How Times have Changed in Almost 70 years of UK Aikido

" No matter your pretence, you are what you are, nothing more. " Kenshiro Abbe Sensei.

I have studied at length with many high ranking Japanese teachers / Legends. Most memorable were Kenshiro Abbe - Mutsuro Nakazono - Kazuo Chiba . ( Tada - Kobayashi - Noro - K Williams -Ichimura - Tamura - Harada - Karate - T Otani - Kendo) Jei Nakazono.

I think back to a time when there were only five dan grades for Aikido in the whole of the UK, I was proud to be one of them.
I seriously never thought there would become a time when teachers would grade themselves or much more pathetic to be graded by their own students.
I can imagine when I was a child and all the kids in my class at school getting together to promote the teacher to `` Professor ` we would have got, and deserved a thrashing with the cane.

There are so many now calling themselves 7th or 8th dans and I believe some higher still. I have to ask the obvious question, do they really compare themselves to Kenshiro Abbe Sensei and Chiba Sensei to name a few ??
Site Admin: Henry Ellis

Thursday, September 14, 2023

British Aikido History  -  From 1955

"It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty, and how few by deceit " ------------ Noel Coward  

                                         
Click on Book Image for Amazon. - Book price £6 - 64p.

This book acknowledges the many British Aikidoka and Japanese Budoka that Ellis and Eastman met along their  journey to promote the little known martial art of Aikido. from a time when the Hut Dojo was the only Aikido dojo in the UK - There is now an Aikido dojo in almost every town and city.


Click image to enlarge or click image in R/H column to go straight to the Amazon book page for [Look Inside] a free preview. The book " British Aikido History " this is the story of the last of the original pioneers still involved in the promotion of the true history for future generations. There are many old photos from the 1950s/60s. There are acknowledgments to those that have helped to protect and preserve our origins from the era of Kenshiro Abbe Sensei from 1955.The book is 311 pages of stories - interviews -anecdotes - history - and much more - Please visit the free preview to see what this book has to offer. Over the years I have been asked many times `what was it like to study directly under Kenshiro Abbe Sensei?`, this book will give the reader a taste of that era, a time when Aikido was a martial art and the people who trained were martial artists in the truest sense of the term. Sadly, so many of the Japanese and British early pioneers of Aikido are no longer with us, we will remember as we pay our respects to them, may they rest in peace. The book was published by Amazon on the 7th of March 2021 - Cost B/W £6-35p or colour version £27-00.

No comments:

Post a Comment