Women in the Martial Arts
By Anita Wilson

Women In The Martial Arts


by Anita Wilson

1st Lady Assistant to Sensei Henry Ellis
Ellis Schools of Traditional Aikido

I was born in West London in 1963, my father was very involved in the martial arts and a dan grade in Karate he was also a dealer in ancient Japanese arms and armour, although my father has an antiques shop in London"s Bond Street, my home was more like a samurai warriors dressing room, with original suits of Japanese armour complete with very frighting face masks that would frighten the life out of my friends when ever they came to visit, there were also very many valuable swords yari and naginata spears.

The Masters

My father would travel around the world searching for the best quality weapons, what intrigued me the most as a child was all these strange visitors that would come to my home, the famous Otani family were regular visitors with Sensei Matsuro Otani 7th dan Judo the UK National Coach, Kenshiro Abbe Sensei, Tomio Otani Sensei the UK National Coach for Kendo, his visitors were like the who"s who of martial arts, as recently as two weeks ago I was pleased to meet with Sensei Kazuo Chiba 8th dan when he came to see my father.

Introduction to Aikido

As a child I did a little Karate with my father but nothing serious until 1992 when I went to the local Aikido dojo in Bracknell, Berkshire, UK. All those years with my father and his Japanese weapons must have had a latent but profound effect on me, as I watched Sensei Ellis teaching his Positive Style of Traditional Aikido I knew there and then that this was the martial art for me.

The Hard Training Begins

When I started Aikido I made a point of training with the men and they treated me as one of them. With regular practice I progressed. I had now developed the hard training bug and started courses in physical training and amateur weight lifting, after a few years of hard work I became a fully qualified fitness instructor-personal trainer and amateur weight lifting coach, the high light of all this effort was when Sensei Ellis promoted me to assistant coach of the Ellis Schools of Traditional Aikido (ESTA) two years later he promoted me to first lady assistant to himself, there had never ever been a lady assistant in all the long history of the ESTA, Sensei put me on a three month trial and 8 year on I am still here.

In 1994 I received my coaching certificate from the British Aikido Board (BAB) which is the governing body for Aikido in the UK. Once I became assistant to Sensei Ellis I became involved in assisting in teaching both men and women and also helping with the children"s classes.

The First Seminar

Sensei Ellis asked if I would like to take part in a very large and important seminar in Liverpool in the North of England, Sensei Ellis is not one of those teachers who has a pet uke follow him around to fly all over the mat at a touch or a glance, he prefers to try to involve all the students who attend his seminars if possible, knowing this I felt very privileged but nervous when Sensei told me there would be about 700 students from various martial arts, I think the phrase "Being thrown in at the deep end" is applicable here.

On arrival at the venue I was amazed to see so many students from so many countries, UK-France-Germany-Italy-India-Austria are just some that I can recall. Sensei Ellis was asked to take the first class of approximately 50 dan grades from various martial arts. Sensei had me demonstrate 100 press-ups on the backs of my wrists with fingers pointing both inwards and outwards. When I had finished and was in the raised