The Aikido Biography Of Sensei Henry Ellis 5th Dan
By Henry Ellis, Thu Dec 8th

The Biography of Sensei Henry Ellis 5th dan

Henry Ellis and Derek Eastman - 2000

Henry Ellis was born May 3rd 1936 in a tough coal mining town inthe County of Yorkshire, North of England. This was pre-warBritain, and growing up as a child during the austere war yearsof the 1940’s all Henry ever knew was hard times and harddiscipline as the son of a tough coal face miner. Henry didn'trealize that this tough life with strict discipline would standhim in good stead in the years to come.

In 1956 he became a member of the Abbe School of Budo at the nowfamous Hut Dojo. His first introduction to Martial Arts was inthe Judo section. After a full year of Judo, Henry saw the greatmaster Kenshiro Abbe sensei demonstrate Aikido which had onlyrecently been introduced to Britain ( 1955 ).

Henry Joined the Aikido section in 1957 while continuing withhis Judo studies.

TheHutDojo1957, Judo and Aikido students. Front row Abbe Senseiand K Williams Sensei.

The Hut was the Hell Dojo of all Hell Dojo’s. The discipline wasvery strict and very few continued to study. This was the onlyAikido dojo in the UK. Abbe sensei and Williams sensei wouldteach with a shinai, words were wasted but the shinai alwaysreceived the students full attention. Abbe sensei said manytimes that his English was bad but his shinai spoke excellentEnglish.

Henry fitted well into this disciplined routine where a mistakewould receive a whack with the shinai or between 100 and 200press-ups on the back of the wrists. At third kyu Henry waspromoted to personnel assistant to Williams sensei, he thentravelled around the UK with his teacher taking the very firstAikido



seminar in the UK in the town of Devises near historicStoneHenge.

Henry Ellis Sensei and David Warne Sensei demonstrateshiho-nage. Basingstoke Dojo 1986

When Henry reached first dan he was instructed to take anassistant, the assistant was Derek Eastman who is stillassociated with the Ellis Aikido Schools.

Of this early select group eight became dan grades ( black belts) these were the only dan grades for Aikido in the UK. Henry wasthe first Aikido teacher to introduce Aikido into the Britisheducation system in the early sixties.

In the very early sixties Ellis and Eastman, on the instructionsof Williams sensei, travelled around Britain teaching Aikido toJudo and sports clubs for free. They worked a few days here andthere for a meal and a bed, often sleeping in the car, in aneffort to promote the art to anyone who would give them theopportunity to teach and demonstrate. The two spent one year “onthe road “ .

Ellis and Eastman both studied Kendo with their best friendTomio Otani Sensei the British National Coach for Kendo. They inturn taught Tomio Aikido.

At this time Harada Sensei was teaching his ShotoKai Karate atthe Hut Dojo. Henry studied with Harada Sensei, Henry usingKarate in his Aikido and Harada Sensei using Aikido movement inhis Karate.

Harada Sensei had last been graded to 5th dan in 1957 by thefounder of modern Karate Gichin Funakoshi. Harada Sensei haddeveloped the art of ShotoKai Karate. When asked why he wasstill 5th dan as he is today, Harada replied “ Any grade above5th dan is totally pointless “. This impressed Henry who himselfwas now sick at the sight of so many self appointed egotisticalself aggrandising so called masters who cared more for titlesthan the Martial Art they represented. Ellis and Eastman agreedto follow Harada Sensei’s stand and they made the highest gradein the Ellis Schools of Traditional Aikido to be 5th dan.

Henry Ellis with Mikito Nakazono Sensei

Henry has personally studied with many of the great early namesin Aikido. Sensei’s Kenshiro Abbe – K Williams - Tadashi Abe –Mikoto Nakazono - Misamachi Noro – N Tamura – Kobayashi – KazuoChiba to name a few.

Henry is proud of the expansion of the ESTA to the USA inAlamogordo New Mexico and Dallas Texas.

On the 17th of December 2004 the release of the book “ PositiveAikido “ was of great satisfaction after almost 50 years ofMartial Arts.

Henry Ellis C/o Author: Positive Aikidohttp://www.EllisAikido.org http://www.geocities.com/britishaikido

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About the author:Henry Ellis Co-author of Positive Aikido started his Aikidocareer in 1957 at the famous Hut Dojo as a direct student of thelegendary master Kenshiro Abbe Sensei.