Seminar with Ellis Amdur, 18 & 19 October 2025 in London

I have known Ellis a long time and was very happy to be able to finally welcome him to London to teach a seminar!

It was much enjoyed by all who attended!

Ellis is widely known to the Budo and Aikido community as a prominent and prolific writer (as well as practitioner). His books include:

• Dueling with O-Sensei
• Hidden in Plain Sight
• Old School: Essays on Japanese Martial Traditions
• The Phenomenologist: Interview with Ellis Amdur

Ellis’s fiction:

• The Girl with the Face of the Moon
• Lost Boy
• Cimarronin: A Samurai in New Spain
• Little Bird & The Tiger

and his online writing, such as the kick starting and contributing to the AikiWeb “It Had to be Felt” columns - Full list.

His KogenBudo web site is required reading for serious students of Budo with some wide ranging articles including many guest articles.

His primary area of study has been koryu (classical Japanese martial traditions), specifically the Araki-ryū torite- kogusoku and the Tenshin Bukō-ryū, with thrteen years of direct study in Japan from 1976. He is shihan (full instructor) in both these arts, one of only a few non-Japanese to attain teaching licenses in any koryu.

He trained in aikido with Terry Dobson, Yoshio Kuroiwa and Yasunori Kuwamori (see interviews below), and to this day, works with various aikido dojos, offering his unique take on the art, under the rubric of Taikyoku Aikido. See also interviews with Ellis:

• Interview with Guillaume Erard
• Interview with the Freelancer

The focus of the seminar was Tenzan Heihō