Judo was founded by Dr. Jigoro Kano in the late 1800's. While it could be found in the United States as early as the early 1900's, it wasn't until the 1950's, when veterans returned from the second world war, that Judo became fairly common here. The Budo Club at the U.W. - Madison started out as the the Judo Club. It has been an organized club at the university since at least 1960. The club was founded during the fall semester in 1960 and was run by Dr. Ryo Kido. At that time the club trained on the top floor of the Armory (Red) Gymnasium. Dr. Kido remembers that around 100 people showed up for the first classes! Members of the club competed and one competition almost led to the club being barred from using UW facilities because a newspaper article covering the competition misprepresented the club as a "team" from the UW Madison. The club was not allowed to represent itself as an intercollegiate team. The club appears to have declined after this because when Dr. Gerhard Ritter arrived in 1964, he had to start the club up again. He also started clubs in Janesville, Beloit, and at the YMCA in Madison. The club trained in the Armory and Lathrop hall at this time and had a close association with clubs in Milwaukee. After Dr. Ritter left, the club continued into the early 1970's. It is unclear if the club was active from 1974 until the early 1980's.

The club has been active from 1982 until the present. In 1983 Waboku Jujitsu was offered as an addition to Judo training. In the 1990's, Yoseikan Budo was also offered through the club. In the 1980's and 90's the club met on the top floor of the Armory Gymnasium. When the normal workout space was unavailable, the club would workout wherever mats were available such as the old golf gym in the NAT, the weight room of the SERF, and the now demolished Henry Mall Gym. There were a number of great instructors for the club during this time including the then chief of the Madison Police Department which led to some interesting interactions with the MPD. When the Armory closed it's doors to physical activities in the late 1990's, the club moved into its's current home in Room 3220 of the NAT.

Throughout its history, the Budo club has been affiliated with various governing bodies including the Midwest Yudanshakai and the USJA; currently the club is without any such affiliations. Throughout the years in the Armory, the club would often interact and have joint workouts with other martial arts clubs at the UW such as the: Tae Kwon Do Club, Japanese Karate Club, Aikido Club, and the now defunct Shotokan Club. We miss the Armory.

At this time, the main focus of the club has shifted from Judo to a focus on Waboku Jujitsu. In the year 2000, the instructors of the club decided to change the name from Judo Club to Budo Club to more accurately reflect the direction the club has taken. This also reflects the instructors openness to differing styles. Current instructors can be found by clicking on the appropriate link below. Some current & past instructors of the club include:

Name	Approximate Dates	Style(s) taught
Dr. Ryo Kido	1960-?	Kodokan Judo
Joseph Sinnott	early 1960's	Kodokan Judo
Dr. Gerhard Ritter	1964-1971	Kodokan Judo
Jack Olsen	1960's-1971	Kodokan Judo
Hiro Tsukimoto	1971-1973	Kodokan Judo
David van Arsdale	1982-1986	Kodokan Judo
Dr. Sandy Kita	1982-1986	Kodokan Judo
David Ballard	1983-1987; 1998-1999	Waboku Jujitsu
Dr. Juan Gonzalez	1986-1991; 2001-2002	Kodokan Judo; Tike Juan Do
Dr. Toshio Teraoka	1986-1987	Kodokan Judo
Rev. David Couper	1989-early 1990's	Kodokan Judo (Founded Madison Judo Association)
Dr. Alberto Galimidi	1988-early 1990's	Kodokan Judo
Dr. Sasaki Taketo	1994	Kodokan Judo
Dr. William Magee	1994-1996	Kodokan Judo
Robert Lee	mid 1990's-2002	Yoseikan Budo
Katy Reedy	~2000	Waboku Jujitsu
Dr. Lee Romer	2003-2004	Kodokan Judo
Dr. Brad Binder	1986-2004	Waboku Jujitsu
Mark Nessel	1990's-present	Waboku Jujitsu
Dr. Paolo Provenzano	2000-present	Waboku Jujitsu
Brant White	2004-present	Waboku Jujitsu

Compiled and written by B. Binder.
Sources of information include: R. Falit, R. Kido, S. Kita, M. Makoid, G. Ritter, S. Okrent, J. Olsen.