Instructor

The head instructor at Bujinkan Namiryū Dōjō is Alex Meehan, a direct student of Hatsumi Masaaki, founder and leader of the Bujinkan Dōjō and sōke (inheritor) of nine traditional Japanese kobudō ryūha.

Alex began training in Dublin in 1989 under Steve Byrne Sensei and made his first trip to Japan in December 2000. Since then, he has travelled to Japan yearly for ongoing training and study. He founded the Bujinkan Namiryū Dōjō in Trinity College, Dublin in 1998, passed the Godan test in Tokyo in 2000, and was awarded the top rank of 15th dan in 2009, followed by further certifications in the form of Yūshū Shihan in 2015 and Dai Shihan in 2018.

He has received a number of honours from the Bujinkan Hombu Dōjō, including multiple Golden Dragon Awards, the ‘Bufu Ikkan-shō’, and the “Shin Gi Tai Ichi” certificate. In 2025, he was awarded Menkyo Kaiden (license of full transmission) in ‘Kotō Ryū Koppōjutsu Happō Biken’ (虎倒流骨法術八法秘剣) by the 19th generation sōke of this tradition, Noguchi Yukio Sensei.

In Japan, in addition to training regularly with Hatsumi Sensei, Alex has trained extensively within the Bujinkan Dōjō under Someya Kenichi Dai shihan and Nagato Toshirō Sōke.

In Dublin, he is assisted by a team of senior instructors, all of whom hold teaching qualifications, with many having trained consistently for over 20 years.