French Budo

As I was travelling to France from December 17 to January 6, I had the great pleasure to meet and train with my old Budo buddies from a long time ago...

I got to train twice with the Kendo club of Friville Escarbotin . 

My friend and instructor Francis Hollier, originally a Judoka, founded the Kendo club 30 years ago. I started to train with him in 1989 just back from Korea. Since then, I have tried to go train with him at least once a year...

From Left to Right : Pascal Barraud, Frederic Lecut, Abel Brunet, Francis Hollier. 

The four of us were training together 25 years ago in Kendo, Tai Jitsu and Tai Chi... After 22 years in the USA, I can go back to France and meet these guys, it is just as if I had left them last week !

While I was training in Kendo under Francis, he asked me if I would like to open a Tai Jitsu class. Which I did, under supervision of Jean Luc Lemoine, who was teaching in Rouen, 90 km South of Friville. I was not a black belt at the time and could only teach under supervision of a licensed black belt instructor.

On January 3, at Jean Luc's request, I had the pleasure and honour to teach a Yoshukai Karate Class for the Tai Jitsu club of Normandie...

Everyone had a great time...

Once you have practised Budo for years and years, there should be a realization that maybe this is not at all about fighting, but rather about making peace. 

Unless you are able and ready to fight, it is going to be difficult to live in peace. 

Faithfull friends are part of this...

Henri Plée Hanshi

The Father of European Karate Henri Plée Hanshi left us on August 19, 2014.

Henri Plée Hanshi was one of the rare Westerners to hold the rank of 10th dan karate masters. 

Born in Arras, France on 24 May 1923, he started his martial career with French Savate, Ju Jutsu, and Fencing. His studies were interrupted by World War II in 1940.

After the war, he learned Judo in Paris under Mikonosuke Kawaishi. He was the 96th French black belt and is now ranked 5th dan at Judo.

In 1946, he returned to French Savate, also known as French kickboxing, and trained and sparred with some of the best French fighters such as Rigal, Pierre Plasait, Cayron, and Pierre Baruzy. Despite quality of this training he was still feeling the need to go stronger and deeper, and was looking for something else.

In 1953, he discovered aikido, karate and kobudo with Minoru Mochizuki. This was the start of his karate career.

Minoru Mochizuki Hanshi

In 1955 he founded his dojo where he taught the four pillars of Japanese Martial Arts : Karate, Judo, Aikido, and Kendo. Henri Plée Hanshi instructed many black belts who, at a later stage, became the foundation of the European karate institutions, and are today some of the highest ranking karate masters in Europe. 

From 200 karate practitioners in 1961, Henry Plée's efforts have led today to more than 200,000 practitioners in France. The French government considers him as one of the greatest international experts in Martial Arts, and knighted him with the French Ordre national du Mérite in 2008.

Ranks

Karate

• 10th dan, Hanshi Karate in Japan, by Tsuneyoshi Ogura in 1987
• 8th dan, in France by the Fédération Française de Karaté - FFKAMA in 1975.
• 5th dan, Renshi Karate in Japan, by Chojiro Tani.
• 1st, 2nd, 3rd dan, karate in France, by Minoru Mochizuki.

Judo

• 5th dan, Judo.

Aikido

• 3rd dan, Aikido, by Masamichi Noro.
• 2nd dan, Aikikai Hombu Aikido, by Tadashi Abe.
• 1st dan, Yoseikan Aikido, by Minoru Mochizuki.

Kendo

• 1st dan, Kendo, by Minoru Mochizuki.

Bōjutsu

• 1st dan, Bo-Jutsu, by Minoru Mochizuki.
 

Henri Plée Hanshi 1923 - 2014.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Last Samurai was French !

I loved the Last Samurai movie, and think Tom Cruise did a great job in it.

I learned a few weeks ago, from a fellow Iaido student that the story of Nathan Algren was actually inspired from the life of an actual French Army officer named Jules Brunet.

Brunet was part of a first military Mission sent by the French government to Japan to modernize the troops of the Shogun in 1867.

Jules Brunet in 1890

In 1868, the Shogun was overthrown in the Boshin War, the Emperor Meiji was restored to full power and the French military mission was ordered to leave Japan by Imperial decree.

However, Brunet chose to remain with the faction loyal to the Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu , also favorable to the Interests of France.  He resigned - actually deserted - from the French army, and left for northern Japan with the remains of the Shogunate's armies to help them organize the resistance to the imperial troops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jules Brunet and his Samurai Team

When the troops loyal to the Shogun were decimated, Brunet managed to board a ship and sail back to France where he was court martialed for his desertion. As he was immensely popular in France, where newspapers had published his story, he  just received a 6 month time out sentence, after which he was reinstated and promoted in the Armed Forces.