KazuoChiba

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[Bandoley McLeod]

This is the discussion thread for the AikiWiki article "KazuoChiba (http://www.aikiweb.com/wiki/KazuoChiba)".

Please add comments below regarding the article.

[Nafis Zahir]

It needs to be updated. Chiba Sensei and the Birankai are no longer a part of the USAF.

[Carl Thompson]

Could anyone add more information about his time in the UK? More information generally would be good. I know he was based in Sunderland. I recently had my suspicion confirmed that he was purposely sent there because it is a working class area.

[akiy]

Hi Nafis,
It needs to be updated. Chiba Sensei and the Birankai are no longer a part of the USAF.

If you or anyone else finds information that should be corrected or updated in the AikiWiki, please help out the entire AikiWeb community by putting in those updates. Simply make sure you're logged in then click on the "Edit" tab/link near the top of the page.

In the case of the Kazuo Chiba sensei article, please click here to edit that article (http://www.aikiweb.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=KazuoChiba&action=edit).

Thank you,

-- Jun

[Peter Goldsbury]

Could anyone add more information about his time in the UK? More information generally would be good. I know he was based in Sunderland. I recently had my suspicion confirmed that he was purposely sent there because it is a working class area.

In the years I practised in the UK before going to the US (up till 1973), K Chiba was based in London and used a dojo in Chiswick.

[Carl Thompson]

In the years I practised in the UK before going to the US (up till 1973), K Chiba was based in London and used a dojo in Chiswick.

Thanks for the quick answer.

You’ll have to forgive my ignorance on this subject. That’s why I’m asking for more information generally. As someone who started aikido in Sunderland I am woefully lacking in concrete facts but according to his dojo website in San Diego (http://www.sdaikikai.com/):

Chiba Sensei moved to Sunderland, England, in 1966. There he formed the Aikikai of Great Britain, which later changed its name to the British Aikido Federation. Currently Chiba Sensei is the technical director of the British Aikikai, a group formed by long-term students of Chiba Sensei in Britain.

I don't doubt that he trained in Chiswick too but I’d be interested to know what the full story is.

Respect and kind regards

Carl

[Peter Goldsbury]

I have seen the Birankai website and do not doubt that he first went to Sunderland from Japan.

I am curious about the supposition that he went there because it was a working-class part of Great Britain, since the social spectrum of people training in the UK when I trained there was no different than it is anywhere else I have trained (the US and Japan).

However, I am pretty sure that when I trained at the Chiswick dojo, his base was in London and later met friends who helped the family when he lived there.

[philipsmith]

Chiba sensei did indeed first go to Sunderland, however, not because it was a working class area.

He travelled to th UK from Japan by ship arranged by an Aikido practitioner (called Mr Rae I think - but can anyone confirm?) who was somehow connected to a shipping company based in Sunderland.

He had certainly moved to London by 1968 and remained there until his return to Japan in 1976, first of all at the Chiswick Dojo in Airedale Avenue and then at the Philbeach Gardens dojo in Earls Court.

[David Humm]

Could anyone add more information about his time in the UK? More information generally would be good. I know he was based in Sunderland. I recently had my suspicion confirmed that he was purposely sent there because it is a working class area.Carl, if you care to email Joe Curran Sensei - British Birankai, he'll be in a position to fill in the blanks so to speak.

Joe has been a continuous student of Chiba Sensei for 38 years if my memory is correct, and is in regular contact with his teacher.

joecurran@talktalk.net

Please be so kind as to inform Mr. Curran that I provided his email address to you. He won't object to the disclosure but at least he'll know for whom.

[Carl Thompson]

Thanks for the posts people.

Carl, if you care to email Joe Curran Sensei - British Birankai, he'll be in a position to fill in the blanks so to speak.

Thanks very much for that. Looks like I’ve got myself a mission. Would anyone object to my updating the profile with whatever facts we have?

I am curious about the supposition that he went there because it was a working-class part of Great Britain, since the social spectrum of people training in the UK when I trained there was no different than it is anywhere else I have trained (the US and Japan).

I’m curious too and I very much appreciate your comments. I’ll admit that what I heard was by word of mouth in an informal setting and does not constitute a concrete fact. It would only be worth adding if the person who said it is willing to put their name to it.

Carl

[BritishAikido@ntlworld.]

Kazuo Chiba Sensie arrived in the UK in April/May 1966 at the request of Kenshiro Abbe Sensie who was based in London. He arrived on the ship Al-Sabbiyah arranged by a shipping company director named Bob Logan who lived in Sunderland. I believe that Chiba Sensie would have been based in London had he received a warmer welcome at the Hut Dojo ? With the help of Mr Logan he based himself in Sunderland. ( Nothing at all to do with the working class :-) ) In 1967 he moved to London where he opened a dojo in Earls Court. These were hard times for Chiba Sensie, I gave Sensei my dojo at the " Times " newspaper in Blackfriars London.
Henry Ellis