Jon Bluming
Johannes Cornelius Bluming (6 February 1933 – 17 December 2018) was a Dutch martial artist, instructor and actor. Known as a pioneer in variety of martial arts, Bluming held 9th dan in Judo, 10th dan in Karate and 10th dan in Hapkido. He was also the coach of two-time Olympic champion Willem Ruska. Career. Early life and training. Born in Amsterdam, he was 13 when he started to train in boxing, but three years later he applied for the Marines to escape poverty and was accepted to the bootcamp in Doorn in July 1949. During the break out  of the Korean War in 1950, Bluming was sent to Korea as part of the van Heutz regiment. He received several decorations and was wounded twice, having to be moved to Tokyo to recover. It was there where he came in contact with the Asian martial arts, witnessing a judo exhibition by Kyuzo Mifune at the Kodokan school in March 1953. Deciding to try judo when he returned to Holland, Bluming meanwhile trained in taekkyon in Korea. Back in the Netherlands in November, Bluming trained in judo under Eddy Roosterman and the renowned G. F. M. Schutte at the Tung -Yang Club, and gained his black belt in three years. In 1956, Bluming was appointed coach of the Dutch national team, which won the European championships in Bellevue. The following year he received the 3º dan from Tokio Hirano by beating 75 judokas in 26 minutes, one of them being another 3º dan, in a tournament in Ermelo, in which Bluming fought with an injured toe. The victory got him invited to teach at a police dojo in Berlin, Germany. After winning some tournaments, he moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1958, teaching judo at the Dalhousie University. However , after finding himself struggling to defeat a American 4º dan while in United States, he finally moved to Tokyo, Japan in 1959. Career in Japan. Upon his arrival to Japan, Bluming was accepted in the Kodokan Institute, where he trained under names like Toshiro Daigo, Yoshimi Osawa and Kazuo Ito. His tenure was successful, winning all of his matches and reaching a record of points only matched by French 5º dan Maurice Quell. Being satisfied with his throws, he moved with the renowned Yaichihyōe Kanemitsu to perfect his groundwork, around the same time he complemented his judo training by learning  karate, aikido, iaijutsu, bojutsu and kendo under masters like Takaji Shimizu and Ichitaro Kuroda. in karate, he first joined the Shotokan school, but soon switched to Kyokushin, which was more to his liking. During his time in Tokyo, he lived with Donn F. Draeger and Robert W. Smith, and was in the former's judo class, where popular opinion placed the 25 best judo practitioners in Tokyo. Bluming gained his 4º dan after beating Akio Kaminaga by choke and Isao Inokuma by uchi mata makikomi. He and Draeger also trained in bojutsu, iaijutsu and kendo with Tokyo police instructors Takaji  Shimizu and Ichitaro Kuroda. Also under Donn's tutelage, Bluming underwent training to move to a heavier weight class, ascending from his natural . This brought more success, as Bluming replaced Inokuma in a "gonin gake" (a judo challenge against five opponents of 3º dan or higher) and accomplished a shocking record of four seconds. Return to Europe and death. After his training in Japan, Bluming received a letter from the Netherlands in which Schutte asked him to come back and teach at the old dojo and the Amateurs Association for a year on contract. Bluming went back to teach his  old friends, make some new ones, and possibly participate in the 1961 World Judo Championships in Paris in December, but his career would hal when the Dutch Jujitsu and Judo Association (NJJB) impeded him from joining the competition. Bluming entered a public enmity with fellow Dutch star Anton Geesink, a potential rival, whom Bluming accused of working with NJJB chief Jan Van Der Horst to leave him out. Bluming issued a public challenge to the now world champion Geesink, but the NJJB again vetoed it. He then made a match against all comers, some 80 judoka from 1st dan to  4th dan, and threw them all within about four seconds in full view of the press, but even so, Geesink did not step down to fight him. After watching Geesink's victory in Paris, a frustrated Bluming retired from competition and focused only on karate and teaching instead. In 1965, Bluming became the first non-Japanese in being awarded the 6º dan in karate from Masutatsu Oyama. This decision was controversial enough among Asian karatekas to force Oyama to put a challenge in a magazine, challenging any of them to a fight against Bluming in a boxing ring and promising  to strip him from the black belt if the Dutchman lost. Oyama was so confident that he also promised a hefty bounty, and swearing to retire himself from the Kyokushin school. Only the Korean champion Kwan Mo Gun accepted the challenge, and was swiftly knocked out by Bluming via shotei. Bluming remained a close coworker of Oyama, but over time he became critical with his policies, and eventually left the school due to disagreements with him. founding his own school, Kyokushin Budokai. However, he remained a respected member of the association, being awarded the 9º dan in 1989. Four years  later, Bluming was contacted by Akira Maeda from Fighting Network Rings, a professional wrestling and mixed martial arts promotion which had a working agreement with both Oyama himself and Bluming's apprentice Chris Dolman. Through Maeda, Masutatsu offered him to return as a trainer and mediator with Rings, which Bluming accepted with the condition to expel another of his enemies, Loek Hollander, from the school.. In 1994, after Oyama's death, Bluming was awarded the 10º dan by Kenji Kurosaki. Bluming died on December 17, 2018.