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JW (New Jersey) was the only BKH resident to ever enter the program at the age of 17. He remained in the program for nearly two years.

We have been overseas 5 times in the past 1.5 years, twice to tournaments in Japan, once to a tournament in Eastern Europe, once to a seminar and training camp in South Africa, and once to a seminar in Kazakhstan. 18-year-old BKH resident, JW (of New Jersey), is seen above fighting in this past November's All-Japan Open Karate Tournament (2003 Kyokushinkan-International). BKH fighters are turning heads because they are proving their ability to stand toe to toe with fighters with much greater experience who have been training for a much longer period of time. JW, who began his Karate training in the BKH program just 15 months ago, is seen here fighting a seasoned Japanese fighter who finished in the best-8 of this All-Japan Tournament (JW lost by judge's decision).

DS (California, right) was BKH's first member 5 years ago. He lasted longer than 18 months in the dormitory before realizing that the lifestyle wasn't for him. He came to us very soon after escaping from a very serious substance-abuse issue, and we hope that his training here has empowered him to continue to resist that lure.

TG (Florida, left) was among the first half-dozen residents at BKH. He was an adventure seeker more than anything, and he lasted longer than a year in the program, before leaving on the same day as DS (above), fearing that the program (rather than him!!!) would not be successful due to the high dropout rate. He is currently serving in the USMC in Iraq and has written to ask for permission to return to BKH to finish what he started after he gets out of the service.

The fighting for which BKH residents are trained is full-contact and bare-knuckle, and fighters attempt to break their opponents bodies or will to continue. While kicks to the head (and legs) are legal, punches to the head, and grappling have been eliminated from tournament competition in the promotion of safety. The two outstanding differences you will discover between BKH full-contact fighters and the practitioners of 999 out of 1000 martial arts schools in the US, are 1) the ability to deliver physical blows to effectively break the human body of one's opponent and 2) the ability to take those blows to an amazing extent without injury. BKH dormitory residents are currently training three times per day, six-days per week, averaging 5 hours per day, and 3/4 of that training is designed to create body toughness and develop stamina through exercises such as running, pushups, sit-ups, jump rope, weight training (power-stamina training; NOT body building) and jumping squats. BKH residents run 4 miles every morning (6 days per week) at a race pace designed to develop power-stamina and explosiveness.

DL (Florida), an orphan since the age of 14, dropped out of the program just 6 weeks shy of becoming the first to complete three years in the dormitory.

BKH's senior student, DL (23, Florida), 26 months into his three-years in the program, is shown above fighting in the All-Korea Open Weight Category Tournament in June (Seoul, 2004). He is responsible for the majority of the trophies that have begun to gather in the dormitory having won his first-ever Karate tournament (in Hungary, "B" category, i.e. no black or brown belts) and 2 of his six tuffman competitions (which we do for recreation and gaining experience with head punches). Both he and J W (mentioned above) took 3rd place in a full-contact tournament in Rochester, NY last October (2003), DL in the lightweight division and JW in the middleweight. They turned heads because it was their first competition in the US and when they were defeated it was only after a maximum number of extensions, only by judges' decision and only by fighters who had many more years of training than they had. BKH dormitory residents advance this quickly because they dedicate so much of their time to karate training, and because the training methods are ones heretofore not seen in the US.

CC (Wyoming) endured over 2 years in the program. He was one of the two we've inadvertently cured of obesity (Don't come here for this reason!) and we hope he makes a better soldier in the US Amry thanks to his time spent here at BKH.

3.5 years into the program's existence, we are currently finishing the renovations on what will become our first dojo open to the public. (It's now open, of course.) It will be called L***Dojo (DL's last name is omitted) and placed in the charge of DL, BKH's senior student, at the time of his graduation. It is BKH's goal to help each and every graduate of our three-year dormitory program to operate (with a salary) and one-day own his own dojo in the location of his choosing. Current BKH residents are from Florida, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas and Oklahoma. Additional students have recently been accepted (numbers 27-31 to be admitted) from New York, Florida, Alabama and Michigan.

It could well of been a mistake to put this photograph on the webiste without further explanation. There is a significant movement in the US today among young men wishing to gain the glory of the professional fighter (boxing, UFC, WWF, etc). BKH residents compete in tuffman competitions for full-contact experience but are cautioned to resist the temptation to flaunt their victories in the "in your face" kind of way that is so prevalent in the media today. Budo Karate is about HONOR, not about GLORY. Those that don't understand that the primary goal of Budo Karate is to win against themselves rather than winning against their opponents, are destined to fail here, no matter how many fights they win.

We would love for each and every BKH graduate to establish his own dojo in all of these locations so that one-day the students of the graduate from Florida will meet in competition with students of the graduate from Texas, and etc. There is, however, no required obligation to BKH after graduation. Some graduates will surely choose not to operate their own dojo. If they choose to be doctors or landscapers or anything in-between, they will be better at what they do and live fuller lives for having endured the rigors of the BKH program. If they choose to operate their own dojos, we at BKH will help them to the best of our ability to do so, including financially.

We hope that DL will become successful in life in the future. He can not have spent nearly 3 years here without learning a great deal of what was being taught other than the brute toughness which he learned so well. He had the potential to be very talented fighter.