The Seventies

The hard training throughout the sixties paid off when Doug was graded by Peter Spanton to Brown Belt 3rd Kyu in February 1970, on one of his regular visits to the club. This is when Doug started helping out at classes and first showed a keen interest in teaching.

Complementing his teaching he had competed in Open Kumite competitions and in the North East Karate Kumite League, organised by Bryan Crossley from Bishop Auckland, who had been the first All Britain Kumite Champion in 1965.

Doug scoring in early 70’s Karate League Kumite – Referee Bryan Crossley – before hand pads!

This resulted in Doug winning the Silver Individual Kumite Trophy in North of England Open in 1971 and the following year winning the North East Karate League Kumite Team together with his Budokan colleagues. The league was a forerunner of competitions in the North East & attracted many top clubs such as Sendai Sunderland with John Holdsworth & Owen Murray and Kobukan Darlington with Richard Copeland to name but a few.

His interest in competition continued. With the Budokan squad, Doug travelled to London and competed in the BKA Nationals, Kata and Kumite, reaching the quarter finals in the Kumite at Crystal Palace.

Life moved on, and Doug and Rita were the proud parents of their first son Steven, who was born in 1973.  With priorities changing, Doug, Rita and Steven moved to Carlisle in 1974 to allow Doug to work in Production Engineering at Pirelli. To live in the Lake District was seen as an added bonus, as this was an area they had many times visited in the past on long weekends & vacation breaks.

1975 Carlisle class at Harraby Community Centre, front row – Ian Crawford, Sheena Rock, Unknown, Tom Armstrong.

His dedication to Karate however never waned and Doug opened his first Karate Club in the October 1974 in Carlisle at Harraby Community Centre & the Cumbria School of Karate was born – in 1975 the Whitehaven Club was opened at the YMCA, Duke St.

Also in 1975 their second son Michael was born & Doug had already graded to Black Belt (he was graded to 1st Dan by the BKA Panel in London) – he took the bold step & resigned his job as Production Engineer and began teaching professionally in 1976.

Within 12 months he had started more clubs in Annan, Blackburn, Brampton, Cockermouth, Egremont, Lancaster, Morecambe, Maryport, Penrith, Preston, Silloth, Wigton, Workington and later classes in Langholm & Lockerbie. To ensure that he and his family would make a living, he took all classes himself, usually two venues in one night and then throughout the weekend, driving over 30,000 miles a year.

2nd Summer Course Silloth 1977, Doug Kneeling with Egremont & Whitehaven Instructor Ged Carr 1st Dan. l to r – Richard Bird, Graham Gordon, Frances Holliday, Mike Haslam, Jim Thompson, Sheena Rock, Unknown, Unknown, Steve Thwaites, Unknown.

In 1976 with his own clubs having their first summer residential course at Silloth Lido Holiday Park & the same year saw an opportunity to get the top English & Scottish karate clubs competing together in the ‘Border City’ & founded the renowned ‘Cumbria Open Karate Championships’ at the Carlisle Market Hall.

1976 Front kick board breaking demonstration Carlisle Great Fair Stage

Not wanting to give up his own need to train, Doug began training occasionally with Peter Spanton in London  & Toru Takamizawa in Birmingham.  In 1977 he affiliated his clubs to the Tera Karate Group within the BKA & would travel to Birmingham regularly for private lessons with Sensei Takamizawa at his club, the famous ‘Temple Karate Centre’.  Still looking to grow his own skills, Doug continued to compete in Kumite League, Open and Individual competitions and was the pivot point for the Club Team.

with Eddie Daniels 4th Dan & Toru Takamizawa 5th Dan

In 1977 he attended a Summer Course in Spain with Toru Takamizawa and Eddie Daniels from Shukokai Karate & subsequently was successful in grading to 2nd Dan by BKA Panel in London.

Doug’s first love in the dojo & competitions had always been sparring/kumite, however Sensei Takamizawa’s inspirational teaching & attention to detail, got him equally interested in Kata resulting  in him achieving the Silver medal for Kata in the BKA North West Championships & at the Tera Karate Kai Nationals, he won the Bronze medal for Kata in two successive years & his team won the Junior Team Kumite.

1977 Cumbria Wado Ryu Championships at Carlisle Market Hall

1977 Ticky Donovan Course in Carlisle

1978 Whitehaven Club Top left: first Black Belt John Fitzsimmons & Carlisle Club first Female Black Belt Frances Holliday, Egremont 1st Dan Ged Carr, next to Doug

At Penrith Dojo circa 1978

His reputation was clearly growing and he opened a new club in Newcastle Upon Tyne in 1978, and later other clubs in the North East followed with Morpeth, Sunderland, Hexham, Prudhoe & Durham, thus the ‘North East School of Karate’ was born.  The time commitment was clearly growing and Doug decided to re-structure the number of club venues, so he could personally teach at the majority of the clubs and look forward to the remainder of the decade with the assurance that the students were getting the best he could offer.

1978 – 2nd Dan Grading & the Panel deciding our fate – l to r – Harvey Barker, Bryan Crossley, Dicky Wu, Toru, John Smith & Timmy Francis

1979 Tera Karate Kai Nationals Junior Team Winners ‘Cumbria School of Karate’ – kneeling David Whiley, Ivor Savage, Lynne Byers, Robert Toole – l to r – Richard Bird (Penrith Club first Black Belt), Shirley Routledge, Ged Carr, Aileen Sinclair, Gillian Walton, Jim Thompson (Carlisle Club first Black Belt), Rita, Eddie Potts, Doug, Tim Bird, Unknown, Richard Bradley.

Summer Course at Southport 1979, with Ged Carr then a 2nd Dan.

1979 Cumbria Open – ‘Cumbria School of Karate’ Team lining up, l to r, Mike Pattinson, Robert Toole, Unknown, Ivor Savage, Richard Bird.

Link to The Eighties –>

The Sixties

1967 Middlesbrough Budokan Martial Arts Club – standing 4th from right Doug a White Belt – Club Founder & his first Instructor Fred Kidd 1st Dan centre kneeling – far left standing, John Sparkes 1st Dan – standing 5th & 6th from right, Cliff Richmond, White Belt & John Gittus, Green Belt – back row standing 2nd from left, Norman Wall, Green Belt. 

Doug Started training at the Middlesbrough Budokan Martial Arts Club in May 1967, aged 20. The Karate style practised was Wado Ryu within the BKA, originally under Chief Instructor Tatsuo Suzuki 7th Dan, who first introduced Wado Ryu Karate to the UK in 1963 .

His first interest in the Martial Arts was in 1963 when he trained in Judo at age 16 for about a year. Unfortunately the Club closed and Doug then joined the home town Rugby Club, West Hartlepool and played regularly for the Under 18’s and later for the Senior Teams for a few years.

Doug watched a Karate Demonstration in Hartlepool in mid 60’s given by Walter Seaton, then a 1st Dan and was very impressed. How the human body could develop power and skill, with such precision! This left him with a lasting impression, but did not join because of rugby commitments. Little did he know at the time, that Karate in the future, was to have such an influence and affect on the direction of his life.

Early in 1967 he went to a local beginner class one evening at the Middlesbrough Budokan Martial Arts Club with a work colleague who was already a club member, and was hooked straight away. Fred Kidd 1st Dan was the Club Head Instructor, assisted occasionally by John Sparkes also a 1st Dan – fellow members who went on to be accomplished Senior Karate Instructors were Norman Wall, Cliff Richmond and John Gittus who later emigrated to Australia.

The club also had Judo and Kendo sections which Doug tried on a few occasions – but it was Karate that he was fanatical about. The weekly training routine which was rarely missed was Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at the club, then Sunday mornings would be local hill running up Eston Nab, then back to the dojo for stretching & sparring. Green belt was the first target, then Brown belt!

The visiting Instructor for occasional weekend courses was Peter Spanton, then a Wado Ryu 2nd Dan, who would travel from London and Tommy Morris on a few occasions, then a 3rd Dan Shukokai from Glasgow, who introduced him to alternative Style techniques and a variety of weapons including the Sai, Tonfa and Nunchaku.

Doug & Rita met in 1965 while Doug was training to be a draughtsman in Middlesbrough and they were married in September 1967 at Great Ayton, moving to Middlesbrough & lived in a flat, then later bought their first ‘home’ in early 70’s, a bungalow in Hutton Rudby.

Link to The Seventies –>

This section leads you through 7 decades of an outstanding Martial Arts Career, by following the footsteps of the Chojinkai Karate Founder and Chief Instructor, Sensei Doug James 9th Dan.

A Brief Synopsis – Sensei James  started training in 1967 and is regarded as one of Britain’s Senior and Most Respected Professional Instructors.  For 21 years he was an International Karate Referee (1986 to 2007), officiating at the highest level – European and World Championships within the World Karate Federation (WKF).  In 2009 he retired as a member of the English & British Karate Referee Commission after a domestic refereeing career spanning over 30 years, awarded the rank of 8th Dan by the English Karate Federation, subsequently endorsed by the WKF.  In January 2022 he was awarded 9th Dan by the Board of the English Karate Federation, acknowledging his 55 years training in Karate – the promotion was endorsed by the Secretary of the WKF Technical Commission.

Sensei James is a Founder Member of the EKF – the Governing Body for Karate in England recognised by the World Karate Federation.  He is President of the Association and very much a ‘hands on’ Chief Instructor maintaining the renowned High Technical Standards within the Chojinkai Karate Clubs.

This section tracks in detail his route through the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, the noughties, then 2010 to the present day, through Karate from Beginner to Master, from a time when the art was for the UK at least in its infancy, to now when Karate is a worldwide established Art and Sport enjoyed by millions and recognised as a most effective form of self defence.  Included are archive photos & magazines covers that featured articles on Doug James through the decades.

The Chojinkai Lineage Section shows the “Doug James/Chojinkai Karate” direct link to the early pioneers of oriental unarmed combat prior from the 1800s through to the founders of modern day karate in early 1900s through to Doug James and Chojinkai Karate’s inception in the late 1900s.

Traditional Karate Magazine 

Doug James Interview 2003

The Video Documentary here is entitled “Chojinkai – The Story So Far”, and is a fascinating visual biography as told by Doug James, covering the first 35 years in Martial Arts & was recorded in 2002 with a running time of approximately 13 mins.

Link to The Sixties –>