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Born in Amsterdam, he was 16 when he applied for the Marines and was accepted to the bootcamp in Doorn in July 1949, in the summer of 1950, the Korean War started, and he applied as a volunteer in the van Heutz regiment. When he was wounded, he was transported to a Japanese hospital in Tokyo. There he saw Judo for the first time when he visited the Kodokan in March 1951. When he saw a demonstration by an elderly man, he knew that this martial art would change his life for good.
Later, he broke his right knee and went into surgery. In 1957, he was invited to train a police dojo in Berlin, Germany and at a private judo club for several months. The money he earned there was invested to go to Canada. He went to the Canadian embassy, threw his medals on the table, and asked for a chance to go to Canada. His wish was fulfilled, and in January 1958 he arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He was hosted by an old friend and introduced the next day to Dalhousie University. There he started his career as a professional judo teacher and gave lessons for two dollars an hour. He also founded the Maritimes Judo Association and became a lifetime honorary member.
Back in Tokyo, he started under the guidance of Donn F. Draeger. Weight training for judo and karate allowed him to finally achieve the desired transformation to heavyweight at a solid 102 kg from his previous 79 kg. He also kept his middleweight speed during the time in which Draeger taught him.
In May 1960, he defeated the Japanese champion Kaminaga with a strangulation hold. During the Olympic training summer of 1960, he finally threw Isao Inokuma, his very close friend and training partner, after an hour-long fight with Uchi mata makikomi. He also received his 4th dan from Kodokan in competition. In April 1959, Dreager asked him to go with him to the police dojo and train under the famous 10th dan Shimizu and Kuroda in bōjutsu, kendo, and iaijutsu. During the all-Japan police championships (Kendo), they were asked to give a demonstration of bojutsu and earned a standing ovation and a third dan in both disciplines from the Japan Kendo federation. Bluming did another examination for Ichitaro Kuroda in iaijutsu and got his third dan from the JKF.
In 1961, Bluming was invited to make a gonin gake (a match against 5 third dans) instead of Inokuma who was in hospital with a bad back injury. Draeger said to him, “Do it, that’s good for your name,” and it was. He won in less than 4 seconds in each match.
Bluming became coach of the Dutch Amateur Judo Association. He made his name throughout Holland and Europe solely because of his fight against the Judo Union of Anton Geesink, who told tales to the press about Bluming but refused several times to meet Bluming on the tatami. Bluming, under false accusations, was not allowed to participate in the Paris competitions. The press was amazed, especially when Bluming was introduced to the black belts of the NAJA as the new coach in the first week of December 1961 in Bloemendaal. He 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.
Reporters wrote the next day that Holland would be first and second in Paris and that Bluming must be allowed to fight. This did not help, and Bluming watched the victory of Anton Geesink in Paris. It made him so miserable that he stopped competing and focused only on teaching instead.
In his career as a teacher he has coached several champions, such as:
Bluming traveled throughout Europe and founded the European Kyokushin kai kan. The first karate union in Europe was founded by Bluming in January 1962. The first-ever karate championships were held in Krasnapolsky Hotel Amsterdam in 1965. The first international match was held against the team of Steve Arneil (a student of Oyama and Bluming in 1967) and was won by the Budōkai dojo.
In the period after this, Bluming delivered a lot of teachers who sometimes went their own way. One example is Loek Hollander, who was at odds with Bluming. The animosity reached such a level in Japan and Europe that the Japanese organization eventually sided with Loek Hollander. The Dutch Karate Organisation (NKA), an initiative of Bluming, grew larger under Hollander and split in the 1980s when several teachers left Hollander due to "irreconcilable differences".
In January 1989, Bluming received his 9th dan in Kyokushin karate from Japan. The same year he also got his 9th dan in Judo from Japan; he was the only one in the world who had both of the highest grades in martial arts from the Japanese organizations. In November 1989, he received a visit from Akira Maeda, 8th dan of the Budōkai. He told Bluming that Mas Oyama had sent him to talk to Bluming and that he wanted Bluming back in the Honbu and to make him President of the World Karate Kyokushinkai-kan. He wanted Bluming to teach the karateka of the Honbu who were keen on fighting professionally in all-round karate, especially in the fight organization “RINGS JAPAN“, of which Maeda was then President. Bluming said that he would do so only if Loek Hollander was out of the Honbu. Maeda said that Mas Oyama was aware of the problems but for several reasons could not agree with that.
In April 1994, Bluming received word that Mas Oyama had died suddenly. Devastated, he went to Tokyo to pay his respect and say goodbye to his teacher. On September 4, he received a fax from Kenji Kurosaki that he was awarded with the grade of his teacher Mas Oyama and received his 10th dan signed by 5 big organizations of Budō in Japan.
Category:1933 births Category:Living people Category:Dutch karateka Category:Dutch judoka Category:Karate coaches Category:People from Amsterdam
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