A traditional Japanese martial art, taught properly, ten minutes from Hereford. Adults train Monday and Thursday evenings. No experience needed, and your first class is free.
New home from 7 September 2026
All classes now take place in the Eurythmy Room at Steiner Academy Hereford, Much Dewchurch, HR2 8DL. Free on-site parking. Our previous dojo at Kingstone is closed.
Timetable
Adults & young people · 12+
£35 per month, one night a week
£50 per month, both nights
Unarmed technique, weapons, movement and awareness. Complete beginners train alongside experienced students from the first night. Classes run all year.
Try a class freeAges 6 – 11 · term time
£7 per session, booked by half term
Balance, coordination, safe falling, focus and confidence — taught as a martial art, not a sport. Two qualified adults present at every session.
About the children's classThe art
Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu draws on nine traditional Japanese schools — 流派 ryūha — carrying the unarmed and armed methods of the samurai and the shinobi.
There is no competition and no points. Training works through taihenjutsu (rolling, falling, evasion and positioning), dakentaijutsu (striking with the whole body) and jūtaijutsu (throws, locks and controls). Weapons follow: 棒 bō, 半棒 hanbō, 木剣 bokken and more, always in wood or blunted practice form.
The emphasis is adaptability rather than specialisation — reading a situation and moving well within it. That makes it as much a study of distance, timing and attention as of technique, and it is why people in their fifties train alongside people in their twenties without either being held back.
Instructor
Shihan · 10th dan, Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu
Training since 2003 · Teaching in Hereford since 2017
Lisandro began training in Argentina in 2003, at eighteen, under Dai Shihan Juan Manuel Gutiérrez. He has trained under the same teacher for over twenty years.
In 2015 he travelled to the Bujinkan Honbu Dojo in Noda, Japan, to take the sakki test — the examination that confers the licence to teach. The candidate kneels in seiza with their eyes closed while a padded sword is cut down at their head from behind. It is not a test of technique. It is a test of whether you perceive the intention before the cut.
He has since been graded to 10th dan and holds the title of Shihan. It was Soke Masaaki Hatsumi, head of the Bujinkan, who gave this dojo its name: 神龍 Shinryū — divine dragon.
Safety and safeguarding
The chief instructor holds an Enhanced DBS certificate including a Children's Barred List check, registered with the DBS Update Service so it can be verified at any time.
Instructor public and products liability cover of £5 million, underwritten by Allianz Insurance plc.
The children's class is taught by the chief instructor with a second DBS-checked, first-aid-trained adult present throughout.
A safeguarding and child protection policy and a venue risk assessment are in place and available to parents on request.
45m² of matting is laid for every session. Falling and rolling are taught progressively, and never rushed.
All weapons training uses wood, foam or blunted practice forms. No live blade is brought into the dojo.
Questions
No. Most people who join have never done a martial art before. You will start with how to stand, how to move and how to fall safely, and you will be trained by people who were beginners themselves not long ago. Your first class is free.
No. Taijutsu is built on efficient movement rather than strength or speed, which is precisely why it can be trained for decades. You set your own pace, and you can sit out any drill without explanation.
Loose comfortable clothes — a tracksuit and a t-shirt are ideal. Training is barefoot on mats. Don't buy a uniform until you have decided to keep coming.
Twelve. Young people aged 12 to 17 train in the adult class, with a parent or guardian's written consent.
Yes, free on-site parking at Steiner Academy Hereford.
Progress is by kyū and then dan grades. Grading is at the instructor's invitation based on your training, not on a fixed timetable or a fee you can simply pay.
Yes. The dojo hosts an annual seminar and takes part in others across the UK, Spain and Argentina. Details are announced to members first.
Visit the dojo
Message first so we know to expect you. Arrive ten minutes early on your first night.
Eurythmy Room
Steiner Academy Hereford
Much Dewchurch
Herefordshire HR2 8DL
Adults — Mon & Thu, 7.00–8.30pm
Children — Thu, 3.45–4.15pm
Children's class runs in term time
About ten minutes' drive south of Hereford city centre, off the B4348. Free on-site parking.
First class free
No contract, no joining fee, and nothing to buy before you know whether it suits you.
Email the dojo