Judo ambassador Ichiro Abe in Finland

40-year-olds at a loss when faced with 86-year-old Kodokan 10th dan

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By Antti Penttinen
     
      Fifty or so Finnish judo practitioners or judoka stand in a semicircle and listen as if transfixed, as they are addressed by a little Japanese man who has tied a solid red belt around the waist of his white judogi, or judo uniform.
     
The man speaks calmly in a slow, clear English, and then turns himself around and makes dancing movements on the mat or tatami.
      "As light as a feather" comes to mind, as his words become sequences of movements by which an imaginary opponent is overcome.
      The smooth effortless way his limbs move and the span of the movements is jaw-dropping - this man here, Ichiro Abe, is in his 86th year, after all.
     
Abe's belt alone is not something one sees very often, anywhere, let alone Finland.
      In his case it signifies a judoka who has been promoted to the 10th dan by the Kodokan Institute, the headquarters of judo. There is no higher ranking, and Abe was promoted to this level in January 2006, at the age of 83.
      There are only three living holders of the 10th dan belt teaching in the world, and only 9th and 10th dans are entitled to wear a red belt.
     
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is known as no slouch on the judo mat, and is far more than a mere "celebrity judoka", but in Ichiro Abe's presence he would bow like a deferential schoolboy.
      Putin is "only" a 6th dan.
     
Never before has a 10th dan teacher or sensei set foot in Finland.
      Abe was invited here for five days by the Finnish Judo Association, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
      The master has been here before; he taught Finns for the first time way back in the 1960s, and was last here for a camp in Turku 27 years ago, when he was still an 8th dan.
      Ichiro Abe has coached as a judo ambassador in many European countries. He lived in France and Belgium for 18 years, and he speaks fluent French.
     
What Abe wants to bring to the Finns is flexibility, fluid movement, and timing.
      "Mobility and the ability to make use of many directions are principles that are often forgotten in judo", says Abe. "Even in competitions, one sees stiff, rigid judo being practiced."
      Jorma Kivinen (7th dan) and Timo Korpiola (6th dan) listen intently to the sensei's message.
      As the eye scans around the half-circle of listeners, a good many black belts are visible.
      5th dan Heikki Lähteenkorva reports after the training session on how nimbly Abe took care of his opponents at a session with the Helsinki judo club Tapanilan Erä the previous Friday.
      "There were people there in their forties who didn't stand a chance against him. He showed how someone even at his age can be quick and extraordinarily skilful in their movements", enthuses Lähteenkorva.
     
To the outsider, judo with its attendant rituals looks like a religion, and Abe is the High Priest.
      The sensei's approach to his art is gentle, but there is a steely determination there.
      "I went for the first time to judo practice at the age of 13, and I later studied to be a judo teacher in Tokyo. Judo is my whole life", says Abe.
      During the Second World War he was trained as a kamikaze pilot. Fortunately he was never ordered to go on a suicide mission.
     
At his workplace at the Kodokan Institute in Tokyo, Abe still teaches for two hours a day, five days a week.
      "The most important thing in judo is the spirit. The spirit must be free", he emphasises, and says that one human lifetime is not enough for the study of the martial art. "All the time one comes up against new things."
      Abe wakes every day at 5:30 and goes to bed at 10 in the evening.
      "I eat sparingly and healthy foods. I may on occasions have a glass or two of sake ["rice wine", made from the multiple fermentation of rice], but only very seldom", he discloses.
      When you look at him, it definitely sounds like a plan.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 1.12.2008
     
     
The Finnish Judo Association was established in 1958, and today it is the umbrella organisation for 118 Finnish judo clubs. In a survey carried out in 2005-2006, there were an estimated 12,500 practicing judo enthusiasts in Finland. The FJA is a member of the European Judo Union and through this of the International Judo Federation. The FJA is also a member association of the Finnish Olympic Committee.


Links:
  List of judoka (Wikipedia)
  Finnish Judo Association (in Finnish)

ANTTI PENTTINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
antti.penttinen@sanoma.fi