Institute of Aikido Auckland

Sensei Dunken Francis is a 4th dan Traditional Aikido instructor & qualified Sports Coach with over 20 years experience teaching both adults and children, and is the author of the popular “Aikido – A beginner’s guide” (book) and “Aikido – The first steps” (DVD) used as study guides in many dojos throughout the world.

“My family moved house to West London, and soon realized that there was a martial arts club being run from the big old shed behind the Pub at the end of the road. In an attempt to burn off some of our excess energy my brother and I were quickly introduced to the Saturday morning kids classes. This was early 1974, the legendary Hut Dojo (birthplace of Aikido in the UK) and the start of my fascination with Aikido.

I trained for about 5 years as a child, mainly under various the yudansha that would take it in turns to teach the kids classes, but occasionally sensei Foster, the head honcho, or as most people referred to him “The Boss” or “The Guv’nor” would show up, and I remember being hugely impressed with him, how he moved and the energy he created on the mat. Sensei Foster (7th dan IA, 6th dan Aikikai) was one of the original group that started Aikido in the UK under Kenshiro Abbe sensei and it was my honour to eventually become his uke, assistant and friend.

For a man with one lung (removed in his 20's after a severe bout of Pleurisy) he was amazingly nimble and moved with a fluidity and groundedness rarely seen, and also produced a incredible power for a small man. In his later years he was susceptible to regular winter chest infections so it fell to me to cover the majority of the classes, and it was here that I first started regularly teaching.

From the first time I picked up a bokken I could feel how useful a tool this would be to me, not only for physical conditioning but as a feedback process, allowing me to examine my posture, stance, movement and structure in the kind of detail that would be much harder otherwise. Using the Jo also allowed me to see an exaggerated version of my body movement and gave valuable insights into the core principles of Aikido, concentration upon ones centre, natural extension, weight underside and relaxation. As such I have always considered my Aiki training to be composed of three parts, tai-jutsu, bokken and jo.

I studied Modified Kung Fu under master Derek Jones in London for about 3 and half years whilst I was at university, and
I have always been keen to cross-train with anyone who would let me on the mat, but most of my life has been dedicated
to exploring, promoting and studying Aikido and I have been lucky enough to teach and train all over the world.
I emigrated to New Zealand and in 2005 and our new organisation, The Institute of Aikido International is proud to have
some superb clubs affiliated to it, including my Auckland and Silverdale dojos. Our doors are always open!”