Mr Jack Poole and his supporters have shown great disrespect for lineage in the Martial Arts. Below are letters from Sensei's Derek Eastman - Don Cunningham - Ellis Amdur, who unlike Mr Poole, consider leneage to be paramount in the Japanese martial arts.

Sensei Derek Eastman
Direct student to Kenshiro Abbe sensei.
Message posted on the NACD.
12th-February-2002

I have been informed that the name and integrity of Mr Ellis has been brought into disrepute after asking the British Aikido Board to investigate a claim by one of it's newest members to having practiced and taught Aikido prior to Kenshiro Abbe sensei, who received permission from O'Sensei to teach Aikido to a select few of his judoka, namely Mr Ken Williams, his brother David and Eric Dollimore.

Aikido to my belief had been introduced to Western Europe by a representative of the Aikikai in 1952,when Tadashi Abe came to instruct in the Cannes and Marseilles area of France. He based himself at the most modern of facilities run by professor Jean Zin. Jean Zin also published one of the best martial arts paper backs I have ever seen, listing the practitioners of Aikido at this time along with news and events of the Judo and Savate scene in Europe, Kenshiro Abbe also taught there and brought back some of the Jean Zin publications to the UK, giving two to Mr Ellis Which He still treasures as they are now very rare.

I do not believe that those early students ever considered sacrosanct that only they were the first British to practice and teach Aikido, however for the "Governing Body for Aikido in Britain" to condone the claim by Mr Poole that He not only practiced but also taught Aikido before these highly respected students of Kenshiro Abbe sensei, without verification, I find this astonishing and very perturbing.

During the very early 60,s Mr Ellis and myself were asked by Mr Williams to tour the UK, not only visiting existing Aikido Dojos of which I recall there were two smaller groups, one being Senta Yamada in London and one in Swansea, as well as the rest which were under the Abbe schools of Budo. We were also promoting Aikido to various Judo clubs that had expressed a wish to have an introduction to Aikido. During this time we travelled throughout the country for the whole year. I do not have any recollection of coming across Mr Poole at this time.

It is a fact and can be verified that one of the Judo clubs at Selston near Nottingham a young judoka, Geoff Goodwin was so taken with Aikido that in 1967/8 He gave up everything and moved to Bracknell, becoming assistant to sensei Ellis who was at his time assistant to assistant to Kazuo Chiba the representative of the Aikikai.

I visited sensei Ellis's dojo's in both Bracknell and Slough and recall meeting Mr Poole who as a Kyu grade at this time and it is my understanding that He joined the Slough dojo as a beginner, I have since met and spoken with Mr Poole on at leas two occasions, the first when his organisation's application was approved by the BAB, when I mentioned to him that I recalled himself and Geoff Goodwin practicing at Slough, He then asked to be
remembered to Geoff. Later after his claim and on the day of his being honoured by the BAB, at Birmingham for over 40 years years of practicing and teaching Aikido, I again asked him if He remembered Geoff Goodwin, and He replied "Oh yes, very well".

However, on my mentioning my memories of him practicing as a student of Mr Ellis in 1967/8 and reminding him of Mr Ellis giving him the mats from the Slough dojo, his response was " I am sorry but I cannot remember" and walked away.

I do not recall any time that Mr Ellis has remarked on Mr Poole's ability as a practitioner or instructor during this controversy, only on the attitude and weakness of the BAB, to answer the questions put to them by Mr Ellis.

Being willing to participate in the group of Aikido organisations then under the auspices of the Martial Arts Commission, I approached Mr Ellis being my foremost teacher to ask if my small loose group of clubs could use his name, indeed Mr K Williams had earlier named the Hut at West Drayton after his teacher calling the dojo the "Abbe School of Judo" where in 1959 I became assistant to Mr Ellis and of the school, known as the Renowned Aikido Society, When I asked Mr Ellis whether I could put his name to my organisation, He not only gave his permission but also agreed to be its principal.

Prior to the award ceremony at Birmingham Mr Ellis and my son Mark attended the BAB
meeting of the 11th March 2000, Mr Ellis was refused permission to speak by the chairman of the BAB, Immediately after the meeting Mr Ellis contacted the BAB
secretary Mrs Timms and asked that the refusal to speak be included in the minutes of the meeting, this request was totally ignored and no explanation was given.
For a later meeting after the award ceremony Mr Ellis who was undergoing major heart by pass surgery asked me to attend and speak on his behalf, which I did, I was told by the board that the BAB were not the custodians of this "grey" area of Aikido history and had no interest or authorization to comment on individual organisations.

This is a great concern, since my view is that the BAB should represent to new students of Aikido, a badge of quality and integrity.

I have never felt the need before to elaborate on my history within Aikido, feeling that there were others who were far more knowledgeable than I. As previously stated, the integrity of Mr Ellis and the history of UK Aikido is being jeopardized and the apparent unwillingness of the BAB to discuss openly this "Controversy" and other issues
causes me to have great concerns. This has also prompted me to reply at length, with much to reflect upon, including in particular whether we should remain in the BAB.

Derek Eastman.

Hi Henry,
I read the articles on your website with great interest. I can see that America is not the only place where the likes of Mr Poole are rewriting martial arts history to suit their own purposes. I was amazedthat an organization like the British Aikido Board would participate in such anobvious fraud. I can only assume some monetary or other valuable considerations were involved.

There are always going to be those who inflate their credentials, or like Mr Poole, exaggerate their backgrounds and training histories. It's a shame and very offensive to those who hold such value in honesty and integrity. And while I am just as outraged as you must be at such shams,there is little one can do but expose them to the ridecule they so richly deserve. On the other hand, there are also many predators within the martial artswho, in my opinion, are far more dangerous. there are instructors with no real background or experience encouraging others to attempt potentially dagerous activities in the guise of training either through ignorance or lack of personal concern for the safety of others. There are instructors physically abusing their students to satisfy their own personal egos while justifying it as a natural part of an "authentic" training enviroment.

There are instructors who seek out students, many not yet the age of consent, and exploit the teacher-student relationship for sexual favours. Finally, there are instructors who cheat their students with false certificates and rank registrations for financial gain. I hope you will continue to persue them and expose them. It is a difficult task and often a thankless endeavor. I think it's worth it. I also think it is our duty and an obligation to society to weed them out and inform others so they will not fall victim to such criminal activities.

Sincerely
Don
Don Cunningham

Ellis Amdur
27th-January-2002.
NACD Forum.
Other than a little correspondence with Henry Ellis , I don't know any of the major parties involved in this controversy. I am struck by the defenders of Mr Poole, however, making this out to be a trivial matter. Lineage and seniority have never been a trivial matters in Japanese martial arts. The martial arts are based on tranmission. Traditionally, one is given a inestimable gift by one's teacher.

The teacher offers time that could be spent with family, employment, or other persuits to spend considerable time honing the students technique-and often character, As an instructor myself, I find teaching, often,to be a heavy burden, but one I am obliged to offer because someone else offered it to me. Depending on the art, the teacher even runs the risk of injury.as the only way to teach sometimes, is to put one's own body on the line, As a student of a martial art, one is part of a larger entity-ideally, One does not train for oneself. Group solidarityand loyalty are essential characteristics of martial practice. One didn't train to become world-champion-one trained to forge bonds of loyalty, that the entire group becomes strong. Another essential part of this is the senior-junior relationship. This is considered , in Japan, far more important than rank, Rank is a political process, that only roughly relates to skill, particularly in big, faction-ridden arts like aikido. But one is always junior or senior. The senior is responsible for the juniors well-being; and responsible for their behavior, both in and out of the dojo. The junior is
responsible for offering respect and practicing hard-and through this, hopefully, a genuine loyalty towards one's seniors and teacher is born.And when this loyalty is not fully merited, one is certainly justified in leaving-but not lying about where one has been.

I am well aware that this is a system open to abuse, and in any event, must be "translated" when transferred to a country such as Great Britain or America. Nontheless, to falsify a lineage makes one's entire practice corrupt, because one is not merely measured by one's skill, but by one's integrity. To lie about one's teachers is to spit on the gift that was given to one so many years before. It expressesan inadequacy of character that, in my opinion, will be reflected in other actions both within and without the dojo. I agree that this issue has become, perhaps , rather large in bandwidth, But it
strikes at the core of martial arts practice, of which lineage and a sense of personal obligation and debt for previous teaching lies at the heart.

With respect

Ellis Amdur
EDGEWORK-www.ellisamdur.com
Author"Duelling with O'Sensei"

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