The Life and Times and Accomplishments of Kenshiro Abbe

1945 -1964

Following the defeat of Japan in WW2 the American military mission arrested fifty nine officials including His Imperial Highness Nashimoto and charged with war crimes. Furthermore, the Dai Nippon and Busen etc. were deemed to be radical associations and both disbanded. All teaching of Budo was forbidden. Despite this Abbe somehow obtained a position as Judo teacher to the Kyoto police department, perhaps because of his fame and that he was president of the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai for many years. He was very lucky to get the chance.

Had he settled down into this employment he would have retired at 60, received a pension and without doubt confirmed his position as an authoritative and great master in Judo, and lived out his days with his wife and children peacefully. However he did not do this but instead actually jeopardised his position by running a campaign for the release of his Imperial Highness Prince Nashimoto. Abbe stood in the street with a placard saying "I beg your signature for the release of his Imperial Highness Prince Nashimoto". No one stopped to sign; they all walked on.

Not one student of the Busen or Kyoto Police supported him. Kenshiro's reaction was to criticize them for being heartless; and he then went on to vent his rage on his seniors, suggesting that they were cowards and feared what G.H.Q what might do. His campaign was extremely controversial and antagonistic and this was sure to have affected his position as a teacher. The head of his police department sent a senior officer to warn him to stop.

Abbe's pride and stubbornness was also an issue. Had he continued to work for the Kyoto City Police Force he would have been obliged to put himself in a position under a certain Ebii san who had taught judo in Shizen Kokukei (the National Police) and at Doshisha University. He was four years older than Abbe and one of the top Newaza specialists. There would have been no problem had Abbe paid respects to him, but Abbe would not. In addition to this Ebii san and another colleague named Hosaya san both bore grudges against Kenshiro that went back to defeats at his hands years earlier.

Abbe also resisted overtures from the Kodokan for him to coach there saying he did not like the Director who, said Abbey, had never learned Judo and traded Dan grades certificates for large fees. He also criticized ex-students of Busen and Butoku Kai, accusing them of being over friendly with officials of the Kodokan without any shame whatsoever.

"Oi! Come out old bald head!"
Furthermore, if Busen had continued with its same management a person named Sensei Tamio Kurihara san would have been the arch professor. Sensei Tamio Kurihara had, years earlier, tried to marry his daughter off to Abbe but he made his refusal clear by going to his house and shouting "Oi! Come out old bald head!"
Abbe had sent his certificate back to the Kodokan saying he did not need the 7th Dan that they had awarded him and that in fact he could not tolerate any liaison with Kodokan whatsoever.

Kenshiro Abbe's belligerent nature may be adequately summed by an anecdotal tale of an event that took place at around about this time.
A neighbour had dislocated her jaw and his daughter Junko asked her father to do something for the distressed person. In no time at all Kenshiro Abbe had reset the jaw and the neighbour was as good as new. Obviously impressed the neighbour asked him, "Why didn't you become a bone-setter and earn a good wage"? He replied that "bone-setting was how most of the undergraduates of Busen got rich when they lost their jobs as teachers"!

In 1947 the Butoku Kai was disbanded and this gave the Kodakan a great opportunity to strengthen their position and become a force in Judo again.

In the same year, Toyoko, his elder sister, at 56yrs of age, married Seiichi Izumi san, a bamboo ware manufacturer.

In 1948 the Zen Nippon Senshu Ken Taikai re-started.

In 1951 Abbe became editor of Judo Shinbun, the Japanese Judo Magazine and Director of the Judo Social League. He was also Official Referee of the All-Japan Police Championships and the National Tournaments.

In 1952 Abbe took part in the 3rd year tournament. He was 37years old, but because of his shoulder injury his arm did not have the power and strength it once did. Many advised him not to take part, but he did not take their advice.

His first contest was with Yoshio Mori san from Yamaguchi province. He was defeated with a rare technique of Newaza. His second contest was with Takahito Ishikawa san from Tokyo. Abbe was defeated with Osotogari. This was great victory for Ishikawa san and he went on to win the tournament.

Severed Connections
Takahiko Ishikawa san had returned from the U.S.A. and paid a visit to Abbe to recommend he should go to London and teach. Ishikawa san had become very friendly with Abbe during the years they had been contesting back in the early 1950's. Back in 1949 a person called Kimura san was a powerful force and, just as he had done a year earlier, he defeated the then "star" of the Kodakan. He also defeated Osawa san of the Kodakan. In the final contest Kimura defeated Ishikawa completely.

Ishikawa san felt as Abbe did, that Japanese Judo was in decline and was riddled with corruption, and suggested Abbe consider going to London.

In March 1956 Abbe severed his connection with the Kyoto Police and with a grand farewell headed for London. He resided temporarily in Bridgestone Street with a Mr. Kumajiro Torii who had married an English lady. They were elderly and had no children.

A Warm Welcome
In celebration of his arrival, Kenshiro Abbe's photograph was displayed in many English newspapers offering him a warm welcome. By 1956 he founded the International Budo Council and by 1957 this included British Councils for various martial arts including Judo, Karate and Kendo. By 1964 the Judo Council was the second largest Judo organization in the country whilst the International Budo Council had members all over the continent, the USA, Australia, Africa and the Far East.

To coincide with his arrival in London he launched his own theory of Kyushindo and this became well known in the Budo field, which at that time in the UK consisted of Judo alone. Almost immediately he began to also teach Kendo, Karate and Katsu and effectively it was he who also introduced Aikido, Kyodo, Jukendo, Iaido, Yarido and Naginatado to Europe. By 1955 Kenshiro Abbe 7th Dan of all Japan was to be appointed president of the London Judo Society.

Travelling Far and Wide
In1960 Kenshiro Abbe wrote to Junkoi, his eldest daughter (now aged 18) saying that he had arrived in Marseilles and was going to London for 3 months, intending to travel all over the UK. He sent 20,000 Yen and said that would be all for this year, "as this money is all the fruits of my efforts", adding, "I have no money to come home".

Abbe did not charge high fees to teach. In those days £1 equalled 1,000 yen, and he asked his 30 or so students just £1 each for weekly lessons. He saved as much of this as he was able and sent it home to his family in Japan. He also always sent cards or letters on birthdays.

Abbe intended to be in London for just a few years and then return home. However, due to his cheap fees, expertise and earnestness - and, in equal measure, his positive involvement and contrite opposition with various organisations; it would be more that eight years before he was to return to Japan. He spent most of those years living in cheap hotels.

Paradoxically the least documented and most mysterious period of Kenshiro's life is those eight to ten years spent 'based' in London. In fact, the only thing known for sure is that he spent some of those years in the U.K. There are anecdotal and unsubstantiated tales of him travelling far and wide. It is said that he bought himself a van and as a travelling teacher set out to visit Marseilles, Nice, Monaco, Turin, Rome, Sweden, Athens, Dakar, Ethiopia and Abyssinia. Whenever in town he would ask for a small space in a church, warehouse or even the outdoors and spread his fifteen tatami (mats) and teach Judo and youngsters and adults.

Eccentricity and Arguments
When he came to London it was really a new experience for all, and much to the discomfort of the London Judo Society, Abbe's life was eccentric to say the least.
He loved doves, pigeons and smaller birds and allowed them to fly freely in the Dojo, so we may be sure the mats were in an awful mess! It got so bad he was ordered out and he and Bill Woods found a place over a pub where they carried on their teachings.

Other anecdotes of his eccentric methods and behaviour included training sessions in swimming pools and a tale of him 'borrowing' a tethered police horse and riding it through the London streets. At that time any Japanese face in London was relatively rare - one on horseback was extraordinary!

Abbey had constant arguments with the representatives of other organizations and as a result Judo Renmei declared that Abbe was an unqualified teacher, not sent to the UK by the Kodakan, and Judo Kyokai insisted they would not recognize any other organization at all. Abbe resisted them by founding his own organization and membership soon reached over 3,000 in number.

One of Kenshiro's conflicts had particularly sad and poignant consequences. Whether he announced officially through the media or not, he made it known that he thought that Koizumi san's teachings were way out of date. This was a blow to Koizumi san who had been teaching in Britain for a considerable number of years. Nevertheless he was left out in the cold and he eventually committed suicide by suffocating himself with a plastic bag that he put over his head. His last words were "No one wants me now".

Bill woods, co-founder of that first Dojo together in Kings Cross would become accustomed to Kenshiro's unpredictable behaviour and would be kept busy for many years to come in the role of 'right hand man'.

In 1961, whilst Kenshiro was about his travels his mother, aged 83, moved into her third son-in-law's family home in Sakai City. His sister Toyoke saw Abbe's wife Keiko and remarked that "she was just like a widow".

Kenshiro Abbe did invite his family to live with him in London however they refused, apparently not at all attracted by the life style on offer in England.

Kenshiro Abbe's mental and physical health was in noticeable decline. His appearance became scruffy and dirty because he never washed his Gi at all, smoked twenty strong cigarettes a day and was losing body weight. Now no one could believe that he once was the greatest Judoist to grace the four hundred tatami sized Dojo of the Busen. The admiration of famous Judoka was lost and it became hard to connect his current figure to the person who used to perform excellent techniques in front of two thousand spectators in the halls of Kasugahara and Meiti-Shrine.