Home                                                   Sensei Neil Benton. (Click to see Kata)

I began my Karate back in July 1981; the style I started in was the British Karate Jutsu Renmei, under the instruction of Bernard Creton. I trained with this style for about a year, but found it hard as I was busy doing my apprenticeship as a carpenter and joiner, and about same time was diagnosed with epilepsy, which meant was unable to learn to drive so had to rely on others for a lift to training, but as they stopped training, I found it harder and harder to continue, and meant me putting a stop training for a while.       

About 6 months after I had stopped, I found a local club close to were I live, run by James Mulcahy. The style was called Mocho Ryu, and appeared to be based on Shotokan and Shotokai; I train in this style from 1983 to 1989. During this time I graded up to Black belt in Feb 1987. In this style you had to be a probationary Black belt for a year before grading up to Shodan (1^st Dan), which I did the following year.

But at this stage I did not feel as though my grade would be recognized out side of our clubs so encourage my instructors to join British Karate Association (BKA), the reason being that this would give us Martial Arts Commission recognition, as they were the governing body that most styles with power were associated to. This was a turning point for me, because to become part of the BKA we had to be assessed. So in the summer of 1987 Mocho Ryu held a course and a representative from BKA came, this was Sensei Chris Thompson. 

In my heart I knew that what I had been studying for the last 7years was not complete, that something was missing, and here was a man whom could fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle. After this meeting we were accepted into the BKA, and met other clubs within the area that belonged to the BKA. At this time I met one of Sensei Chris Thompson instructors, who had a club in Dover, Sensei Neville Smith.

In 1988 I inherited the New Romney club as James Mulcahy moved out of area, and Kevin Yates his assistant was busy running his business. I found that James Mulcahy and I did not see eye to eye, and not to go into detail he asked me to leave Mocho Ryu. 

This was the birth of Fuji Yama Ryu towards the end of 1989. I contacted the BKA and had to go through the same process to join them as had Mocho Ryu, and this happened 1^st April 1990, also on this day I was assessed officially to the grade of Shodan with the BKA, this assessment was carried out by Sensei Thompson. 

During this time I had been training regularly with Sensei Neville Smith, who had been introducing us to some of the Washinkai syllabus. Later that year I received an invite to attend a weekend course in Hastings with all the instructors within the Washinkai Association, and to my delight was asked if I would like to join. 

I have now been part of British Traditional Karate Association (BTKA) as I write this,15 years, and in that time I have gained many friends and have reached Yodan (4^th Dan), represented the association at national level as an official, and have had many of my students reach their Black Belts. I can say with confidence that I still enjoy my Karate, and that I am still learning, and plan to still be training for as long as I possibly can.   

Sensei Neil Benton.

Updated: 7th July 2005 JFH