream Kyokushin variants.

 

This helmet is known outside of Daido Juku circles jokingly as a "space helmet." On another funny note, Azuma Jukucho (founder and president of Daido Juku, also the creator of so called "space helmet") has been quoted as saying in Japanese: "Call it whatever the hell you want, space helmet, aqua helmet, whatever…this is Kudo, this is Daido Juku." (Jukucho laughs)