By Harold Baldry
I had my first introduction to Kempo Jutsu in about 1977 when I began training with Ken Twadell, a black belt based in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. My first night was a revelation; I could not believe the difference between what we did and what I had done in other styles. It was tough, difficult and absolutely no nonsense. Ken had Dojo’s in various towns in the mountains so I quickly found myself travelling 4 nights of the week, absorbing all that I could from this excellent instructor. As an aside, as the years progressed Ken and I become good friends and although it is sometime since I have travelled to Queensland to train with him and his students (and have a few beers) I still hold him in high regards.
I recall in those early years training with some of Ken’s students and although their names have left my aging memory cells, I remember their commitment to the style. At one training session I recall one of the then blue belts (I think I was a white belt still) was sparring with me and he said, “this is tough and there is so much to learn” I replied, in my natural flippant fashion “ it wont be too hard for me” and he asked, “why is that?” I replied, “because long after you have given up and left the style I will still be here kicking, punching and learning”. These proved to be truthful words.
As the months moved on I often heard Ken tell stories of what seemed superhuman feats by the chief instructor Shihan Kyoshi Tom Slaven. One of the stories revolved around a group of undesirables who were training in the style and they had apparently been involved in a spineless attack on a young person. It seems the Shihan took umbrage to this and visited the club and took the class that night. Apparently after the warm up he sat all the class down but the group of undesirables and then demonstrated techniques you might use in self defence situations. I have it on good authority that there were some sore people that night and, fortunately for them they never returned to the dojo.
In 1978, Ken asked me if I would like to go with him to our new Hombu in Kingswood and meet the Shihan Kyoshi, it took me at least 2 seconds to reply “yes” so that weekend I was first introduced to a man that was to change my life for ever. I walked into the Hombu with Ken and bowed at the door, then I saw a man with a red beard and moustache, it was neat and tidy. As I looked into the eyes of the man, I felt an immediate warmth and invitation radiate from him. He shook hands with Ken and said hi to me. As I shook his hand I was amazed at the strength that was there, he didn’t squeeze my hand, he didn’t need to, the strength was just there. My immediate observation was of a man about 5’ 4” high, very stocky build and one of those rascally Scottish accents that we all hear from time to time. It was at that time I also met a tall, extremely capable martial artist named Shihan John Duncan. John was Tom’s most senior and trusted student; a trust John has always proven was well founded.
A class was run that afternoon and I was in awe at the unbelievable speed of this man Tom Slaven, he was undoubtedly the most capable warrior I have ever met. He had an ability to know what you were thinking before you knew yourself. If he liked you, he would do anything for you, if he didn’t, you would soon find out.
In about 1981 there was a meeting with myself, Shihan John and Shihan Kyoshi Tom. Tom asked me if I would use my skills of marketing to help bring new students into our system, in return he offered me free training for life. I replied that I could help get them in but I was unable to retain them, as my skills were not developed enough. He replied that he and John would retain those that we could get in. He wanted to change some of the things within the style and, to reflect a new beginning he changed the name of our style to Zen Chi Ryu.
Over the next five years I trained with Shihan Kyoshi on week nights, week ends and any other time I could get away from work (which was often). We advertised and helped every body who came into the Hombu, we worked every one very hard but we made sure there was always a goal for each student. In those years I trained with some absolutely superb martial artists. They came from every walk of life imaginable. Once again my memory over all these years has dimmed somewhat but some of my training mates were Chad Manning, Larry Helm, Jack Ward and Andy Malito. They were great people and as tough as nails. The training made you physically tough for if the Shihan Kyoshi identified a weakness in you then he made sure that was trained away. I have memories of wonderful training sessions where we would train for hour after hour, I have no idea how our bodies took all the punishment but they did. Tom had a tattoo of a dragon on his bicep, we measured it one day and it would actually fit across my back from one shoulder to the other…….he was a very strong man who in his early career had been a heavy weight wrestler in Scotland.
I recall the night Tom introduced us to punching balloons, now that was hard. A training partner would hold an inflated balloon by the teat and you had to punch and twist your fist on impact. If you did it right the balloon broke, if you didn’t, it just moved away. Tom could break the damn balloon every single time he punched; I must have done the thing 1000 times to break it only once. If you want to see how hard it is, give it a go. Tom was a pragmatist, a man who was unbelievably intelligent, he had a way of making complex matters seem simple and one of the things he used to say that has stuck with me for life is “ it doesn’t matter what style it is, a kick in the balls is a kick in the balls and it hurts”. He would punch or kick out 6 candles in a row, walk through the scrub and break bush rocks (that took two of us to pick up) with a single elbow strike and disarm any attacker holding any weapon with a belt.
At one stage we were training with the weapon called Bo (long staff) and to our amazement Tom’s Bo, instead of being made of wood like ours, was 5’11” of solid steel bar. It must have weighed 25 kilograms. He would twirl and thrust this thing like it weighed absolutely nothing. He got me to try it one night and as I passed it around my waist, it just kept going, I couldn’t stop it.
About 1983 Tom told me that he wanted to extend the number of Dojo’s we had and as I had, by that time moved into Sydney (from Springwood), I decided to start to repay him for all the personal training he had given me. My first class was held in a squash court in the Drummoyne area. My first student was Serena Cordeaux and from these humble beginnings we built a system. I was graded to San Dan (3rd Dan) on 1st and 2nd of June 1985. Along the way he gave me the honour of holding the title of Yojimbo which literally meant bodyguard….as if he needed it. These days I hold no Dan grading, I am simply the Chief Instructor of our system which is called Kempo Jutsu.
Over the years Tom trained many of the best martial artists in Australia. John Duncan is a technical advisor to Zen Chi Ryu and was a champion heavy weight fighter, he is an extremely capable person who sometimes does demonstrations to raise money for charities or other worthwhile events.
As the time passed, I built up the greatest of respect for Tom Slaven and assure you dear reader that there has never been a martial artist like this man in modern times. His ability to punch was legendary, consider he could punch many times a second, it was too quick to measure his reaction time (a university did try).
The funniest story I ever tell about Tom actually happened back in the 80’s when he set a new world record for an ice break in Canberra. The next day we had a day of training and the start time was 8am (I was told) anyway I got there at about 7.45 and waited and waited. Apparently the start time had been moved to 9.00am and I hadn’t been told. At about 8.45am people started to arrive and at about 8.55am I went to the bathroom and when I got back into the huge training room, Tom was on the war path, he was upset by something and he looked at me and yelled out that I was late so I had to go and do 3000 push ups. Now I had been there for ages but I wasn’t about to get into any argument with him, so off to the back of the room I went. He eventually took pity on me after about 1200 and it was just as well because I doubt I could have done another one. That day had many twists and turns and we all left there worn out but better trained.
In about 1990 Tom indicated I should move out of Zen Chi Ryu and train under our original name of Kempo Jutsu. Tom passed away on the 22nd September 1993. I visited him several weeks before and I remained a friend until his death, I attended his funeral and cried, and I will remain a student until my death.
Some pictures of Tom Slaven in action:
Tom Slaven Picture 1
Tom Slaven Picture 2
These days we have a great student following, our students train with us and stay for a long time (Sensei Serena is still training with me, although her knees creek a bit these days). We teach that which I was taught and I consider myself to have only a small percentage of the ability of Shihan Kyoshi Tom Slaven. Unfortunately he is no longer around for me to learn off so these days my students teach me every time we bow in.
My senior students are:
Sensei Dale Swift 4th Dan
Sensei Joe Patane 3rd Dan
Sensei Elaine Ogden 3rd Dan
Sensei Serena Cordeaux 2nd Dan
Sensei Delicia Cordeaux 2nd Dan
Sensei Stephen Laws 2nd Dan
Lisa Dodd 2nd Dan
Over the years we have graded many people to black belt, the task is the most arduous and demanding physical and emotional test ever conceived. It is the same test I did all those years ago and nothing makes our student body as happy as watching another student move from boy to man. It is the mark of a good teacher to have successful students.
So this is a small part of 40 years with a system, it has been great for me and it made me a very positive person who just doesn’t know how to give up. If you train with us, never think it is too hard or you are tired, there is no place for that in what we do. Our Shihan Kyoshi had three words that drive us on:
Conceive
Believe
Achieve
