Nicholas Eschenbruch

Mr. Ellis,
while we are at it: may I ask you what your recollections of the role of Aritomo (Aritoshi) Murashige are, if any? I asked on this forum a couple of years ago and nobody really knew.

From bits and pieces of internet information and some educated guesswork it has seemed to me that Murashige was sort of considered "in charge" or European Aikido by the locals after Tadashi Abe left, and until he died after a crash in - I think - 1964. Do you have any first hand information?

Also, thanks for pointing out the quote by Tamura Sensei, very interesting! That could be quite a loaded and elliptical statement, however: first of all, it sort of describes the scene before Tamura arrived, so he is not really impartial: after all, Nocquet was senior to him in both martial arts experience and years, and Tamura arrived to take over Europe... second, he seems to have been in a kind of rivalry with Nocquet, sometimes sympathetic, sometimes not so, for all the later's life: there is a story that, when they first met, Tamura resisted a technique and Nocquet, who was a 4th dan in pre-olympic Judo/ Kawaishi Jujutsu just changed it and choked young Tamura out.
(Please note I am not making a statement about whether that makes sense in an aikido setting...)

So, any information about Murashige would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Nicholas