By Mr. Nigel Porter.
Submitted with approval by Henry Ellis.
The following article offers those students, who are
interested in the true history of British Judo and Aikido, a
more comprehensive view of the profound effect that Kenshiro
Abbe sensei had on British Martial Arts. ESTA are most
grateful to Mr Nigel Porter of the "Tokushima Budo Council
International (Judo)" and also the "Traditional Aikido Iwama
Ryu GB", for allowing us to place this article on our
website.
Jujutsu Arrives
On the 26th of September 1899 a British engineer, called
Barton Wright, returned to England after an extended period
of living and working in Japan. He brought with him an
eighteen year old Japanese man whom he had developed a
friendship with, and who he believed had something special
to give to the British people. The Japanese youth was Yukio
Tani (1881 - 1950) and he was an exponent of the Japanese
art of Jujutsu. The combination ofBarton Wright, as
entrepreneur /manager and Yukio Tani, a natural showman, led
the two men into touring the Music Hall circuit, where Tani
would challenge anyone willing to wrestle with him. With
the temptation of winning £1 for lasting each minute, overan
initial 5 minutes, or £50 for winning, there was never a
shortage of challengers. However, at a diminutive 5 feet 6
inches (1.67Mts) Tani allegedly lost only one music hall
match and that was to a fellow Japanese national.
In 1900 S.K. Uyenishi joined the circuit, but soon after
began teaching self defence and physical education at the
Army Gymnastic HQ in Aldershot. In the May of 1906 the feet
of arguably one of the most famous Judoka, in British
history, touched our shores. His name was Gunji Koizumi
(1885 - 1965), a Chinese lacquer expert by trade and master
of Tenshin Shinyo Jujutsu, Kenjutsu, Akishima Ryu Jujutsu
and Katsu. He was only to stay for a year, training and
instructing his martial Arts around the country, notably at
the Kara Ashikaga Jujutsu school, the Piccadilly School of
Jujutsu, the RNVR, etc. until he decided to journey to the
United States. He did, however return in 1910 and
eventually founded the London Budokwai, in1918, offering
Jujutsu, Kendo and other Japanese arts to the British
public. A year later Koizumi asked Tani to join him as an
instructor at his school of Martial Ways and Tani accepted,
retiring from his Music Hall bouts.
In 1919 another, yet to be famous, Martial Artist arrived
in Britain. This time it was a Japanese gentleman by the
name of Masutaro O'Tani (1899 - 1977), who had worked his
passage on a merchant vessel. He was a Jujutsu man, having
trainedin Japan as well as Ceylon, where he had lived during
his passage.
Judo Is Accepted
Koizumi and Tani were teaching their Jujutsu method at
the Budokwai until 1920, when a delegation formed by Jigoro
Kano,the founder of Kodokan Judo, Hikoichi Aida and
E.J.Harrison, both Kodokan Dan grades and members of the
Budokwai,influenced them to covert to Judo. This was
achieved and the Jujutsu men were awarded their Judo 2nd
Dans, in recognition of their technique and status. From
there on Judo was formally taught at the Budokwai and this
can be recognised as the starting point of British
Judo. Meanwhile Masutaro O'Tani had been looking to
continue his Martial Arts training and subsequently joined
the budokwai in 1921. Within 5 years he had risen to the
position of assistant instruct to Yukio Tani and become
close friends with this character. In 1948 the British Judo
Association (BJA) was formed, uniting the majority of Judo
clubs in Great Britain and installing GunjiKoizumi as
President. Two years later Yukio Tani passed away, having
previously suffered a debilitating stroke. Over the next
few years O'Tani became disenchanted with the Judo that was
being promoted by the BJA and it's anglicising of the
Japanese sport he loved. He was also said to be unhappy
with the level of support and care that had been extended to
his old friend Tani. Consequently,in 1954 O'Tani severed
his links with the BJA and formed his own organisation - the
Masutaro O'Tani Society of Judo (MOSJ).
Around that time the London Judo Society (LJS), a BJA
group co-founded by George Chew and Eric Dominy, decided to
invite a high ranking Japanese Judo player/teacher to their
society, to become their chief instructor.
Kenshiro Abbe and Kyu Shin Do
In 1955 and as a result of the LJS decision, a man, who's
credentials were incredible by Japanese standards let alone
British ones, arrived in Britain. The man was Kenshiro Abbe
(1915 - 1985) and he was single handedly to have more of an
impact on British Martial Arts than anyone who had gone
before or, for that matter, after.
Abbe Sensei was born in Tokushima province, Japan and was
first introduced to Martial Arts by his father, a Kendo
teacher,at the age of 3. Abbe Sensei learnt Sumo wrestling
at school and became the regional school champion. In 1931
Abbe Sensei began Judo and one year later, when only 15
years old, was graded 2nd Dan. His Judo prowess grew from
there, becoming the Tokushima High schools champion at 16
and receiving his 3rd Dan from the national Martial Arts
governing body, the Butokukai.
In 1933 he enrolled at the Butokukai's special teacher
training college and later was graded 5th Dan, graduated and
retained as an instructor. In 1935, aged only 18, Abbe
Sensei won both the All Japan East/West Tournament and the
5th Dan championships, a pinnacle in competitive Judo. It
was around this time that Abbe Sensei began a 10 year study
of Morihei Ueshiba's Martial Art - Aikido and formulated his
own Budo philosophy of Kyu Shin Do. Abbe Sensei received
his 6th Dan in 1938 and during the war years ran a military
training company, where he studied and mastered Jukendo, the
way of the Bayonet.
In 1945 the Butokukai graded Abbe Sensei 7th Dan Judo and
6th Dan Kendo and in 1949 he took up the position of chief
instructor to the Kyoto Police and the Doshisha
University. Six years later Abbe Sensei was teaching in
Britain.
Although initially invited by the LJS to be their chief
instructor, a series of disagreements resulted in Abbe
Sensei parting company with them. The stage was set for
Abbe Sensei to teach pure Kyu Shin Do to the British and in
order to achieve this Abbe Sensei formed a number of martial
Arts Councils, including the British Judo Council (BJC), the
British Kendo Council, the British Karate Council, etc. as
well as an overall governing body - the International Budo
Council (IBC). It was through these various councils that,
by 1957, Abbe Sensei had introduced Kendo (the way of the
sword), Aikido (the way of spiritualharmony), Kyudo (the way
of the bow), Jukendo (the way of the bayonet), Iaido (the
way of sword drawing), Yarido (theway of the spear) and
Naginatado (the way of the halberd) to Europe.
Around this time (1956) OTani, by then a 5th Dan, made
contact with Abbe Sensei and very soon began training under
him. By 1958 O'Tani had been given the position of national
coach to the BJC. The early 60's were to prove very
exciting for British Martial Artists and Abbe Sensei was
instrumental in inviting leading Budo teachers to Great
Britain, including Nakazono Sensei - 6th Dan Aikido and
Harada Sensei - 6th Dan Shotokai Karatedo.
In 1964 Abbe Sensei returned to Japan in order to see the
Olympics hosted in his home land and Judo represented for
the first time. It was 5 years later that he finally
returned, his delay being caused by an old injury to his
neck, that had gradually got worse since the car accident
that caused it, back in 1960. What he returned to was a
near dormant IBC and a BJC that had changed course in his
absence. He felt that, instead of studying the truth of
Budo, most BJC members only wanted the physical instruction,
misunderstanding the origins of the teaching and
consequently corrupting the essence of Abbe Sensei's KyuShin
Do philosophy.
Subsequently Abbe Sensei set about redressing the
situation, virtually dismantling the BJC and leaving in
place only those worthy to help in the reconstruction.
O'Tani was made president of the BJC and graded 8th
Dan. O'Tani was also left incharge of the IBC, with a
number of other loyal students. In 1970 Abbe Sensei
returned to Japan and in the same year O'Tani merged the
MOSJ into the BJC. During the early and mid 70's the
management of both the BJC and IBC became difficult for
O'Tani and those that had been left to continue Abbe
Sensei's teachings. In 1978 the BJC severed it's links with
the now 'all but'redundant IBC. Since then many
organisations have sprung up, promoting the Kyu Shin Do
philosophy, but few truly grasp what Abbe Sensei meant.
Abbe Sensei sadly passed away on December 1st 1985.
By Nigel Porter