BRITISH JU-JITSU AND KOBUDO ORGANISATION

Kirby practised Judo at school and took his first grade in 1965. In 1973 he took up Shotokan Karate under Terry O’Neill and Cliff Hepburn at Salford University and progressed to become a member of the University team which went on to win the British Universities Championships.

In 1977 Kirby went to live in France. There he met Shihan Roland Maroteaux and was introduced to a modern form of Aiki JuJutsu which Shihan Maroteaux had named Goshin Do. He received his Black Belt in this art in 1979, shortly before returning to live in Britain.

The core art of Goshin Do was Hakko Ryu JuJutsu, an art in which Shihan Maroteaux had become the first westerner to gain a Shihan licence in Japan. Kirby went on to study Hakko Ryu with Shihan Roy J Hobbs, an American Air Force Colonel who was stationed near Ipswich at the time. He also trained in Hakko Ryu with Shihan Antonio Garcia from Belgium and graded to Yondan (4^th degree Black Belt) in this art in 1989.

Shihan Hobbs had spent time in Japan and Okinawa and had become the highest graded westerner in the Okinawan system of Seidokan Karate Kobudo under Soke Shian Toma. Kirby studied this art with Shihan Hobbs also and received his Shodan (1^st degree Black Belt) in 1985.

Kirby’s main art, however, and the only one he studies and teaches at the moment, is Kaze Arashi Ryu (Wind Storm School). This is a complete Samurai system using both weapons and empty hand techniques. The empty hand arts of the system are Aiki JuJutsu (throwing, controlling and immobilisation arts) and Atemi Jutsu (striking arts); the weapons arts are Ken Jutsu (blade/sword arts) and Jo Jutsu (staff arts). He has been studying this system since 1985 and in 2022 attained the rank of Menkyo Kaiden (Licence of Full Transmission / Everything Passed), the highest award possible in Kaze Arashi Ryu. His teacher is Henri Robert Vilaire Sensei who lives in the USA. In the same year Kirby was also recognised as 9^th dan Hanshi by the Nihon JuJutsu Kobudo Renmei

Kirby has had articles published in all major British martial arts magazines and for several years wrote a column in Traditional Karate entitled “As I See It!”