About Rick Polland

From left: Yuri, Rick, Kuroda S, Kaminoda S, Osato Sensei at Imperial Palace - Tokyo

Growing up in the Midwest I visited every dojo (all three (1-Judo, 1-Judo & Jujutsu, 1 Karate and Judo) in a city with over 1 million inhabitants and selected the karate dojo. They really didn't do judo.  I studied "Kempo-Goju" karate, a made-up compilation though I didn't know it at the time.
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In college and while teaching karate I met a judoka and policeman named Bruce Brown.  He introduced me to Jodo, Tomiki Aikido, Iaido as well as Masaki Ryu.  I began studying Jodo and Iai in earnest in 1974.

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Life and career have been kind to me. It has allowed me continued access to my teachers in Japan and the opportunity for ongoing training.

Today I reside near Annapolis, Maryland with my wife Yuri and our two children. Well, as of this update, we start anew as "empty-nesters".

As the senior instructor of the Beikoku Rembukan Dojo I guess I can now claim that I've been studying budo for almost 50 years.  I've been fortunate in studying under some of the 20th century's most wonderful sensei (teachers) including: Shimizu, Draeger, Kuroda, Nagamoto, Kaminoda, Tomiki, Oba, Ohtsuka, Suzuki, and Yonemoto to name a few.
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 I hope to dust off some of the photos from the 70's and 80's and add them to a gallery within this web site... It's on theperpetual  to do list along with hundreds of films.
 In studying with people of the caliber of Shimizu, Nagamoto, Tomiki and Draeger Sensei my thoughts have been shaped in countless little ways.  Those of us who trained at the original Rembukan Dojo were embued with Shimizu Sensei's sense of mission.  He had a strong desire to promote Jodo throughout the world without losing the heart of what Jodo is.
I hope that our dojo represents and promotes this same spirit and that in some small ways we are contributing in a positive way to the development of good budo.

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