Neil Richardson - 4th Dan Shidoshi-ho

Joined The Bujinkan: 14th February 1991

Current Dojo: Bujinkan Lincoln Dojo (joined in 1997)

Current Rank: 4th Dan Shidoshi-ho

Current Instructor: Paul Richardson (Lincoln)

Previous Instructors: Trevor Robinson (Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria) 1991 - 1996. Simon Eaton (Derby) 1996 - 1997. Barry Steele (Nottingham) 1996 - 1997

Brief Biography:

I started training with Trevor Robinson in 1991 (he was a 3rd Dan at the time). Attained 1st Dan in June 1994, just prior to attending the UK Taikai that same year. Attended the 1995 UK Taikai and attained 2nd Dan in November 1995. Training was hard with Trevor, he believed in learning to fight, not how to look pretty in demonstrations and I would often limp home from his classes, covered in bruises.

Due to work, I relocated to Nottingham in July 1996 and asked Paul Richardson (then a 5th Dan) to take responsibility for my grading's. As I started to settle into my new life in Nottingham, I trained with Simon Eaton (then a 3rd Dan) and Barry Steele (5th Dan). I eventually started training with Paul full-time, from April 1997 (though I continued to train with Simon & Barry until August that same year, when Simon went to live in Japan and Barry gave up teaching).

After rectifying a few problem areas (such as over reaching when punching and attacking too hard when I was Uke), I eventually attained 3rd Dan in November 1999, shortly after attending the 1999 UK Taikai. In 2000, I was awarded my Shidoshi-ho, which was a complete surprise to me.

In addition to attending the regular seminars held in Lincoln, I have traveled to many of the seminars hosted throughout the UK. I’ve also traveled with Paul on his many seminars around the UK and Europe (recently completing my 4th training trip to Germany, in December 2001).

My training highlight has to be training in Japan, in September 2000, where I maintained a journal of my experiences. I attended classes with the following instructors who all used me as Uke - Hatsumi, Oguri, Nagase, Someya, Abigail Allen - which was a great privilege for me and my fondest memories are of Nagase sensei throwing me all over his dojo and Someya sensei teaching me Tameshigiri:

I recently visited Japan for the 2nd time (Oct 2002) visiting several castles and historical sites, and trained with: Sakaguchi sensei, John Cantor, Joshua Jones in Osaka.

I email the Dojo newsletter Hanako to all the subscribers

Promoted to 4th Dan after a test that took almost one hour in December 2002

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