KENSHIRO ABBE, THE KYU-SHIN-DO AND ZEN JUDO
By Keo Cavalcanti, 6th Dan Zen Judo, hcavalca@richmond.edu

(As part of our celebration of ten years of Zen Judo in America, I decided to do a little archival work about the origins of our art. Here is the result -- this article looks at the founder of the Kyu-Shin-Do system and his influence on the creation of Zen Judo. My thanks to the British Sensei who provided me with information on Shihan Abbe)

Most Judokas are familiar with Dr. Jigoro Kano, the founder of modern Judo and the Kodokan, the organization he created to spread his art around the world. What is not common knowledge, however, is that for most of the first halt of the 20th Century there were two major Martial Arts organizations in Japan who trained Judokas and awarded Judo ranks. One was Kano’s Kodokan. The other was the Butokukai.
The Butokukai was established in 1895 by the Japanese government to train Martial Arts teachers. In 1911 the organization opened its martial arts training school, the Bujutsu Semmon Gakko, largely known as the Busen. Its aim and purpose was to promote and cultivate Budo in a true Samurai spirit, and to produce teachers to go out and propagate the Japanese Martial Arts throughout the world. Zen Judo’s origins are closely connected to the Butokukai through one of its leading graduates, Sensei Kenshiro Abbe.
Kenshiro Abbe, the founder of the Kyu-Shin-Do, was born on December 15, 1915 in the Tokushima Province, Japan. He was the fourth son of Toshizo and Koto Abbe, in a family that had four sons and five daughters. Kenshiro was their youngest child. His father was a school master and a Kendo teacher. Unfortunately, Kenshiro’s father died young at the age of 51 on September 4, 1919, drowning in floodwater during a Kendo weekend course in the mountains. His sudden death brought the family together and helped to create strong ties among its members.
It was Mr. Manpei Hino, a 20-year teacher, who became a father figure to Kenshiro and introduced him to the martial arts. Mr. Fukiwara, Kenshiro’s grade school teacher, also helped allowing the students to play Sumo wrestling in their physical education classes. Kenshiro would win many school tournaments in Sumo, eventually becoming the wrestling champion of Tokushima’s schools.
At the age of 14 Kenshiro joined Kazohira Nakamoto’s Judo dojo. Sensei Nakamoto, a former police officer, became Kenshiro’s main Judo instructor until he entered the Busen. That same year Kenshiro received his Shodan (1st Dan) rank in Judo. A year later he attained the rank of Nidan (2nd Dan), and the following year he was promoted to Sandan (3rd Dan), when he became the champion of the Tokushima High School Judo League. Sensei Shohei Hamano of the Butokukai was the one who awarded Kenshiro with the rank of Sandan. Kenshiro was the youngest Judoka to receive that honor.

But it was during his Shodan examination that Kenshiro caught the attention of the Butokukai experts. One of the masters from the Butokukai, Mr. Shotaro Tabata, acting as a referee in Kenshiro’s testing, had suggested to Abbe’s Sensei that Kenshiro should consider applying for the Busen. With the help of one of his teacher, Mr. Nakano, Kenshiro prepared for the school’s entrance exam in Kyoto. 300 candidates took the entrance exam. Only twenty would be chosen for Judo and twenty for Kendo. Kenshiro was one of the candidates who got accepted into both programs. He moved to Kyoto with his mother and sister, Toyoka, to attend the school.
At the Busen Abbe received instruction from Ogawa Hanshi, the Butokukai Judan (10th Dan) sword master. While at the Busen Kenshiro also enrolled in Mr. Gen Tanabe’s philosophy class, at the Kyoto Teikoku University. That early encounter with philosophy would be influential in the formation of his system. While the training was arduous at the Busen, Kenshiro managed to receive his Yondan (4th Dan) rank in Judo, being again the young Judoka to attain it. His sister, Toyoka, decided to take Martial Arts too, enrolling in Mrs. Mitamura’s Naginata class. She would dedicate the rest of her life to the practice of the art.
Judo matches were held at the Busen every Saturday afternoon. Kenshiro usually competed in them, being very seldom defeated. Each Saturday session involved fighting five opponents in succession, with each bout lasting five minutes. In the Fall of his second year at the school Kenshiro received his Godan (5th Dan) in Judo. By then he was fighting twenty opponents in succession. Kodokan instructors heard of Abbe's prowess and send representatives to work out with him. Abbe's relationship with the Kodokan would be rocky given his views of what traditional Judo should be like. After graduating from the school Abbe was invited to become a teacher at the Busen. He was also invited to teach at the Kodokan, but he decided to accept his alma mater. He taught Judo at the Busen until 1937.
In 1937, at the age of 23, Abbe was awarded his Rokudan (6th Dan) rank and in June of that year he enlisted in the Japanese army, serving for four years in a garrison in the Toan-sho Province in Manchuria. It was during the time in Manchuria that Abbe began formulating his theory of Budo, Kyu-Shin-Don. And it was also at this time that Abbe was invited by O’Sensei, Morihei Ueshiba to study Aikido under his care.
Returning home to Kyoto in 1941, he met Keiko who became his wife. The Abbes had two daughers, Junko and Noriko. In 1945 he received his Shichidan (7th Dan) rank in Judo and his Rokudan (6th Dan) rank in Kendo from the Butokukai. After Japan’s defeat in the war all forms of Budo were forbidden, so the Butokukai and the Busen were temporarily disbanded. But Abbe obtained a position as Judo teacher to the Kyoto police department and was allowed to continue his practice. In 1951 he would become editor of the Judo Shinbun (the Japanese Judo magazine) and director of the Judo Social League. He was also the official referee for the All-Japan Police Championships and National Tournaments.
After the birth of his third daughter, Yayoi, Kenshiro resigned from his post with the Kyoto police. Feeling that Japanese Judo was in decline, he decided to go overseas. He arrived in England at the age of 40 sent by the International Budo Council, which had been founded that year. Abbe took residence at the London Judo Society. A year later he and Bill Woods formed the British Judo Council. Kenshiro spent 1956 teaching and studying Judo, Kendo, Aikido, Karate and Katsu (Shiatsu).
His time in London lasted nine and a half years. At the end of this period his organization, the Kyu-Shin-Do, had over 3,000 members. For a while Abbe taught Martial Arts around Europe, returning to London from time to time. A car accident in 1960 forced his early retirement. Eventually he returned to Japan in 1964 during the Tokyo Olympics. There he lived until he died in December 1985. His long absence from his family, during his European tour, took a toll on his marriage and Kenshiro ended up alone at an old people’s home. His funeral was held at the Zuigen Temple in Tokushima, where Kenshiro was buried in the family grave.

The Kyu-Shin-Do
Abbe was greatly concerned with the modern trend toward materialism. It was to counter this lack of spiritual interest that he blended ancient Japanese philosophy and Martial Arts, creating the Kyu-Shin-Do. For the Kyu-Shin-Do Judo syllabus Abbe used the same system that he learned at the Butokukai, which explains why the Kyu-Shin-Do syllabus and the Zen Judo syllabus (which is derived from the Kyu-Shin-Do) are different from the Kodokan syllabus. Some of our throws do not appear in the Kodokan Gokyo and the order of throws in the Kodokan Gokyo is very different from the one in our syllabus.
The Kyu-Shin-Do is a specific Budo system where Kyu means to study, to seek; Shin means the heart, the spirit, the true inner nature, the central law or nexus point of life; and Do means the way or path, in the sense of a journey involving one’s whole life – a way of life or self-discipline. The whole system is based on three fundamental principles:

Bambutsu Ruten - all things existing in the universe turn in a constant state of flux. All thing in the universe undergo a succession of change

Ritsudo - This motion is rhythmic and smooth, a flowing movement.

Chowa - All things act, flow, work in a perfect accord (wa) or harmony.

One can see in Abbe’s principles the influences of both Taoism, Buddhism and also Sensei Ueshiba’s Aikido, especially in his third principle which emphasize perfect accord and harmony. For Kenshiro the universe revolves and therefore always keeps in perfect balance. All motion in the universe may be resolved, basically in a series of circular movements. It is only by applying this fundamental principle of motion and avoiding stiff angular stances that we can achieve the best in Judo. Kyu-Shin-Do starts from a relaxed posture, namely perfect relaxation of mind and body. Its actions are gentle,soft, quick and safe because they spring from a relaxed mind and body.
Why is it important to understand the origins of the Kyu-Shin-Do? Because it was at a Kyu-Shin-Do dojo that Shihan Dominick Mac McCarthy, the founder of Zen Judo, took his first Judo lessons. It was at a Kyu-Shin-Do dojo that he was awarded his Shodan rank. Some of his family still maintains those connections – Mac’s oldest son, Rick McCarthy, still holds a high rank with the Kyu-Shin-Do organization. Furthermore, it is through the Kyu-Shin-Do that Zen Judo is connected to the Japanese origins of our art. Which makes the Zen Judo family highly indebted to Shihan Kenshiro Abbe for bringing Butokukai Judo to the West.
As far as I can tell the Kyu-Shin-Do and the Zen Judo family are the only two groups in the West that practice Judo in the Butokukai style. The rest of the world has adopted Kodokan Judo. So we are the keepers of that system in the West. We are responsible for its preservation and perpetuation. We inherited Abbe’s system in Zen Judo when Mac chose to continue to use the Kyu-Shin-Do syllabus. And all Zen Judo Sensei contribute to its preservation when we commit ourselves to perpetuating the syllabus by promising to uphold its integrity and to pass it on to our students as it was taught to us. We all make such a promise when we awarded our black belts.

THE ZEN JUDO SYLLABUS GOES DIGITAL
The thought around here in America was that it's high time for us to digitize the techniques that we practice. So we decided to create a CD-rom set with a digitized video of all the Zen Judo syllabus, from white to black belt. The CD-rom will be part of a package that every new student will receive when starting a Zen Judo career. The package will include a handbook (which outlines the syllabus requirements for each belt), a manual (which describes the techniques in detail) and the CD-rom set. The idea is to give each new student a chance to have the techniques available both in print and in video. That way they can study them in their own homes as they prepare for gradings. The CD-rom set should be ready soon. We spent a whole day last month (15th) taping it. American Zen Judo's webmaster per excellence, Andrew Ross (Sankyu), is in charge of the CD-rom production. Our thanks to Andrew for all the good work!

A NEW LOOK FOR THE AMERICAN ZEN JUDO WEBSITE
And speaking of webmaster, Andrew Ross (aross@richmond.edu) is also responsible for the stunning new "Zen" look of the American Zen Judo website. The website has been thoroughly revamped and enlarged, in this case with the inclusion of the syllabus materials for all the ranks. Now all Zen Judo clubs can have access to the Zen Judo handbook and the history questions and Japanese terms that are included in each written test for every rank grading in America. Check out the new look at www.zenjudo.com.

PROMOTIONS AT THE WADOKAN DOJO
March was a promotion month for us. We had four students promoted to Gokyu: Scott Widener on the 12th, and Andrew Largen, Ben Shapiro, and Joe Vincelli on the 14th. Congratulations to all of them for taking their first step on the path to black belt. Andrew Ross (aross@richmond.edu), our webmaster, tested successfully for his Nikyu (blue belt) rank. And speaking of black belts, we're proud to welcome another black belt to the Wadokan. This time our new dan grade is Jennifer Fisher ( jfisher770@yahoo.com) who started her Judo days back when our club was still at the University of Richmond. Back then Jennie was a student at the university. Since then she has graduated and started her career in law enforcement in town. We were very happy to see her able to continue with Zen Judo. The promotion board for Jennie's grading was Sensei Cavalcanti, Sensei Ed Stockwell of the Inner Stairway Zen Judo club in Charlottesville, VA, and Sensei John McIntyre, of the National Capital Zen Judo club in Washington, D.C. Her promotion date is March 21st. We warmly welcome Jennie into our American Zen Judo Yudanshakai.

ZEN JUDO TRAINING -- THATCHAM ZEN JUDO WEEKEND
Sensei Mike Healy (mike.healy@sjpp.co.uk) would like to invite you to the April 2000 Thatcham Zen Judo Training weekend. The objective of this weekend is to bring a number of like-minded individuals, who enjoy the practice of Judo in the mutually cooperative and beneficial way that Mac McCarthy encouraged, to practice and improve their skills; and perhaps acquire new ones. The weekend is aimed mainly and unashamedly at Green Belts and above although players of all ages and abilities are encouraged to attend for the last part of both days. There will be some parallel activity taking place as gradings to green belt and above will be being conducted during the weekend. Those interested in attending the training please contact Sensei Mike at 01635 877530 (home) or 01635 601139 (office) or 07831 863257 (mobile).
The training will take place at the Thatcham Parish Hall. Directions for the place are: From Reading: follow the A4 to Thatcham, pass the Texaco Garage and Little Szechuan Restaurant, go through two sets of traffic lights positioned close together, turn Left at the next set of traffic lights, turn right into Waitrose Car Park, the entrance to the car park bends to the right, straight ahead, across the car park is a wall and access to the hall is through a gate in that wall. From Newbury:
follow the A4 towards Thatcham and Reading, continue along the A4 past a Garden centre, after a mile you will pass a memorial on your left and a small row of shops on your right. Go straight on at the next two sets of traffic lights turn right at the third. Turn right into Waitrose Car Park. The entrance to the car park bends to the right, straight ahead, across the
car park is a wall and access to the hall is through a gate in that wall. To find the Premier Lodge ( Berkshire Arms) continue along the A4 towards Reading. It’s about 1 ­ 2 miles out of Thatcham on the left.

ZEN JUDO TRAINING -- ASAGEIKO 2001

This year's American Zen Judo Asageiko International training will take place in August. Several dan grades had remarked last year that "Asageiko" does mean "Summer training" and it was a bit odd to have our Summer training in October! So by popular demand we decided to move up the dates a bit. Asageiko this year will be on August 1-4. On Wednesday, Aug. 1, we will be expecting everybody to arrive in Richmond, Virginia. On Thursday, Aug. 2 and Friday, Aug. 3, we will have all-day workouts from 8 am to 5 pm (with the lunch break and two coffee/tea breaks). We'll take Saturday morning (Aug. 4) off to do a little tourism in the area (and for some of us to get over feeling sore...) and will be back on the mat on Saturday afternoon. The training will be divided into two-hour sessions that will deal with different aspects of the art. Some of the possible topics for us to cover during those two days will be:

1. Sensei certification training (for those who joined Zen Judo from a sports Judo background and for those of us who have been doing this for a while as a refresher course) -- including going over the Zen Judo syllabus, the main drills we use in workout these days, and the basics of the art (the use of counters and combinations, extensives use of sute-geiko and light randori, the approach to shimewaza and kansetsuwaza).

2. Kata training, including Nage no Kata and Katame no Kata (possible Kime no Kata, depending on how Ed feels about it), mostly for blue belts and above.

3. Mudansha (Color belt) training, for all our students who would be attending the event.

4. Atemi waza training, at this point to share with the entire Yudansha Ed's work on Zen Judo atemiwaza and how it blends with the rest of the Zen Judo syllabus.

We do invite Zen Judoka from all over the world to join us for Asageiko. As usual the training is open to all branches of the Zen Judo family.