Founder of BUKAN School in Romania

Onn CHEN
Instructor since August 1993.
Black belt since Octomber 1995.
He initiated the Krav-Maga training center
in Cluj-Napoca (the first one in Romania).
He lives in the U.S.A. since 2005.
He perform yearly intensive training courses in Cluj-Napoca.

Krav-Maga was brought to Romania by Onn Chen, who attended the BUKAN School under the guidance of Yaron Lichtenstein. Onn received his black belt in 1995. In 1998 he came to Romania to study medicine.

Lacking training, he founded a group and started teaching the Israeli art of Krav-Maga in Cluj-Napoca. By 2004, when he completed his studies and left the country, he had trained a group of students who continue teaching this art in Romania.

Since 2004 Onn came back to Romania for several weeks each year, succeeding to check the activity of the Krav-Maga pracicants and teach them new knowledge.

FOREWORD to a book that will be released in Romania, in a few months

I write my work knowing that what I practice and teach further are what Imi envisioned when he created this somewhat different martial art.
If I were to describe my memories of Imi they would resume to an image of this old man visiting our dojo in Rehovot Israel, an old calm man always well dressed with a hint of satisfaction on his lips, while sitting on a chair at the entrance watching our lessons. Once in a while he would climb on the mat and walk towards one of us elegantly he would correct a thing or two and go back to his chair.
I never gave it much thought till now, his visits years ago matter now.

If he had been there watching us learn and I practice what I was taught for 20 years, How can I be wrong?

I dedicate my work to Grand Master Yaron Lichtenstein who invested a life time to teach and preserve Krav-maga the exactly way Imi taught it.
Imi created a martial art which is based on self defense and survival, a direct, modest and what seems to be a simplistic art that rapidly became one of the most asked for martial arts both among civilians and military forces, due to its efficiency.
Naturally as the world grows more violent, more and more people seek to be trained in an art that would offer them a direct approach to the idea of self defense and at times would be less sporty in spirit. Although it is true any martial art would help you defend yourself, while other martial arts are based on rules to prevent real damage to the opponent, Krav-maga targets those points exactly, to cause maximum damage.

The increase in demand for Krav-maga brought upon an increase in the number of people claiming they teach Krav-maga, many of which neither have the slightest idea of what Krav-maga really is and how it came about, nor do they have the source to learn from. One of the main differences between Krav-maga and other martial arts professionally speaking is the importance given to details that make the technique useful and efficient for men and women regardless of their strength.
It is even worse, that some people who practiced Krav-maga have changed it; weather due to their unwillingness to admit they do not remember or just to sell better. Regardless, these changes would not have been accepted by Imi who believed that you should do what you can as long as you do it the right way and certainly shouldn’t be accepted by us.

This Art has already proven itself; all we have left is to keep the technique and the spirit of Krav-maga from changing.
I hope my work helps preserve Krav-Maga in its original form.

DIPLOME: