Tadashi Abe

Tadashi Abe was the first aikido teacher to live and teach in the West. He began training in Aikido in Osaka in 1942 and went on to train directly under the founder of the art Morihei Ueshiba at Iwama as an uchideshi during World War II. In 1952, after graduating in law from Waseda University, he moved to France where he studied law at the Sorbonne and taught aikido as a 6th Dan representative of the Aikikai. After seven years, he returned to Japan. By 1964 he held the rank of 7th dan.