For years, the father-son team behind Bushido Martial Arts Academy looked for space to expand.
Then, serendipity. The father-son team found the perfect space on Trapelo Road right next to their current location –– the space once occupied by Sunflower Massage. Now, the expansion will happen as the dojo celebrates its 25th anniversary. When finished in early September, the dojo will more than double its available space.
“We have to make a lot of different groups at age-level just to teach them,” said Bob Moran, who partners with his son, Bobby, as the dojo’s two owners and only full-time employees. “By doing this, it’s going to make the classes larger and invite more people to our dojo.”
Born in New York City, Bob Moran moved to Belmont when he was six months old. He began practicing mixed martial arts at age seven when a friend showed him some judo moves at school.
“I went home and begged my mom to sign me up,” said Bob, now 63. “Ever since, I’ve been involved in martial arts.”
A graduate of Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical High School in Lexington, Moran opened the original Bushido location on Essex Street in Cambridge in 1984 with his older brother, John. They moved it to the current location at 396 Trapelo Road in 2001.
Bobby Moran, 29, graduated from Belmont High School. A three-sport athlete – wrestling, football and rugby – Moran played the latter at Saint Anselm College. After graduating, he worked alongside his father at Bushido and also at Rancatore’s ice cream factory in Waltham. He lost his ice cream job during COVID-19 layoffs.
“It kind of put a fire in my butt to get the karate thing going,” Bobby said.
The pandemic put countless businesses out of business, especially those like Bushido that inherently lacked proper social distancing. Bob Moran, however, had already taught online classes for a decade. Both Morans offered those online classes plus outdoor sessions and even backyard training sessions at clients’ homes –– anything to get through lockdown.
“We built a really good reputation keeping people active during that time,” Bob Moran said.
So when Bushido reopened for regular business, it boomed. They went from offering mostly one-on-one classes to offering group sessions for ages 3 to 5, 6 to 17 (mostly kids aged 6 to 10), pre-teen and teen, plus adult classes. They also continued to offer private lessons, and Bobby now runs an afterschool program at Chenery Upper Elementary School and at a school in Newton. Post-pandemic demand increased so much that they recruited two black belts as part-time instructors.
Construction on the expanded space is scheduled to start in early August and to take about a month to complete.
fAfter knocking down the wall between the separate businesses, the expansion more than doubles mat space from 300 square feet to about 700. The space itself also roughly doubles, from about 500 to 1,000 square feet. During the school year, more than 200 participate regularly. The Morans hope to increase class sizes between 15% to 20%, a conservative estimate, designed to ensure enough space. They also hired a Japanese-born architect, Boston-based Toshio Abiko, to redesign the space.
“We treat it like a family dojo, a shared journey and experience,” Bobby said. “Having those core values helps drive the dojo, especially in a community like Belmont that’s so family oriented.”
