Positive AikidoInterview with Henry Ellis by Arthur Lockyear - Fighting Arts International - Issue 93
Where and when were you born, Henry? I was born in Yorkshire, in May 1936 in a little coal mining village called Brampton, near Rotherham. A place where you had to fight your way to and from school each day.
When did you begin your study of Aikido?
It was in 1957, I was studying Judo and Karate at
'Abbe School of Budo' at '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 United Kingdom had heard of Aikido. Abbe Sensei told Mr Williams that he had received a letter from O'Sensei Morehei 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 then selected a hard core group of Judo students to study Aikido - this was when I started.
Abbe Sensei made Mr. Williams National Coach for Aikido and I became Mr Williams' assistant, a post which I held for approximately 15 years.
Abbe Sensei and Williams Sensei then brought eight of us special students up to 1st Dan, only Aikido Dan grades in Great Britain at that time, and all in one dojo (place of training)!
All Dan grades were hard training and strong with no 'bandage men' amongst them.
Sunday morning practice was for Dan grades only and Williams Sensei would lock doors to dojo - it was then that serious practice started, with real fighting. He would allow younger black belt grades to try and prove themselves against him - without success, I might add. It was at that time that Williams Sensei started to visit other dojos to introduce Aikido.
I have heard that Aikido training was harder back then...
In early days training was extremely difficult, with emphasis on very strenuous exercise. My students and I used to train four or five nights a week as well as on Sunday mornings.
Immediately after taking students running for several miles, we would return to mat and perform 200 press-ups on backs of wrists, which was then followed be general practice and a further two hours of hard practice. Abbe Sensei's Aikido was pre-war style of Aiki Jutsu, which was very physical. Both Abbe and Williams were excellent teachers - they worked very hard to train us, whilst promoting Aikido to a rather unreceptive public.
When I was graded 1st Dan by Abbe Sensei, Williams Sensei instructed me to take a good student as an assistant. The assistant I chose was a 17-year-old by name of Derek Eastman, who is now 3rd Dan and technical Director of our Basingstoke Headquarters. Mr Eastman is now 48 years of age and still a loyal friend. It proves one old adage: that you cannot buy or demand respect, you earn it.
At what point did you go 'on road' to spread 'Aikido gospel'?
When Mr Eastman reached 1st Dan, I was 2nd Dan and Williams Sensei advised us to spread word of Aikido.
We both gave up our jobs and travelled all around U.K. It was so difficult trying to introduce Aikido, because most people had never heard of it. Mr Eastman and I left home and headed for Midlands, without money and with little hope. In some areas where Sensei Williams had already introduced Aikido, we would find accommodation with students and receive a small fee for teaching. We would visit Judo and Karate clubs, sports centres, etc.
In areas where there was no Aikido at all, we would take a job for a few days to feed ourselves. We had many jobs and in one area we worked as assistants to a funeral director. We had to collect bodies from mortuary and take them back to chapel of rest.
The boss caught me in chapel of rest with a young maiden who had no right being there.. she being very much alive and well. He was very angry with me, and after many more similar escapades he assured me I was on borrowed time.
We got a job as road sweepers, wearing bowler hats, which attracted a great deal of attention from girls. In North of England girls loved to hear a London accent, and this was a great help with invitations for dinner and, if we were lucky, accommodation, it was a struggle to survive.
We also worked in steel factories and carried out many other jobs around country, but without doubt worst of all was repairing an old railway line. We called it 'railway of death', hard work and foremen were like films we had seen on this subject - needless to say, we did not stay there for very long. I must add, as I look back on my life in Aikido, that this was a really great time. As with all memories, we tend to forget bad times and remember good ones. We contributed greatly to promotion of Aikido and I do not regret one day of it.
I believe that you also trained under Nakazono Sensei in those early days.
Yes that's right. As I said, Abbe Sensei's Aikido was all we knew, and when he told us that he had invited a new teacher from Japan to visit us, we were quite exited as we had not seen another Japanese Aikido master. The new teacher was Masahiro Nakazono Sensei and he taught us for two weeks. It was two weeks of hell! He had us practising on mat for three hours in morning and three hours in afternoon, and Dan grades had to practice an additional three hours in evening. During this seminar there were many broken bones and other injuries.
Our etiquette and discipline could not be questioned, and Abbe Sensei had always taught us to use very strong technique in our Aikido and not be thrown, unless technique was effective. He also taught us that to be strong showed respect for your teacher.
It is important to understand in those early days that we knew no different, we knew only strong fighting art of Aikido. Nakazono Sensei was very angry and perplexed with us. He did not understand us and thought we were being disrespectful to him. It was not until near end of his seminar that Abbe Sensei explained to him reason for our approach to Aikido, and then Nakazono Sensei realised we were genuine students with great respect for him and a strong desire to learn.
In England it is traditional, after a hard practice, to finish evening with a pint of beer at local pub. But Nakazono was keeping us on mat until 10.00 p.m., and pubs closed at 10.30. We were not able to change and reach nearest pub before closing time, so Sensei Williams said to me; "Ellis, as my assistant, it's your duty to ask Sensei if we can leave mat at 9.00 p.m. so we have time to get to pub". What a fool I was! I did ask Nakazono Sensei and he was angry with me and said he had travelled across world to teach us Aikido, and all we wanted to do was go to pub! Well, when he put it like that, it made us feel bad. However, he didn't seem to understand that this was our vacation from work... I reminded Nakazono Sensei of this incident when we met in Santa-Fe recently, and we were able to laugh about it.
