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Old 12-03-2010, 01:32 PM   #1
jamie yugawa
 
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Tadashi Abe

I have been reading a lot about Tadashi Abe of late and was wondering, what is style was like and is there any more info on him ? Has anyone practiced with him ? I know he passed away in 1984 , but how did he pass away? Just curious. there is this vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICzIR...4D7D22&index=2

Is there a more complete video of this?

and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0b6p...4D7D22&index=1
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ7LozQDAaY

Also can any one identify the other people in this video I know there is Doshu, Koichi Tohei, Saito sensei and Tadashi Abe . But who are the others?

He seems to be a very interesting person with very little info on him.
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Old 12-03-2010, 03:40 PM   #2
Hellis
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Re: Tadashi Abe

Tadashi Abe Sensei visited the UK at the invitation of Kenshiro Abbe Sensei in 1959 ? I would say that Abe Sensei was the hardest man I have ever met, a true warrior. Both Abbe Sensei and Chiba Sensei said if ever a man was meant to have lived in the 16th century, it was Abe Sensei....I was discussing Tadashi Abe Sensei over lunch with Chiba Sensei just a few months ago, Chiba Sensei described Tadashi Abe Sensei as his true hero. Abe Sensei had trained during the war to be a suicide one man torpedo pilot, just before he was to face his destiny the war ended, Chiba Sensei said that to the end of his life, Tadashi Abe felt that he had been cheated of his right to die as a true Samurai.

Henry Ellis
http://aikidoarticles.blogspot.com/
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Old 12-03-2010, 07:15 PM   #3
jamie yugawa
 
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Re: Tadashi Abe

That is amazing!! I was told a similar story about Akira Tohei Sensei being trained as a kamakazi pilot and the war ended before he could fly his mission. Ellis Sensei do you have any good stories about your experiences with Abe Sensei? Perhaps anything he emphasized more in training or philosophy? Thank you.
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Old 12-04-2010, 02:26 AM   #4
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Re: Tadashi Abe

Quote:
Jamie Yugawa wrote: View Post
That is amazing!! I was told a similar story about Akira Tohei Sensei being trained as a kamakazi pilot and the war ended before he could fly his mission. Ellis Sensei do you have any good stories about your experiences with Abe Sensei? Perhaps anything he emphasized more in training or philosophy? Thank you.
Tadashi Abe Sensei did not expound very much philosphy, as with all the early teachers that I met he was only interested in hard training...One philosphy I do recall from Abe Sensei " opponent with fists is no challenge, opponent with knife is a true challenge ". I know for a fact that he always carried a knife so that when challenged he would offer the knife to his opponent.....In his last years he became very dissapointed with the direction of Aikido at Hombu, he went to the AikiKai Hombu, after watching for a while he stood up and looked around before apologizing to all the ladies present before stating out loud " This is not Aikido anymore, this Aikido is only for ladies " ..........With that he threw his Hombu diploma's on the mat and walked out, never to return.
There are some photos of Tadashi Abe Sensei on my ``5 photo galleries `` on www.british-aikido.com

Henry Ellis
http://aikidoarticles.blogspot.com/
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Old 12-04-2010, 04:02 AM   #5
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Re: Tadashi Abe

Abe sensei was also the second Aikido teacher after Mochizuki sensei to teach in France, in the early 1950s. He wrote the very first Aikido manual in French :
http://www.scribd.com/doc/7307718/Ai...-Et-2-Complets

According to the legend, he was expelled by the local authorities after one bar brawl too many.

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Old 12-04-2010, 04:05 AM   #6
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Re: Tadashi Abe

There is not much about Abe Sensei in his later years, does anyone know what happened to him? was he still actively practicing?
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Old 12-04-2010, 04:09 AM   #7
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Re: Tadashi Abe

Wow those scans are great !!! Man I would hate to see the other guys in the brawls!! I am going to have to search for his Aikido book now also.
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Old 12-04-2010, 04:40 AM   #8
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Smile Re: Tadashi Abe

Quote:
Ludwig Neveu wrote: View Post
Abe sensei was also the second Aikido teacher after Mochizuki sensei to teach in France, in the early 1950s. He wrote the very first Aikido manual in French :
http://www.scribd.com/doc/7307718/Ai...-Et-2-Complets

According to the legend, he was expelled by the local authorities after one bar brawl too many.
I have those two Aikido books by Tadashi Abe Sensei who gave two copies to Kenshiro Abbe Sensei who very kindly gave them to me, very rare and much treasured...I can't read French but there are many good photos

Henry Ellis
http://aikidoarticle.blogspot.com/
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Old 12-04-2010, 05:47 AM   #9
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Re: Tadashi Abe

Mr Ellis, they are treasures indeed.

However, I actually realised that Mochizuki sensei had had published an aikido method in french a few years earlier. It is also available online if you search a little.

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Old 12-04-2010, 05:54 AM   #10
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Re: Tadashi Abe

There is some interesting info of Abe Sensei (from the perspectives of others) to be found in the article archives at Aikido Journal. Go here for the search results page.
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Old 12-04-2010, 06:17 AM   #11
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Re: Tadashi Abe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Pierre Chassang, born in 1918, is an aikidoka holding 8th dan Takemusu Aiki Intercontinental and 6th dan Aikikai. First taught aikido by Tadashi Abe in 1952.

On return to Japan of Abe in 1960, he was instrumental in the creation of the Association Culturelle Européenne d'Aikido. Studies with Mutsuro Nakazono.

Founding member of the International Aikido Federation, of which he served as General Treasurer for several years. President of European Aikido Federation. Closely allied for many years with Nobuyoshi Tamura. Founding member of Takemusu Aiki Intercontinental with Philippe Voarino.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pierre Chassang Sensei would be the best source of information on Tadashi Abe Sensei, he is 92 yrs of age, he was Abe Sensei's first European ( French ) student, he also helped Abe Sensei write his books in French.....You could pm Darren Sims who is a member here who I believe is still in contact with Chassang Sensei...
Chassang Sensei is a true gentleman of Aikido who I first met over 50 years ago. If he has written his memories of Abe Sensei ??? I would dearly like to read them...

Henry Ellis
http://aikidoarticles.blogspot.com/
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Old 12-04-2010, 07:04 AM   #12
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Re: Tadashi Abe

The first part of an interview of Pierre Chassang featuring Philippe Voarino :
http://www.aikidojournal.eu/Entretie...Pierre_Cannes/

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Old 12-04-2010, 07:37 AM   #13
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Re: Tadashi Abe

Quote:
Ludwig Neveu wrote: View Post
The first part of an interview of Pierre Chassang featuring Philippe Voarino :
http://www.aikidojournal.eu/Entretie...Pierre_Cannes/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for that article, I had not seen it before.

Henry Ellis
http://akidoarticles.blogspot.com/
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Old 12-04-2010, 12:22 PM   #14
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Re: Tadashi Abe

Very cool! Thank you for the interesting reads! It's ironic that I happen to have recently begun an idle interest in Tadashi Abe and here we are talking about him. I always wondered who the fellow with the interesting smile was in this segment of video (@~1:19): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XTlWDOQBno And only recently found a listing of his name.

Gambarimashyo!
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Old 12-04-2010, 01:23 PM   #15
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Re: Tadashi Abe

One of the interesting things was Tadashi Abe being nicknamed the "Happy Aikidoka" as seen in that video yet, being the one of the toughest men met by some. He sticks out the most in the line up with his smile, unusually uncharacteristic of a tough budo practitioner in the 1952 Wakayama video. I like how Minoru Mochizuki Sensei describes him as "evil-looking man with a monk-like hairstyle". I wonder if Abe Sensei felt his smile was menacing or perhaps a ruse to unsuspecting people.
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Old 12-04-2010, 01:38 PM   #16
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Re: Tadashi Abe

Believe me, you can take that smile at face value, Minoru Mochizuki Sensei saw Abe Sensei without the smile as I have. I could only describe the smile as being disarming with menace behind it.
Henry Ellis
http://aikidoarticle.blogspot.com/
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Old 12-04-2010, 03:00 PM   #17
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Re: Tadashi Abe

Tadashi Abe Sensei was also a relative of Yoshimitsu Yamada Sensei, Abe Sensei being a cousin of Yamada Sensei's father..
cf: http://www.aikidojournal.com/article?articleID=83
and :
http://www.aikidojournal.com/encyclopedia?entryID=761

Abe Sensei passed away in 1984.
Abe Sensei is also known for penning a scathing rejoinder to Koichi Tohei Sensei's resignation letter in 1973.
Yasuo Kobayashi Sensei has some interesting anecdotes about Abe Sensei in his online biography, which can be read here:http://www.kobayashi-dojo.com/englis...4_7/index.html

Inocencio Maramba, MD, MSc
Dangayan Singkaw Aikido Shinzui
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Old 12-04-2010, 03:25 PM   #18
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Re: Tadashi Abe

wow that information on Kobayashi Sensei's website was intense! I cant even imagine the scene where he throws water at Koichi Tohei. He sounded like an very intense person.
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Old 12-04-2010, 03:28 PM   #19
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Re: Tadashi Abe

What are the names of the books that Abe Sensei wrote?
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Old 12-04-2010, 04:08 PM   #20
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Re: Tadashi Abe

Quote:
Henry Ellis wrote: View Post
Believe me, you can take that smile at face value, Minoru Mochizuki Sensei saw Abe Sensei without the smile as I have. I could only describe the smile as being disarming with menace behind it.
Henry Ellis
http://aikidoarticle.blogspot.com/
The one in the video struck me as "arming," I can only imagine what his angry face might look like!

Gambarimashyo!
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Old 12-04-2010, 04:10 PM   #21
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Re: Tadashi Abe

Tadashi Abbe was very angry with Tohei who he felt had betrayed OSensei, the incident with the water was nothing compared with his plan to kill Tohei, If I recall it was Chiba Sensie who took the knife off Abe Sensei who never ever forgave Tohei to the day he died,
Henry Ellis
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Old 12-05-2010, 10:30 AM   #22
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and yet . . .

In issue #32 of AJ, in the interview with Saito sensei

Quote:
When I became a student I found Mr. Abe took good care of the junior students… he taught us in a kind, polite manner. I still appreciate it very much. In the same way that Mr. Abe was kindly taught like a brother by Mr. Tohei when he began, I was taught kindly in turn like a brother by Mr. Abe.

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Old 12-05-2010, 10:53 AM   #23
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Re: Tadashi Abe

This is all amazing stuff. Its too bad no one interviewed him or did an article just on Abe sensei. But, then again that interview may have been a little intense.
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Old 12-06-2010, 01:33 AM   #24
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Re: Tadashi Abe

Quote:
Jamie Yugawa wrote: View Post
There is not much about Abe Sensei in his later years, does anyone know what happened to him? was he still actively practicing?
I asked this question to an "aikido historian" and long-term resident of Japan at an after-class dinner in the US once, and he said something to the extent that Abe Sensei lived in very sad circumstances towards the end of his life, addiction and poverty were mentioned if I remember correctly. Apparently, he was raised in some sort of war-time interpretation of the samurai spirit that made it very difficult for him to fit in in post-war Japan, according to that conversation.

Abe Sensei was instrumental in getting André Nocquet to study under O-Sensei as the first Westerner. I guess Abe's martial ability was what convinced pre-olympic Judoka in France, like Nocquet, that Aikido was something worse pursuing.
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Old 12-06-2010, 09:34 AM   #25
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Re: Tadashi Abe

Quote:
Nicholas Eschenbruch wrote: View Post
I asked this question to an "aikido historian" and long-term resident of Japan at an after-class dinner in the US once, and he said something to the extent that Abe Sensei lived in very sad circumstances towards the end of his life, addiction and poverty were mentioned if I remember correctly. Apparently, he was raised in some sort of war-time interpretation of the samurai spirit that made it very difficult for him to fit in in post-war Japan, according to that conversation.
Quote:
Henry Ellis wrote: View Post
Abe Sensei had trained during the war to be a suicide one man torpedo pilot, just before he was to face his destiny the war ended, Chiba Sensei said that to the end of his life, Tadashi Abe felt that he had been cheated of his right to die as a true Samurai.
That's very sad. It sounds as though he died with a tremendous amount of unresolved anger and guilt. I feel terribly for this man right now.
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