History of Dojoku Martial Arts

Literally translated “The School of No Mind”
Dojo-Martial Arts Training Hall and
KU-Empty Mind or No Mind respectively.

Practitioners of Budo are told to make themselves "KU", both in everyday life and for fighting. This means you must put yourself in a state where you are not stuck on anything. It is said that if you are not stuck on anything, you will not fall for an enemy's plots, and you will be able to calmly take the best course of action. DOJOKU was officially founded in 2004 by Soke/Founder Raymond L. Cagle, although it has been in the developmental stages for many years. It has been his life long dream of creating a well rounded and effective style.

Dojoku is a non-traditional, American Martial Art focusing on self-defense and real world combat training. It maintains the traditional values of the martial arts, while at the same time encompassing techniques from several different styles.
Philosophically we adhere to the code of the Samurai.

Bushido
literally the "Way of the Warrior”
is the starting point for all Martial Arts.
Bushi means "Warrior" and Do means "the Way".
Bushido was the Code, the Way of life of the Samurai.

Eight Principles of Bushido!
Jin- to develop a sympathetic understanding of people
Gi- to preserve the correct ethics
Chu- to show loyalty to one's Master
Ko- to respect and care for one's parents
Rei- to show respect for others
Chi- to enhance wisdom by broadening one's knowledge
Shin- to be truthful at all times
Tei-to care for the aged and those of a humble station

The actual evolution of what is now called Dojoku occurred over a period of three decades of training in the Texas area. Master Cagle recognized early in life each style's relative strengths and weaknesses, and began to search for workable adaptations, using different styles. Working with some of his advanced students and other instructors, Master Cagle began to develop some of the techniques which were later to become known as DOJOKU. Techniques which represent a blend of soft and hard styles and new techniques are used both in class and private lessons. The popularity gained by Master Cagle and his style, through this new integration of techniques prompted him to further integrate more punches, blocks, and kicks into the style. Through the next 5 years while Master Cagle was serving our country in the

U.S.

Navy and in the Gulf War in

Iraq

, he continued to refine and add to the style. Each opportunity he had to go ashore in a different country he took time to seek out martial art schools and train with black belts from all over the world from California to Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, China, Korea, Thailand, Bali, Bahrain, Iraq, Indonesia, Singapore, and Guam. This new approach to the martial arts became an identifiable style which possessed techniques and philosophy from many martial arts.

At this point, the style was still unnamed, even though techniques and philosophies which were peculiar to the new system had already been established. Finally, the name for the style, DOJOKU Martial Arts was decided upon. The Japanese word DOJO is translated "Martial Arts training hall". The word KU means "Empty Mind” or “No Mind”. The DOJOKU emblem (created before the name) definition can be found on our page DOJOKU Info. Having designed the logo himself at the age of 16, DOJOKU founder Master Cagle was amazed to later learn how well the logo ideals still fit into the philosophy of the developing style.

The new styles' growth accelerated when Master Cagle opened a new dojo in Irving, Texas. Further growth distinguished the style from any other school around the area. The arrival of a talented student, Luke Milam, who came to the dojo as a red belt from another style helped Master Cagle finish some of the advanced techniques and later became DOJOKU’s first Black Belt.

Now stems a new era in Dojoku, as Master Cagle is now living in Western North Carolin just south of Asheville and has teamed up with Master Jason Landaas at Self Defense America in S. Asheville. Together they are working on a very unique blend of Dojoku and Combat Hapkido to make the best well rounded Mixed Martial Art styles available in the world today.