Residential Program
There is only one way to apply: Please send a $20 application fee (check or money order) to the following address:

Budo Karate House
2518 Millwood Court
Chapel Hill, NC 27514

You will be sent additional information and a very detailed application form designed to weed-out from the beginning those whose interest is only a passing one. Note: The above address is NOT our physical address. Uninvited guests are not allowed at the dormitory and any interested parties who show up at the dormitory uninvited will ensure that they will not be admitted at any time in the future. Dormitory physical address and telephone number (etc.) will be given to admitted applicants BEFORE they travel to enter the dormitory so they'll have plenty of time to make travel arrangements and let their families know where they're going to be.

Please note: We will NOT admit any student to the BKH Dormitory who shows up at the newly opened Ligo Dojo in search of information or a peek at training.

Please DO NOT call or visit Ligo Dojo if you are interested in the BKH residential program. We will NOT admit any student to the BKH Dormitory who has visited Ligo Dojo, we do not have additional information there to distribute to you in person, and we will not give you an application in person. Ligo Dojo has only just been opened and all you would see if you visited is a relatively small group of students who are all beginners and who are NOT training on the professional, several-hours-per-day level as BKH Dormitory residents. The majority of BKH training for residents happens either outside of the dojo or at times that the dojo is not open to the public. Due to the nature of our advertising which suggests "FREE Dormitory" we have had all kinds of "nut-cases" respond including several who have believed that if they just bypassed the application process and showed up at our address that they would be admitted. This is why, of course, we don't list the dormitory physical address and we why we decided to use our mail-forwarding service in Washington, DC: We were very relieved that the few "nut-cases" who showed up at our mailing address found nothing other than a mail box. Our application process is very strict and one of the tests that you must pass for admission is demonstrating your ability to follow instructions. The prescribed process is not hard so don't try to create your own. Thank you for understanding.

 

 

General Information

The residential program is designed for young men between the ages of 17 and 23. We can not admit any student younger that 17 years of age and we will only consider students in their 20's, older than 23, under very special circumstances. We do not currently have facilities for female residential students although we would like to develop a BKH sister-program for young women at some point in the future. We do not currently have the means to sponsor foreigners for permission to reside in the US in order to attend the residential program. As soon as this changes (and we hope that it will), we will post that change here. A driver's license is required for admittance and it is strongly encouraged that interested parties obtain a passport. As the BKH program is one designed to give residents a chance to remake themselves, we to not expect for all applicants to have blemishless pasts. If you are currently a smoker, you will not be admitted without first quitting smoking (for at least six months). If you have a serious criminal past (i.e. prison time) it is very likely that you will NOT be admitted and we do perform background checks.

Whereas certain aspects of the program or application process/entrance requirements may seem imposing, we are eagerly awaiting the applications and arrivals of new applicants interested in becoming the newest members of our team. Only a handful are succeeding of 40 who have been admitted. This doesn't mean that we don't WANT each and every applicant to be successful. On the contrary, we will do everything in our power to help you succeed. The only thing we can not do for you is change our policies or lower our standards. We will create the strongest fighters/best instructors of this young generation in America, and it is our contention that these fighters/instructors will come from widely varied backgrounds. The program is designed to remake you into a athlete/fighter/instructor from who you are on day one. It is NOT a requirement of admission that you already fit this profile. The program is designed to take the average Joe, or even someone a little weaker than the average Joe, and make him into a champion.

Please note: The BKH dormitory program is designed to test the student's willpower by subjecting them to an uninterrupted 1000 days of training. We do a fair amount of traveling while in the program and friends and family of residents have gone to tournaments to watch in the past, but interested applicants should understand that is program is definitely NOT one in which residents have weekends off to do as they please. (Residents are encouraged to write letters to their friends and family and they are allowed access to a phone). The ex-BKH resident who holds the record for enduring an uninterrupted 30 months in the program was well on his way to completing the program as it was meant to be completed, i.e. he was in the dormitory for 30 months without vacation. The BKH program has no religious affiliation and we do not practice any religious discrimination or instruction, i.e. if you can practice your religion without interfering with dormitory routines, all the power to you. The purpose of the 1000 days of uninterrupted, semi-monastic training is to develop physical and spiritual strength. There is no element of the BKH program designed or likely to alter residents' personalities in any way other than the gradual weeding-out of vice, weakness and weak attitudes.

The BKH program is a government recognized 501.c.3 nonprofit organization with public charity status. To date (September 2005) the program director (head instructor and founder) has never once in 5 years of operation received a salary or any kind of financial compensation whatsoever for this full-time occupation. (Obviously, he has income from other sources, and hopes that as the program grows and we begin to open dojos that BKH will eventually pay him a salary.) Consequently, whereas BKH residents do work to help support the program financially (mostly manual labor), 100% of the income from this work goes into funding their own personal training, and into funding a nonprofit organization which exists largely TO SUPPORT THEM and their careers in the future. Even BKH's newest members will travel overseas this year two or three times for international competition and all associated expenses are paid for by the program.

 

 

Eligibility

The following is a sneak-peak as to one of the documents you will receive with your application materials by mail. If you can answer "yes" to all of the below questions you may consider yourself invited to enter the BKH program provided you follow the instructions correctly (instructions that will be included in your application materials) on how to make your preparations and "check in" to the dormitory. Many people who are accepted to the program can not answer "yes" to all of the below questions and we will still consider you for acceptance if you can't. Not being able to answer "yes" to all the questions below simply means that we will need you to fill out the more-detailed application before we can invite you to simply show up at the dormitory. Included with the below questionnaire is a warning about being untruthful concerning any of the questions on the questionnaire. If you lie, we will find out about it, and you will be excluded from participation in the dormitory program at any time in the future.

1. Are you male and older than 18 (at the time you sign and have notarized your entrance agreement) and will you be younger than 23 at the time you enter the dormitory?

2. Are you free of an adult criminal record (includes felonies and misdemeanors but not moving violations) and are there no outstanding warrants out of your arrest in any state?

3. Are you heterosexual, currently not involved in a romantic relationship, unmarried, without children, and free of any family responsibility that may interrupt your 3 years training and BKH?

4. Are you free of any medical concerns that would effect your living the life of a serious athlete for three years, are you free of any medical concerns that would require anyone taking care of your needs for three years to spend any money (on medications, treatments, dental conditions, etc.), and have you never: 1. used intravenously-administered illegal drugs, 2. had even a single sexual encounter with a prostitute, a male, or promiscuous partner unprotected, or 3. spent even one night in jail.?

5. Do you understand that by accepting our invitation and entering the BKH dormitory program you are promising on your honor to complete three years in the program, do you understand that you are ineligible for entry if your intention is to spend any period of time less than that in the dormitory, and are you at least potentially interested in a career in martial arts instruction following your graduation from the BKH program?

6. Are you a nonsmoker (including marijuana), have you been so for at least 6 months, and are you free of any addictions to any drug or alcohol?

7. Are you a US citizen and are you eligible for a US passport?

8. Do you weigh less than 180 pounds if you are 5'6" or shorter, less than 210 pounds if you are 6' or shorter, or less than 240 pounds if you are taller than 6'?

9. Are you free of any injuries, or conditions, that would prevent you from running every morning, 6 days per week?

10. Do you have a valid driver's license (that will not expire for at least your first year in the BKH program), and can you bring it with you along with a social security card or birth certificate?

11. Do you have any religious beliefs that prevent you from participating in any normal activity, and if you are religious, are the practices that you follow such that you can refrain from subjecting them to others with whom you reside? Do you understand that in BKH we do not either encourage or discourage any religious belief, but that we will not make any exception for you an in any situation if there is some religious practice that you feel you must participate in if it in any way conflicts with dormitory routines?

12. Do you understand the meaning of and are you willing to sign the enclosed "On the Nature of the BKH Program . . ." document in the presence of a notary and bring it with you when you come?

13. Do you understand the meaning of and are you willing to sign the enclosed "Premature Departure Guidelines" document in the presence of a notary and bring it with you when you come?

14. Have you read all of the information contained in this packet and all of the information on the BKH website at www.budokaratehouse.com?

15. Are you NOT a neo-nazi or white-supremist, and do you NOT have any body markings (tattoos) that might suggest that you are?

16. Are there NO any other concerns that you have that makes you wonder whether we would admit you if we only knew ************ about you or your past? (Please remember that we maintain the right to throw you out of the program at any time and that includes if you came having answered "yes" to all of these questions, but failed to disclose any piece of information unique to your own personal situation that you wonder if we'd accept you "if we only knew." (This questionnaire doesn't ask you for example if you're a quadriplegic and if you were you might still be able to answer "yes" to all the above questions but once we met you we will still turn you away, with regrets and sympathy, as ineligible.) If there's anything about your person you think we'd want to know, we very strongly advise you to complete the detailed application form.

17. Have you read carefully and do you understand the following statement written by the program director on comforts and freedoms within the BKH program?

Comforts and Freedoms in the BKH Program

"The purpose of the BKH program is to make you tough, and one of the means by which the BKH program works to achieve this goal is to deny you certain comforts and freedoms that young American men take for granted. For example when I (program director) was in the dormitory program that I attended in Japan, I had a Walkman, but I was not allowed to listen to it for about 3 months after I began the program. There was a TV in the dormitory but I never once watched it for my first year in the program and was allowed to watch a video (movie) once every week after that time. All of my meals were chosen for me, none of them included certain things I came to long for such as pizza and tacos, and I was required to eat everything that was put before me to eat.

I was not allowed to leave the dormitory / dojo without permission, and when I was granted permission it was rare, and only to take care of necessary functions such as going to the post office or to the doctor's office. In my 2nd year in the dormitory, I was granted a free day off from 10 am to 10 PM, once every two weeks during which I went to movies and ate fast food, etc., but there was literally none of that type of freedom in my first year, and I was never allowed to take that freedom for granted in my second because if they needed me to work or train in the dormitory/dojo I could be denied my "day off" at any time. I always had enough to eat, but sometimes my meals were prepared by other residents and sometimes they didn't do a good job, and yet I ate what was put in front of me without complaint anyway.

Often times, instruction that I received was given by my seniors in the dormitory (students who'd been there longer that I), often times I was scolded by them for not living up to their expectations, and in some cases, even though they were my seniors, they were not of a very strong intelligence or sense of character, yet I was required to do as they said anyway and not talk back. If I was told to clean a toilet by a senior student, I cleaned the toilet. (My teacher expected me to report to him immediately if I was ever ordered to do anything unethical by a senior student and I never was.)

I was very often - almost daily, in fact, for some periods of time - beaten quite severely in the dojo. I was never beaten in a "please, please don't hit me" type situation in which I was helpless and begging for mercy -- because of course I never did that -- but it was rather in a in-dojo controlled fighting situation in which I'd either displeased the senior student (or teacher) I was fighting with, or in which he'd decided that it was time for me to get my ass kicked a little bit to learn my place better, or to learn what it felt like because getting beaten in fights is a necessary part of learning to win them. Getting "beaten" in these situations never included getting injured (I never had broken bones although I saw a few broken), but they often required getting my thighs pounded with Thai Boxing-style low kicks until I could no longer stand, or getting my wind knocked out (or actually getting myself knocked out a couple times). I saw a number of faces get slapped when students became way out of line. (Don't let this scare you too much; remember our goal is for you to succeed, and new students are introduced to full-contact fighting at a very reasonable pace.)

There was a several week long period in the summer that I slept every night in a puddle of sweat, waking up every 20 or 30 minutes to put cold towels on my forehead and chest because Tokyo was so hot and we had no air conditioning. There was also no heat in our bedroom and we had plenty of blankets, but sometimes when we slept we could see our own breath and it didn't matter if the windows were opened or closed since they weren't insulated anyway. In Japan, I washed all of my own laundry by hand in a wash tub and hung it out to dry. Not only that, but for my first three months there, there was a jerk of a senior student who made me wash his clothes as well, which I did without complaint.

Now, things are different at BKH. We have a washing machine and a dryer and it's rare that students here go three months without Walkmans or one year without a TV. However, you absolutely must understand that it is very much an element of our teaching method to make you tough by making your life hard and by denying you certain comforts and freedoms that you take for granted. After all, you can't become strong in soft living conditions. You have to remember that if you're coming here to change your mind and your body into that of a champion fighter. If you're wanting to come here because it's free and you think it's going to be more comfortable than where you are now, you're probably making a mistake. If you're coming here because you think we're going to be less demanding of you or less strict than your parents, you're definitely making a mistake.

Remember that we want you to become successful. We'll never try to break you (unless your attitude is really bad) but make sure you understand that there's a lot more to success here than just staying here for three years. If we fed you guys pizza and let you do as you pleased, every one could endure three years, but no one would be strong. You're going to be given great advantages here in terms of getting stronger and making yourself into a better person. If you persistently fail to do so, however, you will not graduate."

 

 

The "Cost" to you of Attending the BKH Dormitory Program

1. There is no cost to attend the BKH program but you will be expected to work while in the program to help support the program's nonprofit activities (which is mostly supporting you and your dream of becoming a Budo Karate fighter / instructor). None of the product of your labor performed while in BKH will be returned to you at any time regardless of whether or not you complete the program.

2. There is the nonrefundable $20 application fee, mentioned above, due when you write in to order application materials.

3. No one will be admitted to the program who can not agree (in writing) to complete a two-week notice period should they quit the program prematurely in order to preserve the professional relationships between BKH and area employers. I.e. if you quit the program, your training activities will cease, but you will not be admitted unless you can agree to remain in the dormitory (following dormitory rules and eating dormitory meals) to continue to work your job that you have as a BKH resident for a standard two-week notice period. The contractual consequence of "running away" from that two-week notice period will be the monetary value of two weeks of work.

4. No one will be admitted to the program without turning in upon entering the program a $300 entrance deposit WHICH WILL BE RETURNED TO YOU either upon graduation from the program OR upon the completion of your 2-week notice should you quit the program prematurely. (This means that you will have means to travel home when you leave the dormitory.) Of course there are no bars on the dormitory and residents can simply walk away if they decide they've had enough. From now on however there will be a consequence of this decision: i.e. the value of the two weeks of work that you walked away from starting with the forfeit of your $300 entry deposit.

The 2-week notice rule is a new element to the BKH program as of this past year. This means that many of the just-under-40 BKH residents to date who have quit, simply walked away without any consequence to their breaking of their honor-based promise to complete 3 years of training at BKH. Meanwhile of course, BKH, its director, and remaining dormitory residents suffered the financial and professional consequences of those guys simply "walking off" their jobs. This rule, therefore, have been added IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE PROGRAM from guys who aren't cut out for it and who lack the sense of honor to do the right thing on their own. You don't walk off your jobs at home without giving two-weeks notice, so why should you here?

The bottom line, restated: The cost of BKH is $20 when you apply and the promise of two weeks of working should you quit the program prematurely.

Please remember that the reason for all this detailed material on the website and in the application materials is so that you WILL NOT BE SURPRISED by any element of the BKH program. Some people will read #3 and #4 above and say "forget it! I'm not going to sign something like that!" If that's your reaction, look at the photographs on the "Photo History" link and count former student DL's overseas trips to compete in competitions and participate in seminars during the just-shy-of three years that he lived and ate in the BKH dormitory. How much did that cost him? It cost him TWENTY DOLLARS and lots of blood, sweat and tears. If you would like to participate in the BKH program and not do any work while you're here, we will consider tuition offers beginning at $1000 per month.