Presented by the Ellis Schools of Traditional Aikido

CLICK - Tribute Slide-Show to TK Chiba Sensei - 1940 - 2015

TK Chiba Sensei passed away on June  5th  2015
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AVAILABLE  NOW

The only Official Bio Book on the life of TK Chiba Shihan

Approved and authorized by the Chiba family. 

Publishers official release date  20th July  2019

Available on Amazon 

 

Order Now From Amazon Publishing  ISBN 9781696063432

Author Liese Klein Sensei

The new official history and Chiba family approved Bio of TK Chiba Shihan release on 

July 20th 2019
paperback  537 pages of the incredible life of one of Osensei's most devoted direct students.


Important News from BiranKai USA

Madam Chiba has reluctantly decided to sell all of Chiba Sensei's  swords - suba's 
and many other items. Visit the above website for full details.

TK Chiba Sensei - 1940 - 2015

BiranKai-UK - - - BiranKai North America

Wherever you are located - If you wish to follow the true teachings and sincere path of  TK Chiba Shihan's Aikido  - please contact any one of  the various ` BiranKai `organisations in the UK - USA or Internationally.

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" If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything " - Mark Twain

Yasuo Kobayashi centre front - Tadashi Abe to his left - Front right Tamura Sensei, behind him Chiba Sensei.circa 1958

CLICK - Tribute Slide-Show to TK Chiba Sensei - 1940 - 2015

TK Chiba Sensei - Memorial Site
1940 - 2015

Right: The Shrine in Japan where Chiba Sensei joins in peace with his parents and sister.

We offer our sincere condolences to Chiba Sensei's family - friends and students.

TK Chiba Shihan San Diego Dojo 1993


Henry Ellis - Tribute article, 1966 - Recalling the early days with Chiba Sensei - Aikiweb article .

Click here -There we were Two Handsome Young Men 

" SCROLL DOWN FOR "

" Chiba Sensei - UK - The Early Days " 
" The Challenges of Chiba Sensei "
" Chiba Sensei - UK - Historic Facts "

" Chiba Sensei - Video Message for Students and Teachers "
" Tribute Speech to Chiba Sensei by Henry Ellis - Video and Text "
" Mitsusuke Harada Shihan - Speech to Chiba Sensei " [and a Friends Betrayal ]
TK Chiba Sensei interview by Arthur Lockyear - Aikido Journal


TK Chiba Sensei - 1940 - 2015 
 Aikido Seminar 1967

Summer School 1967 - centre : K Chiba Sensei - Henry Ellis on Sensei's right side. with Ralph Reynolds (glasses) on Sensei's left. - Click image to enlarge.

For those that studied with TK Chiba Sensei in those early days, they will remember his Aikido being true Budo, something that very few will ever see or feel again.

Read " Aikido Then and Now - 1955 - 2015.

Henry Ellis pays tribute to his teacher  TK Chiba Shihan - the last of the original UK Japanese Budo masters.

Chiba Sensei - UK The Early Days.

Below Left: Admin:  Henry Ellis . Assistant to Chiba Sensei from 1967 to 1972

Co-author of the traditional Aikido book " Positive Aikido "

Diplomas signed by Osensei M Ueshiba (2) Kenshiro Abbe Sensei - Masahilo Nakazono Sensei - TK Chiba Sensei - Doshu M Ueshiba.

I have so many memories of Chiba Sensei over the almost 50 years that I knew him.  Including the five years between 1967 and 1972 when I was assistant to Chiba Sensei.
As so many do,  I have never considered myself a friend of Chiba Sensei - I was, simply a very privileged student,  just as I was under my first Japanese teacher Kenshiro Abbe Sensei.

Kenshiro Abbe Sensei had visted OSensei Ueshiba in October 1964 whilst attending the Tokyo Olympics with his good friend Haku Michigami Sensei who had trained the heavy weight gold medalist Anton Geesink. 

Abbe Sensei asked OSensei for a permanent UK Aikikai representative. - two years later in 1966 TK Chiba Sensei arrived.

1966 - The memory I could never erase was the first time Chiba Sensei walked into the ` Hut Dojo` - he looked very menacing - stern and severe as he entered the dojo and surveyed all around him.

He had been fore warned by Abbe Sensei and Nakazono Sensei how hard we trained.
Chiba Sensei stepped on to the mat,  from that instant,  and just in case we had any doubts - he demonstrated who he was, and why he was here to stay

We, the original first UK  aikido dan grades ( now regarded as UK pioneers ) were not expecting a permanent based AikiKai teacher, which would replace Ken Williams Sensei as National Coach of the ` British Aikido Council `. [ BAC ]

I had been assistant to Ken Williams sensei since 1957 - It had never crossed my mind that I would ever leave the Hut Dojo, yet, ten years later I would leave and join Chiba Sensei as his assistant in 1967, this was when he moved to London. - read the story here ->. `` There we were Two Handsome Young Men ``

Chiba Sensei told me that his hero had always been   Tadashi Abe Sensei  - judging by their equally powerful fighting spirit, I could understand his admiration.
I had lunch with Chiba Sensei just a few months before he sadly passed away, he said  " most dojos have become no more than social clubs " - I agreed - perhaps he had something like these in mind ->  Aikido Dancing   -  Aikido Ribbon Dance  -  Nodding Aikido  - Fantasy Aikido - 
 

Please support the Chiba Family Fund with a small donation.
UK visit -> `` Chiba Family Fund ``  USA visit -> `` Chiba Family Fund ``

TK Chiba Sensei - 1940 - 2015 - R.I.P.  
 Historic Facts

TK Chiba Shihan was the ``first `` UK ` Resident Aikikai Hombu Representative 1966 `

Kenshiro Abbe Sensei was the first Aikikai UK approved Aikido teacher  1955 - followed by Tadashi Abe Sensei 1957 - Masahilo Nakazono Sensei 1960 - Masamichi Noro Sensei 1963. 
Ken Williams Sensei was the first UK student of Aikido to Kenshiro Abbe Sensei - Henry Ellis was personal assistant to Williams Sensei from 1957 to 1967.

TK Chiba Sensei - passed away peacefully aged 75 years at his home in San Diego USA on the 5th - June - 2015

The Times of London - Aikido Dojo

TK Chiba arrived in the UK in 1966, after a miserable year in the cold nothern city of  Newcastle, he moved to London in 1967,   Chiba Sensei  was having a difficult time financially, Osensei Ueshiba  no longer provided the meager Aikikai allowance ( read story )  Henry Ellis had four dojos, one being at the international newspaper `` The Times of London ``  - Ellis Sensei gave this dojo to Chiba Sensei - It was at this dojo that Chiba Sensei and Henry Ellis did a very successful 30 min  " BBC  World Service "  broadcast , followed by TV demonstrations.

Left: Kenshiro Abbe Sensei 1915 - 1985.

In 1964, Abbe Kenshiro sensei went to Japan with his friend, Michigami Haku sensei to see the
latter's student Anton Geesink win the Judo Olympic Heavy Weight Gold medal.
 Whilst in Japan, Abbe sensei went to the Aikikai to see O-sensei Morihei Ueshiba,  Abbe Sensei  asked Osensei for a representative of the Aikikai to take full control of his organisation, the `British Aikido Council` (BAC), the main body for UK Aikido. We, the first group of UK Aikido dan grades and pioneers were unaware of Abbe Sensei's plan before Sensei left for Japan, and we were no wiser on his return to the UK.

Two years, later, in 1966, TK Chiba sensei arrived in the UK as the official Aikikai representative. He initially stayed with a Mr B. Logan, a director of a large shipping company, on whose ship, the `Al-Sabbayah,' Sensei had made his long journey from Japan to the UK. Mr Logan lived in Sunderland, a bleak cold northern UK city. Chiba sensei found the weather there cold, miserable and unpleasant, this was the most unhappy time in Chiba Sensei's 40 years in the UK.

Left: Ken Williams Sensei - First UK Aikido student.

To say the least, the situation could have, and should have, been handled much better by Abbe sensei.
 Perhaps if matters had been handled differently, had we been prepared, maybe Williams sensei and Chiba sensei could have worked together for a stronger BAC, but when Chiba sensei arrived at the Hut Dojo for the first time for what we thought was an ordinary seminar, Chiba Senei was introduced as the new official Aikikai representative. The dan grades were fiercely loyal to Williams sensei. They were the original pioneers of aikido to Britain from its inception in 1955. To these dan grades, Williams sensei was the undisputed head of the BAC and UK aikido. There is no doubt that Chiba sensei was aware of the resentment, as he and Williams sensei just did not get along from the moment they met, but Sensei had no idea why he was received that way.

One had to have been in the Hut Dojo that day to feel the atmosphere, to understand the shock and

dilemma of all that attended that first course. Chiba sensei was not a visiting Aikido teacher as Abe Tadashi, Nakazono Masahilo and Noro Masamichi sensei(s) had been. This teacher was here to stay, and to his credit, despite all the hardships ahead of him, Chiba Sensei did stay for a further forty years.

The above is taken from the Aikiweb article by Henry Ellis - for more please visit the above link.

Right: 2006 - Henry Ellis - K Chiba Sensei - Derek Eastman at the British Birankai celebration dinner to mark Senseis 40th year of teaching Aikido in the UK

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Hombu Dojo 1959 - L to R - K Chiba - Y Kuroiwa - M Noro - N Tamura - K Ueshiba - Osensei. Ueshiba.

TK Chiba with Osensei Ueshiba  circa 1959 
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This is the programme for the 1969 Budo Festival which was the main event for TK Chiba in the UK at that time. This was an international event with Paris France and Tilburg  Holland. This was the last event held by Kenshiro Abbe before he left for Europe, never to return to the UK. - Sorry for the poor quality, I am working on it.

Programme reads as follows.

British Judo Council - International Budo Festival  1968
1.- Address by Kenshiro Abbe Sensei founder ` KyuShinDo ` - 2 - London vs Paris - 3 - Display of Budo by K Abbe & R Otani - 4 - Tilburg vs Provinces - 5 - Display of Aikido by Mr Chiba 5th dan - 6 - London vs Tilburg - 7 - Display of Karate by K Abbe and Display team - 8 - Paris vs Provinces - 9 - Display of Kendo by Abbe Sensei & Tomio Otani . - 10 - Demonstration of Naginata by K Abbe & R Otani - 11 - Demonstration of JuKenDo by K Abbe & R Otani . -  12 - Special Item - Demonstration Kyu Shin Do Kata by K Abbe 8th dan - & Masutaro Otani 7th dan.


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2015 - Chiba Sensei's last message to both Students and Teachers.

Below - Video of Henry Ellis's speech at the 40th Anniversary of TK Chiba Sensei's arrival in the UK in 1966. 2006 - Henry Ellis Sensei pays tribute to the early years as assistant to Chiba Sensei 1967 to 1972 - Ellis reads his speech in tribute to TK Chiba Shihan at the 40th anniversary of Sensei teaching in Britain


The Speech by Henry Ellis at the `British BiranKai - TK Chiba 40th Anniversary Dinner. 2006.


Tribute to TK Chiba Shihan.

By Henry Ellis Sensei

I am most honoured to have been asked to write a letter of tribute to TK Chiba Shihan on this auspicious occasion by the British BiranKai.

I am also very pleased to see the world wide recognition and respect that Chiba Shihan has gained in his dedication to promote his very special style of dynamic Aikido. To see the realisation of every Aikido teachers dream with the opening of the new superb San Diego dojo.

This is all in sharp contrast to the many hardships that Chiba Shihan faced on his arrival to Great Britain in 1966. I vividly recall the day when Sensei first visited the ` Hut Dojo ` to a very mixed reception.
Kenshiro Abbe Sensei had not discussed with the senior Aikido instructors of the ` British Aikido Council ` (BAC) of his planned meeting with Osensei Ueshiba in 1964 when he returned to Japan for the Olympic's - to invite a Hombu instructor to be the first full time Japanese Aikido teacher to the UK.

There were serious tests of loyalty to the structure of the BAC based at the Hut Dojo and its further development by senior instructors, and now Abbe Sensei wanted to hand the control of the BAC to Chiba Shihan.

I truly believe that this was a most difficult time for Chiba Shihan, this would be a challenge suitable only for a man of the strength and determination of this powerful young man.

My own loyalty was also tested to the full, I made the decision to leave the Hut Dojo and join Chiba Shihan for what was to be a very interesting and exciting period of seminars, television and BBC world radio exposure.

I would like to add that of all the Japanese Aikido masters that I have had the pleasure to meet and study with, there are two that stand out in my memory above all others, namely Chiba Shihan and Tadashi Abe Sensei.

I wish Chiba Shihan and the British BiranKai continued success in the years ahead.

With sincere respects.

Henry Ellis

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 Mitsususke Harada the Shotokai Karate Master speaks of his long friendship with Chiba Sensei.

A ten year old person is a youngster, a ten year old association is mature, showing signs of stability and development, and as such it should be celebrated.
But my acquaintance with Chiba Sensei goes much further than that. It goes a long way back to the early days of Martial Arts in Europe and places such as Brussels, London and Paris.
Along the years this acquaintance has developed in to a sincere friendship,a gift which in life is to be treasured.

However from the beginning I was greatly impressed by his dedication, enthusiasm, and total commitment to his art. Not only was he interested in teaching it to other people and nations, but he was also, and still is, eager to improve personally, to research and develop what he had learned from his own teacher Morihei Ueshiba, of whom he was one of the closest pupils.
But a Master,however great he maybe, can only show the way - which in itself is already quite an achievement - show the way to the pupil who must then cover the road for himself or herself, and put in the necessary work and commitment.

Chiba Sensei indeed covered this path with true dedication, built enthusiastic groups of followers in Europe and elsewhere; and when he was  disappointed after entrusting his European pupils to a person who did not prove to be trustworthy, he came back, started again and rebuilt this association
whose anniversary we celebrate today.

The task is never ending, failiure is part of success, but the true martial artist continues no matter what, such is the way. It has been the way of your Sensei all his life.
May you all continue successfully along the path he has shown you, and long live your association.

Shihan Mitsusuke Harada
Principal, Karate-Do Shotokai

Presentation on the occasion of Chiba Sensei's association's tenth Anniverary, 10th August 2005 - Bangor.

Photo Left: Chiba Sensei's 40th Anniversary 2006.
Henry Ellis - Harada Sensei - D Eastman

Derek and I have known Harada Sensei since 1963 when he arrived in the UK at the invitation of Kenshiro Abbe Sensei.
Harada Sensei did not have a dojo at that time, so he was allocated times at the Hut Dojo after Ellis Sensei's classes finished, Ellis and Eastman would study Karate with Harada Sensei and he wanted to learn some Aikido, this can be seen in his own developed style of ` ShotoKai Karate.

From Wikipedia.

Harada was born on 16 November 1928 in Dairen, Manchuria, which was then part of the Empire of Japan; his father was a Japanese army officer.^[2][3] He lived there until the age of 9 years, when his family returned to Tokyo.^[2] Harada began training in karate in 1943 at the Shotokan karate dojo (training hall) in Zōshigaya, Toshima Ward, Tokyo.^[4] His first class was taught by Genshin Hironishi, then ranked 4th dan.^[4] He later met Gigō Funakoshi there, only two years before the latter's death due to illness.^[2][4] On 29 April 1945, an Allied bombing raid on Tokyo destroyed the Shotokan dojo; Harada wrote a letter to Gichin Funakoshi requesting to continue training if possible, and Funakoshi invited him to train at his eldest son's home, in Koishikawa.^[4] Harada studied directly under Gichin Funakoshi.^[5]