http://www.newbudo.com/abe.htm I came across this web site claiming Abbe Sensei had 35000 students. Is this true or is it an exaduration. I certainly know where at least one of Abbe Sensei students is currently teaching. How can 35000 people just dissapear?
Not trying to be bloody minded here but considering the Japanese were nuked twice I thihnk 35k students is pushing it a bit
Abbe Sensei was instrumental in setting up the BJC (British Judo Council) so maybe the author is counting all BJC members in Abbes lifetime? Otherwise the figure seems very high to me. I participated in the 50th anniversary seminar this year and most people there hadn't even heard of Abbe until the publicity for the seminar was published. From conversations with Mr. Cottier; an original Judo student of Abbe Senseis'; I can't see such a figure in the UK alone, but of course Abbe was active in various areas of the world for many years.
Who do you guys actually mean ? Tadashi ABE was based in France and established Aikido in Europe in 1951 Kenshiro ABBE was based in the UK and extablished Aikido here in 1955 Dave
Well the web site talks about Abbe Sensei and the Hut and has a picture of Kenshiro Abbe Sensei. So that's who i was talking about.
Yeh my fault mate (lol) I should have looked at the link content before engaging my brain... I just looked that the url which ends in "...abe.htm" Dave
Well I know that at least one very important fact is misprotrayed. When Abbe arrived in the UK, Aikido had already been introduced to France by Abe Sensei, in essence permission had been given for aikido to be taught outside Japan before Kenshiro Abbe Sensei arrived in the UK. What we do know is that Kenshiro Abbe carried with him written permission from the founder to teach aikido when ever he wished. Indeed it is my understanding that despite Abbe arriving here under the invitation to teach Judo within the LJC, Abbe Sensei had consulted with the founder who blessed his journey here to the UK. Bearing in mind of course that when Abbe arrived in the UK he was still essentially one of the founder's students. His departure to the UK breaking his then, ten year study directly under the founder. Regards
IMHO 35,000 is probably not an exaggeration of worldwide followers, especially if every part timer who ever buys a licence is included. Don't know if it is a claim for students who train regularly or not. I'm guessing it is true because I know of one UK MA organisation (Shudokan International - largely aikido based but with FT staff and dojo offering a range of MA etc as a national franchise business) which has numbers of over 3,500 on its books.
i dont think u can teach that many in that time. maybe he taught alot of failures or quitters, cuz a class of 30 in elementry school is alrdy considered a "PACKED" classroom. and if he trains like 100 students, i think the class would alrdy be over by the time he checked on how the last students stance was.
Just for your information, Abbe Sensei was a product of the BUSEN - in turn he was an instructor of the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai (Japan's oldest martial society - O Sensei was also a member) Remembering that Abbe was a 5th dan in Judo at 18 !! So it would be a fair assumption that he spent a considerable amount of his adult life teaching the arts he was directly involved in namely: Judo, Aikido, Kendo, Iai, Kyudo Although I personally feel putting an accurate figure on the number of students Abbe directly trained would be difficult, I do think he would be responsible for a very large number. Remember, he was considered an icon of his age. Regards
