Kenshiro Abbe
| Kenshiro Abbe | |
|---|---|
| File:KenshiroAbbe.jpg Kenshiro Abbe | |
| Born | Kenshiro Abbe December 15, 1915 Tokushima, Japan |
| Died | December 1, 1985 (aged 69) Tokushima, Japan Stroke |
| Residence | Tokushima, Japan |
| Style | Kendo, Aikido, Kyushindo, Judo, Karate |
| Teacher(s) | Ogawa, Morihei Ueshiba, Korei Isogai |
| Rank | 8th Dan |
Kenshiro Abbe (阿部 謙四郎 Abe Kenshirō, December 15th, 1915–December 1st, 1985) was a Japanese martial artist. He was born in the Tokushima Province of Japan, the fourth son of Mrs. Koto Abbe and father Toshizo. He has been credited with the introduction of aikido to the UK and Europe,[1][2] and founded the British Judo Council, British Kendo Council, British Karate Council, and the International Budo Council. Starting his life training with his father, he attended the Budo Senmon Gakko and is credited as being the founder of the Kyushindo system.[3]
Life
Childhood and Youth
Kenshiro Abbe's introduction to the martial arts began with his father, Toshizo Abbe, a kendo teacher and school master. However, with the death of his father in a flood during a kendo weekend course on the 4th September 1918, he received little kendo training.
Kenshiro first developed an interest in sumo when wrestling with a family friend Hino Manpei. In conjunction with Hino Manpei, Kenshiro received instruction from his primary school teacher, Sensei Fujiwara. Whilst at school, Kenshiro took part in many tournaments, both at school and elsewhere in the province.
At the age of 13, Kenshiro started lower secondary school in Kawashima. At first there was no Judo-Bu (club or circle), so Kenshiro took up basketball. However, in his second year, Kazohira Nakamoto, a former police officer, founded a Judo-Bu at the school, which Kenshiro joined.
When Kenshiro reached his third year at the school in 1930 he was awarded his Shodan (1st Dan), with his Nidan (2nd Dan) being awarded the following year.
By the time Kenshiro was 16 he was the champion of the High Schools League at Tokushima and was awarded his Sandan (3rd Dan) by the Butoku-kai, the then controlling National Body of Martial Arts.
During his 5th year at school (1933) he entered an inter-city tournament involving 30 towns, representing the town of Kawashima as captain. Being very fast and light he threw every opponent and was given the nickname of Pegasus, the winged horse.
Pre-war years
Upon leaving lower high school in 1933, Kenshiro took the entrance exam for the Botuku-kai's special teacher training college, Budo Senmon Gakko (aka Busen), with the help and instruction of his teacher, Kazohira Nakamoto and with the endorsement of Shotaro Tabata and others in the Botuku-kai.
Upon starting at Busen, Kenshiro trained hard under Korei Isogai. In his first year he became the youngest student to gain his Yodan (4th dan) in judo. Korei Isogai was said to be a hard task master, every Saturday afternoon tournaments were held at the Busen which involved Kenshiro fighting five opponents in succession, each contest lasting five minutes. He was watched by his older sister, Toyoko Abbe, who rarely saw him beaten. In one tournament Kenshiro had to take on two 2nd Dans, two 3rd Dans and one 4th Dan student for a trial and took less than a few minutes to defeat them all. He was then instructed to repeat the line up again. He did so - and the result was the same. Sometimes he was instructed to fight three or more trials involving as many as twenty opponents in succession. In the autumn of his second year Kenshiro was awarded is Godan (5th Dan).
Whilst at Busen, Kenshiro also took up kendo from Ogawa.
At home he was a prolific reader of Philosophy, which most other students found to be far too difficult. During his third year at the Busen he read Tetsugaku Tsuron[4] written by Tanabe Hajime but could not understand it. So he decided to attend one of Hijime Tanabe's lectures in Kyoto Imperial University hoping that he might then be able to grasp his line of thought. Having made the effort to attend Kenshiro still could not grasp the thinking of Hijime Tanabe's philosophy and felt quite upset. He felt this way despite the fact that he was the only student from the Busen to attend the lecture. This study was to eventually lead Abbe into his own theory of Kyushindo though he did not officially 'launch' or expound it publicly till many years later.
Army life
In 1938, Abbe received his Rokudan (6th Dan) and then was enlisted into the army, despite wishing to continue his studies at Busen. He joined the 11th Division, 43rd Infantry Regiment of the Imperial Japanese Army, based in the Tokushima Province.
Shortly after being enlisted, he was moved to a garrison in the Toan-Sho province in Manchuria, where he spent the next 4 years unable to study judo.
In 1943 he was released from his service and returned to Busen, aged 28 and already going bald.
After his years in the Japanese Imperial Army, unable to practice judo, Kenshiro has lost much of his fitness. He trained hard to regain his fitness and within a few months was back at his peak.
However, he then met his old commander, Ochi san, from the 43rd regiment who insisted Kenshiro re-enlist. A few days later he once again received call-up papers and was assigned to a supplementary unit in the Tokushima province where he studied and mastered Jukendo, the way of the bayonet.
It was during this period that Abbe started formulating his own budo philosophy of Kyushindo. He was also selected by Morihei Ueshiba (the founder of aikido) to receive special training. Aikido at that time was still very selective. Abbe studied for ten years under Ueshiba and became one of his senior students.
Post-war
In 1945, the Butoku-kai granted Abbe Sensei his 7th Dan judo and 6th Dan kendo, but at the end of the war the Butoku-kai and Busen were both deemed to be 'radical organisations' and disbanded, and budo became illegal.
Despite this he was able to take up the position as a judo teacher for the Kyoto Prefectural Police Department.
Whilst working for the Kyoto Police, Kenshiro ran a controversial campaign to free His Imperial Highness Prince Nashimoto, who had been arrested by American forces at the end of the war. Despite receiving no support from former Busen students or the Kyoto Police, Kenshiro persisted with his campaign, jeapordising his position with Kyoto Police.
In 1951, Kenshiro became the editor of Judo Shinbun, the Japanese Judo Magazine and the Director of the Judo Social League. He was also official referee of the All-Japan Police Championships and the National Tournaments.
Europe
In 1955, after an invite from the London Judo Society, Abbe now an 8th Dan, came to the UK. The initial invitation was to become the chief instructor but after a series of disagreements he parted company with them and launched his own philosophy of Kyushindo.
By 1957 he had formed a number of martials arts councils, including: British Judo Council (BJC), British Kendo Council, British Karate Council, as well as an overall governing body - the International Budo Council (IBC).
In 1957 Abbe Sensei received a letter from Morihei Ueshiba, stating that all instructors outside of Japan now had permission to teach aikido to anyone who wished to learn. Before that time the teaching of aikido was kept solely for the Japanese.[5] At this point he was instrumental in introducing kendo (the way of the sword), aikido (the way of spiritual harmony), kyūdō (the way of the bow), jukendo (the way of the bayonet), iaido (the way of sword drawing), yarido (the way of the spear) and naginatado (the way of the halberd) to Europe.
A serious car accident in 1960 left Abbe with chronic neck and back injuries. By this time he had about 25,000 students following his way.
During his time based in the UK he was also rumoured to have travelled far and wide, visiting Marseilles, Nice, Monaco, Turin, Rome, Sweden, Athens, Dakar, Ethiopia and Abyssinia. While there he would apparently ask for a small space, put mats down and teach judo to children and adults.
In 1964 he returned to Japan in time to see judo as an event in the Olympic Games.
On the November 17th, 1985, whilst on a cycle ride with Goto from the old people's home, Kenshiro suffered a major stroke. He was rushed to a hospital near Seibu-Chichibu Station, but never woke up again. He died on the 1st December 1985.
According to his will, his body was donated to be dissected at the Saitama Medical University. The funeral was held in Zuigen Temple in Tokushima City on the 10th June 1986 and his body buried in the Abbe family grave in Tokushima, the Prefecture in which he was born.
Stories about Kenshiro Abbe
The following are extracts from various publications and sources that mention Abbe. The writers and sources are not all known.
Meeting with Morihei Ueshiba
Abbe Sensei was 'All Japan Judo Champion' at the age of 18, prior to World War II. He admitted to being rather arrogant at that time, having achieved fame at so young an age. Anyway, it was during a train journey in Japan that he first met O'Sensei. Abbe didn't know who he was and he reacted to Ueshiba Sensei looking at him, saying: "What are you staring at, old man?" Ueshiba replied: "I know who you are", to which Abbe modestly retorted: "Everyone knows me, I am Kenshiro Abbe, Champion of All Japan". O'Sensei then introduced himself as the Founder of Aikido, and was told by Abbe that he didn't look strong enough to be a Martial Arts Master. O'Sensei then offered Abbe his little finger, and said: "But young man, you look very strong indeed. Please break my finger". Abbe at first declined, but eventually accepted the challenge, presumably to shut the old man up. Abbe Sensei claimed that, as he took hold of the old man's finger and tried to break it, he found himself on the floor of the carriage and totally immobilised. Whilst on the floor Abbe asked the Founder for permission to study under him.
Memories of Henry Ellis: Co-author of Positive Aikido.[6]
Muggers in UK
He was walking down a quiet suburban street on his way home after his usual evening teaching session. He noticed three youths hovering several yards away on the opposite side of the street. When they approached him he was ready. 'Give us your money, or you'll get hurt' said the leader of the three. Abbe looked at each one in turn, then casually took his wallet out of his jacket pocket, throwing it on the floor between himself and the antagonists. He pointed to the wallet and said, 'I am prepared to die for that wallet, what about you?' The three would-be attackers looked at the wallet on the floor, then at Abbe and then at each other and then moved away. Abbe picked up his wallet and calmly walked home.
Reported by Geoff Thomson in 'The Art of Fighting without Fighting'.[7]
KIJA Newsletter Profile
Strongly independent and even unpredictable to the point of eccentricity as a person, Kenshiro Abbe was nevertheless regarded with great respect as a judoka and as an instructor. He was, however something of an enigma. He possessed very definite and uncompromising ideas about life in general and judo in particular.
For instance, after years of thought and study, he approached the breaking of balance in a greatly simplified way to the standard Kodokan way and his system remains controversial. At other times, however, he would go to the extremes of complexity, breaking down a throw into as many as fifteen or more component parts in an exhaustive analysis. His courses often involved long lectures and hard concentrated periods of training, but then he would take the Judokas out to a local playground and do aikido moves in a sandpit. Many English judokas found this kind of unpredictability bewildering, yet he retained respect not least because his own Judo was very light and fast. There were other sides to him too, for during his years at 10 Stuart Road, Acton, the home of Masutaro O'Tani. On his return in 1969 he transformed the garden into a carefully nurtured Japanese garden. This was reported with a photograph in the Acton Gazette that Summer as "A touch of Japan comes to Acton" ..the same edition reported in an article elsewhere; Stuart Road being "the nerve centre of the British Judo Council".
References
- ^ The Japanese Fighting Arts, John Goodbody, A.S. Barnes & Co. New York, NY 1969 Abridged Version (p. 18)
- ^ British Aikido Board History Website
- ^ Kyushindo Philosophy
- ^ Tetsugaku Tsuron (An introduction to Philosophy), Tanabe Hajime, 1933, ISBN 4000218638 (2005 edition)
- ^ The start of aikido in Europe
- ^ Positive Aikido. Dave Rogers (Author), Henry Ellis (Author), Derek Eastman (Author). 31 Dec 2004. ISBN 1412046688.
- ^ The Art of Fighting without Fighting, Geoff Thomson, 25th September 1998, ISBN 1840240857