Women In The Martial Artsby 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
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 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 world searching for best quality weapons, what intrigued me most as a child was all these strange visitors that would come to my home, famous Otani family were regular visitors with Sensei Matsuro Otani 7th dan Judo UK National Coach, Kenshiro Abbe Sensei, Tomio Otani Sensei UK National Coach for Kendo, his visitors were like 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 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 martial art for me.
The Hard Training Begins
When I started Aikido I made a point of training with men and they treated me as one of them. With regular practice I progressed. I had now developed 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, high light of all this effort was when Sensei Ellis promoted me to assistant coach of 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 long history of 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 British Aikido Board (BAB) which is governing body for Aikido in UK. Once I became assistant to Sensei Ellis I became involved in assisting in teaching both men and women and also helping with 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 North of England, Sensei Ellis is not one of those teachers who has a pet uke follow him around to fly all over mat at a touch or a glance, he prefers to try to involve all 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 phrase "Being thrown in at deep end" is applicable here.
On arrival at 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 first class of approximately 50 dan grades from various martial arts. Sensei had me demonstrate 100 press-ups on backs of my wrists with fingers pointing both inwards and outwards. When I had finished and was in 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.
