Martial Arts Articles by Henry Ellis

Henry Ellis was born May 3rd 1936 in a tough coal mining town in the County of Yorkshire, North of England. This was pre-war Britain, and growing up as a child during the austere war years of the 1940’s all Henry knew was hard times and discipline as the son of a tough coal face miner. Henry didn't realize that this tough life with strict discipline would stand him in good stead in the years to come.
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When did you begin your study of Aikido? It was in 1957, I was studying Judo and Karate at the Abbe School of Budo at the "Hut" in Hillingdon, Middlesex. My Direct teacher was Mr. Ken Williams, who was 3rd Dan (3rd degree black belt) Judo, and we were all students of Kenshiro Abbe Sensei, 8th Dan Judo, 6th Dan Aikido, 5th Dan Karate and 5th Dan Kendo. At this time no-one in the United Kingdom had heard of Aikido. Abbe Sensei told Mr Ken Williams that we had received a letter from O'Sensei Morihei Ueshiba, stating that all instructors outside of Japan now had permission to teach Aikido to anyone who wished to learn. Mr Williams was his first student and he selected a hardcore of Judo students to study Aikido - this is when I started. (Read Article)

The British Aikido Tree (See Article)

Re-live this great event with a DVD of all the days events at Crystal Palace Sports Centre, London . . . Taiko Drummers - The Aikido Teachers direct students of Abbe Sensei from the 1950's. - 60 VIP Guests - 430 Students - 1000 people paid tribute to Abbe Sensei. See the Budo demonstrations - Aikido-Judo-Karate-Kendo-Iaido-KyuDo-Bo-Jo-JuKendo. The DVD will be officially on sale the 19th of September 2005. (More Info)

Thank you very much for inviting me to the memorable occasion of the 50th anniversary of the introduction of Aikido into the United Kingdom. It is my highest honour to be with you to celebrate 50 years of Aikido in the UK. I am also thrilled to see so many guests from the whole range of Budo disciplines, including of course Aikido but also Judo, Kendo, Karate and so on. (Read Article)

Henry Ellis, a direct student of the legendary Budo master Kenshiro Abbe Sense, from 1957 describes the great event at the Crystal Palace Sports Centre, London, to celebrate this great teacher and his arrival to Great Britain in 1955 and the subsequent inception of Aikido.
( Tribute Poster)

On May the 14th 2005 the committee organised what is considered to be the most successful Martial Arts Event in Britain to date the “ Kenshiro Abbe Jubilee Celebrations “ . It was the intention of the committee to establish the true history and legacies left in our care, not just for the students of today, but for the generations that follow in the future. (Read Article)

The following article by Martial Arts Illustrated correspondent Keith Morgan and Henry Ellis was originally published in the December 2006 issue of Martial Arts Illustrated. MAI and Keith Morgan have kindly consented to allow this article to be re-published on USA DOJO.COM to make the martial arts community more aware of the life of this great Budo master. Another reason for the publication of this article was the growing concerns of the few genuine surviving students of Abbe Sensei to the growing band of “Friends of Abbe Sensie“. Henry Ellis
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THE BIOGRAPHY OF SENSEI DEREK EASTMAN 5th DAN
Describing life as a 16 yr old student at the "Hut Dojo" in the 1950's.
The first dan grades!, Sensei's Kenshiro Abbe, Nakazono and Noro.
I have known Sensei Eastman for some 12 years and during those years I have heard so many stories about both Sensei Eastman and Sensei Ellis and their dedication to the early promotion of UK Aikido, some of the history highlights their hard training and appreciation of a true martial art, yet there are many amusing anecdotes. (Read Article)

When Kenshiro Abbe Sensei first stepped on British soil in 1955 he brought with him the knowledge of many Budo arts, Aikido being one of them. Abbe Sensei also brought his Aikido based philosophy of Kyu-Shin-Do. This was the inception of British Aikido.
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I honestly believe that Kyu-Shin-Do has lost its true path in Britain and has become many things to many people. Kenshiro Abbe Sensei came to Britain in 1955 at the invitation of the London Judo Society ( LJS ). He considered the Judo that he saw to be too concerned with strength, also too physical and hard. It was his intent to introduce his theory of Kyu-Shin-Do to the British Judoka. (Read Article)

In 1957, I was studying Judo and Karate at the Abbe School of Budo at the "Hut" in Hillingdon, Middlesex, a suburb of London. My teacher was Ken Williams Sensei, and we were all students of Kenshiro Abbe Sensei (8th dan in Judo, 6th dan in Aikido, and 5th dan in Karate and Kendo). At that time, very few people in the United Kingdom had heard of Aikido. (Read Article)

In the past 50 years I have been most fortunate to not only meet but study with many of the great Budo Masters who have visited the UK and Europe. I would like to place my memories on record in the hope that they may one day be of interest to others in the Martial Arts.
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I was born in West London in 1963, my father was very involved in the martial arts and a dan grade in Karate he was also a dealer in ancient Japanese arms and armour, although my father has an antiques shop in London's Bond Street, my home was more like a samurai warriors dressing room, with original suits of Japanese armour complete with very frighting face masks that would frighten the life out of my friends when ever they came to visit, there were also very many valuable swords yari and naginata spears. (Read Article)

At first sight of the above title I am sure that a lot of Aikidoist's will be angry, they will assume that this is yet another attack on the credibility of Aikido by other martial artist's. On this occasion they are totally wrong, I have been a student of Aikido since 1956, In those early days I first started Judo in 1955 at the Kenshiro Abbe School of Budo, I studied Karate with Harada Sensei and Kendo with Tomio O'Tani Sensei, so with my background I feel that I have something to offer to this debate.
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The most popular theory of the origins of the coloured belt system is that it was originated by the father of Judo himself ` Jigoro Kano `. Of all the various theories I have read, I believe that this is probably the nearer to the true origin that we will ever get.
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