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Women In The Martial Arts
by Anita Wilson
1st Lady Assistant to Sensei
Henry Ellis
Ellis Schools of Traditional Aikido
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.
The Masters
My father would travel around the world searching
for the best quality weapons, what intrigued me the most as a child
was all these strange visitors that would come to my home, the
famous Otani family were regular visitors with Sensei Matsuro Otani
7th dan Judo the UK National Coach, Kenshiro Abbe Sensei, Tomio
Otani Sensei the UK National Coach for Kendo, his visitors were
like the who's who of martial arts, as recently as two weeks ago
I was pleased to meet with Sensei Kazuo Chiba 8th dan when he came
to see my father.
Introduction to Aikido
As a child I did a little Karate with my father
but nothing serious until 1992 when I went to the local Aikido
dojo in Bracknell, Berkshire, UK. All those years with my father
and his Japanese weapons must have had a latent but profound effect
on me, as I watched Sensei Ellis teaching his Positive Style of
Traditional Aikido I knew there and then that this was the martial
art for me.
The Hard Training Begins
When I started Aikido I made a point of training
with the men and they treated me as one of them. With regular practice
I progressed. I had now developed the hard training bug and started
courses in physical training and amateur weight lifting, after
a few years of hard work I became a fully qualified fitness instructor-personal
trainer and amateur weight lifting coach, the high light of all
this effort was when Sensei Ellis promoted me to assistant coach
of the Ellis Schools of Traditional Aikido (ESTA) two years later
he promoted me to first lady assistant to himself, there had never
ever been a lady assistant in all the long history of the ESTA,
Sensei put me on a three month trial and 8 year on I am still here.
In 1994 I received my coaching certificate from
the British Aikido Board (BAB) which is the governing body for
Aikido in the UK. Once I became assistant to Sensei Ellis I became
involved in assisting in teaching both men and women and also helping
with the children's classes.
The First Seminar
 Sensei
Ellis asked if I would like to take part in a very large and important
seminar in Liverpool in the North of England, Sensei Ellis is not
one of those teachers who has a pet uke follow him around to fly
all over the mat at a touch or a glance, he prefers to try to involve
all the students who attend his seminars if possible, knowing this
I felt very privileged but nervous when Sensei told me there would
be about 700 students from various martial arts, I think the phrase "Being
thrown in at the deep end" is applicable here.
On arrival at the venue I was amazed to see so
many students from so many countries, UK-France-Germany-Italy-India-Austria
are just some that I can recall. Sensei Ellis was asked to take
the first class of approximately 50 dan grades from various martial
arts. Sensei had me demonstrate 100 press-ups on the backs of my
wrists with fingers pointing both inwards and outwards. When I
had finished and was in the raised position Sensei sat on my back
(he did not warn me of this) and carried on with his lecture. Sensei
suggested that those who wanted to should try this exercise. It
was amazing to see all these black belts struggling. Later I had
a little crowd around me wanting to inspect my wrists, I explained
that this exercise is standard for both seniors and juniors in
our schools.
I was now feeling a little more confident when
Sensei pointed out that there were six young dan grades who had
arrived late and were respectfully waiting for  permission to come
onto the mat. Sensei asked me
to show them what we had been teaching so far, they were all wearing
black gi's and when I approached and invited them on the mat, they
scowled as if to say "hey, we have not traveled all the way
from London to be taught by a women" as I showed the first
technique "nikkyo" a wrist locking action, the first
guy tried to resist me, I applied the technique as shown to me
so many times by Sensei and almost put him through the mat. I thought
he would be upset with me, but as he got up he asked "How
did you do that?". He then wanted me to do the technique on
all the others, now I had their attention and they were a great
bunch of guy's. I really enjoyed teaching them. At the end of the
seminar, as we were leaving the hall to head for the car park,
these six guy's were waiting in a line and bowed to me simultaneously
with a smile and said to Sensei Ellis " You have a strong
lady assistant there ,sensei" Sensei replied " That is
why she is my assistant". That was my first seminar and one
that I will never forget.
I have been involved in many other seminars with
my Sensei and they were always good, but I was never so overawed
as I was at my first one, or so I thought. Then Sensei Ellis asked
if I would like to visit New Mexico in the USA for a seminar. The
seminar was to be held in Alamogordo NM, where Sensei's USA representative
in the US lives and works at the Space Museum. Sensei visits New
Mexico every year and we have another Ellis dan grade in Texas,
Al Montemar. I had always wanted to visit the US and jumped at
the opportunity. We made the trip into a vacation for friends and
family. We taught members of the USAF and German Air Force at Holloman
AFB, which included a guided tour of the base and various fighter
aircraft, including the Stealth bomber. Sensei Rogers is an instructor
who teaches students from the USAF, Highway Patrol, police and
some members of the United States Marshals.
While in the US, I also visited the Grand Canyon
and Phoenix. I intend to move to Phoenix to live within the next
two to three years. Sensei Ellis has a book on aikido coming out
next spring in the US titled "Positive Aikido" which
I am pleased to be featured in, Sensei Rogers is a journalist by
profession and has worked on this book for the past two years and
it will be published in the US. There are several publishers interested
in the book so we are all very excited about this latest project.
I hope to be visiting the US again next year and I hope to be there
for the launching of the book.
For the martial artists out there I would like
to add one more comment about the proposed book. Where as most
Aikido books spend a great deal of time harmonizing with the planets
and the universe, there will be none of that in this book, Sensei
always tells students to come out of the clouds and get back on
the tatami because "This
is where it all happens" and he also often says " leave
the dancing to Fred Astair" (who is Fred Astair?).
Anita Wilson
Assistant to Sensei Ellis
www.angelfire.com/al/ellisaikido
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