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Bill Vaughan
Biography
Bill Vaughan the founder of Zenbukan Karate jutsu was born in the industrial town of Walsall in Staffordshire, England in 1931.
As he approached his eleventh birthday, he was inspired by pictures of commandos practicing unarmed combat, and the usual school yard bullies to take up some form of combat art. He met through a fortuitous introduction, Shihan (master teacher), Jim Hipkiss, and was taught the art of Daito Ryu Aiki Bujutsu. He also, during this period of time, took up boxing.
He went into the army in1949 and went to Malaya in 1951, and served there until 1954. During this time he was exposed to the teachings of Sifu Ah FAT and became skilled in the kung fu art of Chuan Fa.
On a training visit to Japan he became involved with Oyama karate and stayed with this style until 1975, when after an unfortunate internal political incident he broke away and founded the style of Zenbukan Karate, which means "the complete way".
Zenbukan is a progressive style, it takes the best techniques and adapts them to specific needs, it discards the impractical while still preserving the traditional. It will always keep up with modern trends, but will preserve the old tradition.
IN HIS OWN WORDS
The Australian Martial Arts Association was established in 1980 and incorporated in South Australia two years later . It was originally established to provide an organization for martial artists who for mainly financial reasons were denied access to to other organizations . It was formed by three high-ranking martial artists , Sensei Bill Vaughan , Sensei Karl Stoker and Sensei Joe Lamarca . At the first meeting of the newly formed association Sensei Bill Vaughan was elected president and remains in this office to the present day . He has been elected unopposed at each and every election .
The A.M.A.A. Inc is a non-profit and non-political organization , the aims of which are the furtherance of all martial arts without prejudice towards race , colour , gender , sexual preference or political and religious beliefs . the association provides membership to both traditional and eclectic styles of martial arts .
This was written by Bill Vaughan Sensei himself so to keep it authentic we have left the typos and incorrect name spelling as is.
Bill Vaughan's Phoenix Magazine Article
Kancho Bill Vaughan took up Daito Ryu Aiki bujitsu, at the age of ten towards the end of 1942 when World War II still had more than three years to run. At the same time, encouraged by his father, he took up boxing. He loved it.
He still believes it was boxing that gave him his ability with his hands and made his footwork pure reflex.
In our interview he stated: "Although there is a movement against boxing I feel Karate, Kung Fu and Tae Kwon Do practitioners can benefit from taking lessons from boxing or kickboxing instructors". "At least you will find out what it is like to be hit", he added.
In those days, Bill said boxing was actually encouraged and practiced in a lot of schools. In the gyms it was not unusual to have a real fight at least once a fortnight in front of, as fight fans were called in those days, "The Fancy".
These fights were attended by fight promoters and managers looking for potential professional boxers. Bill estimates he probably had 400 fights as an amateur boxer winning all but two of them. His amateur career culminated in him winning the all Britain Inter Club Light Weight division in 1947/48. He then turned professional.
Bill had thirteen fights as a pro, winning twelve inside the distance and losing the 13th on a disqualification. Regarding the disqualification, he said "I was under a bit of pressure. I thought this guy was going to kill me. So seeing an opening I flattened him with a side kick to the jaw. It worked like a charm but the referee and the officials took a dim view of it. End of boxing career".
Karate competitions did not really get going until the late 1950's. Just about every one of them was billed as a championship event. "Let me put it like this. In my competitive days I never lost a bout," said Bill. "Probably the hardest type of competition to fight in, if a no-contact bout can be called a fight, was the ippon or one point events. I was fast with my hands and feet and had good control but those fights aren't for real. I agree with Mas Oyama when he said non contact karate is a game of tag for two".
"The last big event in the United Kingdom that I took part was a tournament billed as a European championship. In 1967, I took out the middleweight title". Bill also told me that he won the Kata event with a Kyokushin Karate Kata called Garyu."I could leap a bit in those days and my high round house kicks weren't bad either," he added. Not long after that Bill migrated to Australia.
In 1969 he entered the "Moss Hollis" Australian Championship and won. He performed in Kata with Shusiko and Kanku - Dai, Tameshiwara (breaking 100 1lbs in under 30 seconds. Later shown on Channel 7) and in special event - nailing two pieces of wood together by punching nails through them. In the free style sparring he won the black belt and the open divisions.
After the event Moss Hollis asked Bill to teach for him.
In 1983, but now much too old for competition fighting (52 years), Bill entered a team in the South Australian Championships at Flinders University with himself as captain.
Much to his surprise and delight they won the title. In that tournament Bill and his team also won the team weapons kata with "Jion". Since then Bill has won best instructors and best referee trophies several times. He has also won a gold medal for rifle and pistol shooting. "Shooting is surely a type of martial art" says Bill. Master Vaughan has spent 58 years in the martial arts and says he would "do it all again if I could".
Master Vaughan's principal teachers have been Shihan Jim Hipkiss (Daito Ryu Aiki Bujutsu), Sifu Ah Fat (Chuan Fa Kung Fu), and his favourite Mas Oyama (Kyokushinkai Karate). From training all over the world Bill now lives and teaches Zenbukan Karate (the complete way) in Adelaide, South Australia.
From an article in 'The Phoenix "magazine by Roy Fuller.
Gary Simpson, the A.M.A.A.'s West Australian regional representative, knew Kancho Bill Vaughan for approximately 15 years. Despite the separation of distance, they kept in regular contact with each other over all those years
Gary said: "I always found Bill's wisdom in martial arts in general and specifically in karate very useful to me. It was a very sad time for martial arts in Australia when Bill passed away at age 70 after a long illness. One of my most treasured memories was being personally graded by Bill Vaughan to 6th Dan."
In 2000, Gary was delighted to be asked by Bill to perform weapon katas (bo and kama) at Bill's testimonial dinner in Adelaide before a gathering of some of Australia's most senior and prominent martial artists.
