Axis Martial Arts 軸武道 Is Back In Portsmouth!

Recently we decided to relocate from Rugby in the Midlands back to Sensei Jamie Seals hometown of Portsmouth in Hampshire! 

In the past 12 days we have gone from 0 to 2 dojos in the area and we have plans to expand far beyond this in the coming weeks. Portsmouth holds a special connection for us at Axis Martial Arts 軸武道 as it is the place where it all started for and lead to a journey (Musha Shugyo) that lasted the past 15 years to train with some of the best masters up and down the UK.

Now for me (Sensei Jamie Seal) its been quite a crazy adventure! I left Portsmouth after years of not exactly being a great person.

I was quite fortunate to have the influence of my grandmother and grandfather who to be honest are the only reason I am the way I am today, I have seen many of my friends systematically implode their own lives over the years and that sucks but I made the decision years ago that wouldn't be my fate so I left and moved to Liverpool at first.

I have always had a crazy passion for martial arts and even as a young lad kind of knew I would be where I am now. I remember talking to a friend of mine Sam many years ago when we were like 15 that I felt I had a bigger destiny to fulfil than what I was currently seeing as my future growing up (By this point I was already going raving with my family). 

Buzz and I spent years training, doing Royal Marines training regimes, discussing martial arts for hours, training at various dojos but I knew the day I found Ninjutsu that was it I was hooked on training.

However I never quite felt the Ninjutsu Dojo in Portsmouth was quite "it" something was missing for me. Out of respect I won't be specific but it was like Ninjutsu/MMA ot wasn't strictly the Takamatsuden which was what I really needed to understand not general techniques and framework that wasn't a clear path that was somewhat my issue with Jujutsu it was fun but it was limited. 

I think it was around 2010 I met Shihan Dave Giddings (10th Dan) and to this day he is my true Ninjutsu instructor. Dave had this way of teaching that immersed you in the art and the history and he reinforced the how and why behind everything there was a MAJOR difference between the BBD and BWS! I loved the time I got in the dojo training with the guys in Newbury I learned as much as I could and would spend hours training in Kukishin Ryu Rokkushakubojutsu and going through kata in my garden. This was when I kind of knew I had to dedicate myself to doing what I do now. 

It was kind of difficult though I felt quite socially isolated outside of the dojo as I lived in a place called Kintbury which was out in the middle of nowehere in the country so eventually I got sick of it and moved to Rugby, Warwickshire.

My family had just comes back from living in Aarhus, Denmark and I was spending quite a lot of time over in Aarhus as it was fun chilling out with some of the guys over there. If you don't know already I am a massive Hip Hop head and Denmark strangely had quite a big hip hop community making music and rapping. I was training a lot but still kind of figuring myself out to be honest, I don't feel like I was quite "there" at that point despite having already obtained my Shodan (1st Dan) in Ninjutsu. I can't stress this enough if you think a black belt makes you a master you are foolish and impetuous, its the base of the mountain in terms of training you understand the basics/fundamentals at this point but its not a sign of mastery.

I knew this and I guess that lead me to having a bit of imposter syndrome so I went to train at a dojo in Hickley. This DID NOT help me 🤣 The instructor there was thr total opposite of Dave he was an egomaniac who knew the art but my god did he want to maintain a monopoly on it. Students there would train for years between grades and it was all sort of geared towards the instructor making money for his stunt company. I decided that considering I was a Shodan I would ask for him to approve me teaching in Rugby and presented him with the first copy of my syllabus. He ripped me a new one over having the audacity to ask to run a Shibu (Study Group) in a different area to him and started to slander me online which destroyed my confidence for a while.

Dave Giddings however said no he's being an idiot do what you want you can run a Shibu at 2nd Kyu anyway so I approve you to set up in Rugby! I will always appreciate this Dave kicked me up the arse into at least trying to teach independently and gave me everything I needed to start. For this I will always be infinitely grateful as I might have just quit at this point. 

I set up my first class at Overslade Community Centre in Rugby and there were 3 of us, My brother in law, my brother and I and we were the only ones there that first day. I remember I was thinking oh we will set up and probably have a few people turn up but I had no idea how to market the dojo or anything like that just thought if you build it they will come or something. 

After the first few lessons (2-5) we started getting more interest and people in the area started coming in. I think my first 2 public students were two 60+ year old women who wanted to learn some self defence. They actually enjoyed what I was teaching I kept it simple but effective and I started to feel like I might actually be pretty good at teaching. There were some issues though like the venue was expensive and I needed to learn marketing skills so I went to the Princes Trust (Now the Kings Trust).

This was a big step I knew how to teach martial arts but I needed to know business skills and I had to write a business plan (which I had never done before) and present my business to a panel which had a multimillionaire present who ran a big business. It was nerve wracking but the response was great and they gave me the funding to start the dojo as an actual business not just something I was passionate about. 

It was around this time my grandfather died, quite literally about 2 days before I did the presentation but I felt like I had to make it work in his memory in many ways. My grandfather John Seal, was a boxer most of his life training and fighting in London at Hanwell ABC I believe in the early 1950's and he had about 133 fights in his time only losing a couple. He wasn't a violent man though at all it was all for the love of the art of boxing I think he only ever actually hit anyone once in his life and it was a mod in the 60's who disrespected my Nan so he punched him over a fruit stall in London. 

I then got given the grant from the Princes Trust and started the dojo as a business officially this would have been about 2017. I remember buying mats, different training weapons, looking at venues, going through coaching, it was a different level. The problem was to teach martial arts professionally is very different to running a cricket or sports club so I stopped the coaching from the Princes Trust and looked for a martial artist to learn from.

I spoke to Dave Giddings and he told me about Anthony Pillage who ran The Way Of The Spiritual Warrior in Coventry. I spoke to Anthony and he said to go see him at his home as he was ill and had terminal lung cancer. I can't remember why exactly but I took some weapons over to him I think he was learning to throw knives and axes at the time. Tony was one of a kind its hard to explain what he was like, he had a hot sauce named after him, he wore a viking hat with a chainsaw on the label, he loved festivals and driving a huge yellow hummer around the city and the best thing he was a true leader. He wasn't your conventional martial arts master but no nonsense and a lot of his teachings stick with me to this day. He was surprised by my level of knowledge and how much Japanese I spoke as I was just focused on my own training and running my dojo but told me I would confuse the hell out of everyone so I had to change how I taught people to be successful or no one was ever going to get it. He also told me I was like a yellow belt in business and I needed to learn to sell, running me through the practice of selling him an imaginary pack of B&H Gold Cigarettes which was going to be hard considering he had lung cancer at the time. He taught me so much and spent the time with me when he had limited time left on this earth to teach me and help me actualise who I am which I will always be grateful for considering his time was limited. During this time I met Mark Bond from KATTA (Knife Axe & Tomahawk Throwing Association) at Tony's dojo as Mark was also getting advice on how to make throwing a full time career which he still does now. Mark and I got on like a house on fire as I had always practised Shurikenjutsu anyway in Ninjutsu so this also showed me I could turn it into a separate school which we also still run to this day (Axis Shurikenjutsu 軸手裏剣術). 

Tony was funny though I will always remember him coming to my flat and telling me it was his birthday and I would be like oh and give him something and after a few times I twigged and he laughed and said well you can't be angry can you I won't be here much longer. I think someone once took this story as it being insulting to his memory but it really wasn't he was my friend and it was a lesson on me being more aware of whats in my life around me, I will always find it funny and appreciate it as Tony was a legend. 

He then hosted his Last Huzzah Seminar in Coventry which was the last time he would ever teach because his health was rapidly declining. He spoke so much truth to the 150+ people in that room and I tell this story all the time to my students but he made a speech which was so insightful but in true Tony fasion, it was:

"To see 150 instructors in this room where its hard these days to get 6 students to attend is phenomenal and I truly appreciate it. You have to ask yourself in life if you are doing something you don't enjoy, then why the fuck are you doing it?! If there is one thing you learn when you have a terminal illness it is all you truly do need is love, obviously being diagnosed with a terminal illness is hard, but all you do need is love! It reminds me of one of my favourite movies natural born killers where he says about becoming god of your own universe and its so true you have to build the world you want to live in! Be god of your own universe and show love! I'm sure I have insulted many of you over the years, good (he laughed), but for all of you to be here I truly appreciate it." 

Tony then mentioned various instructors in the room such as Russell Jarmesty, Gavin Richardson, Nasser Butt and then me. I was dumbfounded he told people I really knew my stuff when it came to weaponry and if anyone wanted to know about it get in contact with me which elevated my position exponentially. That was Tony's last gift to me giving me the contacts and network to do whatever I needed to do in martial arts and I will be eternally grateful for that.

Tony got sick shortly after the seminar and eventually he passed on Christmas Day of 2018 which was kind of fitting for Tony everyone thought he was a bit like jesus towards the end anyway and he would have seen the irony in it. That was a true loss to martial arts community that day and I think everyone felt it.

His funeral was at Coombe Abbey in Coventry and being ever non conventional I remember hearing stories which just illustrated why we got on we were very similar 😆 He had Alex Reid there, The Antipoet did a song for him, everyone was dressed up, it was a true Tony style funeral to honour him. 

I hadn't quite yet managed to get a full time commercial venue yet in Rugby but found students numbers were growing and we were doing more and more days a week. I started teaching Shurikenjutsu at SwordPunk twice a year and teaching Ninjutsu at the Kaizen Expo each year including teaching in the Zone where select few instructors taught in memory of Tony Pillage.

One of my students asked me (Paul) to teach his son but I was very anti teaching children Ninjutsu. The thing is generally the mimimum age limit is 13 and no younger as the Bujinkans rules are quite strict. I had to somehow figure out how to teach an art about strategy and efficient violence to kids in a way which didn't make them little tyrants which always put me off. Paul kept asking me though so I figured it out and honestly it was one of the best decisions I ever made. 

Teaching the kids is so fulfilling you get to see little people with confidence issues come into the dojo and over the weeks just flourish. I have been fortunate in the fact that I have taught literally probably 1000+ children to this day and honestly they often used to put the adult students to shame. They tried so hard and progressed while fully grown men couldn't be bothered to do 10 sit ups. 

I then got asked to teach a young girl called Lera shortly after we had moved to Impact Dance Studios in Rugby and she was only 3, I didn't think she could learn but her parents were adamant and this kid killed me 🤣 She would call me Me Jamie instead of Sensei, Throw me and put her foot on my chest and shout victory she was just a funny kid. Lera showed me that kids were actually capable of far more than I thought I had always thought what we did was too hard but she was basically a black belt by the age of 7 and that changed me perspective massively. 

So now I knew I was good at teaching kids and we could do something many Ninjutsu instructors were pretty clueless at how to do.

I then started training with Guro Tom Edison Peña in Kali (Filipino Martial Arts) and developed a new passion for another art as it fulfilled something I was always missing in my technique and made me a much better knife fighter after studying Daga. Tom is a true master of Kali I was very lucky to meet and still get to train with Guro Tom.

I wrote several books ensuring a clear path to black belt, kept building the dojo and it was getting bigger and bigger and then I found out I was having a daughter. 

I was so excited and couldn't wait to be a father so that just pushed me even further to build the dojo as now I NEEDED financial security. Then in the 6th of May 2022 we found out her heart had stopped beating and my world collapsed. The daughter we wanted so much had died just before she got to be born and it ripped my heart in two. 

When you go through something like losing a child its hard to explain. Everything that mattered previously is insignificant by the extreme levels of grief, I couldn't cope, I would see signs from Mila in little things, I would hear a song and break down, even now 3 years on its hard to write about. I just dropped the dojo and 2 of my students at the time stepped up and took over the lessons for 3 weeks while I got my head together.

I very much had a choice and I explain it this way because it was a choice it wasn't what I felt like doing at the time, I could either have just ended it or tried to pick myself up and do something positive in my daughters memory so I contacted some of my friends in the martial arts community and we turned the already planned and booked Historical Blade Seminar into a charity seminar for the Lily Mae Foundation to help parents who have lost their children and are going through the bereavement I was going through. 

I was not in a good state it had only been 3 weeks but I pushed through and taught for the first time since losing Mila. We raised about £1500 thay day for the Lily Mae Foundation and I knew I had to host Martial Arts For Mila every year moving forwards. Every year since then we have hosted Martial Arts For Mila and raised several thousand pounds for the Lily Mae Foundation to date.

We continued to grow the dojo which was called Seal Martial Arts then, in memory of my Grandfather and opened a shop in the building for the students and dancers to buy sweets. I was also restoring Nihontō under Ningu and working with some of the biggest martial arts and weapons wholesalers in the UK.

We then decided to open a print and embroidery business and started making our own clothing which eventually lead to buying a commercial 6 head embroidery machine. This business was pretty successful as we had the knowledge from running the dojo as to exactly what other martial arts schools wanted in terms of clothing. 

Then in 2024 my daughter Lena was born which was just incredible! After losing Mila seeing Lena be ok and finally becoming a father was just incredible! My daughter means the world to me and is why I do what I do now to make sure she can always be proud of her Dad. 

In October 2024 we had an issue with the lease on the dojo so we had to relocate at short notice and this caused a world of problems as many of our students walked to the dojo or didn't drive and many venues couldn't accommodate the days we needed for lessons. 

I toyed with the idea of maybe relocating back to Portsmouth on a half weekly basis but as I was about to do so something changed in my personal life which threw everything into chaos. 

After getting back on my feet I finally decided it was time to relocate back to my hometown and do what I have always wanted to do which is establish the newly branded Axis Martial Arts down to my hometown of Portsmouth, which is what we are doing now!

We are shortly launching lessons in Clanfield and Waterlooville and will be rebuilding the dojo in a much bigger area now that we are in the city! Onwards and upwards!

Why write all this here? Because people keep asking me what I have done while I was away so you can read it all here instead.

Axis Martial Arts 軸武道 brings something truly uniqued to Portsmouth and we have the contacts and ability to ensure our students get the highest quality tuition whilst becoming intergrated with the martial arts community as a whole, not just from one style. As Tony said you have to build the world you want to live in! The question is whether or not you have the will to actually get up and do it! 😉