André Nocquet (30 July 1914 – 12 March 1999) was a French aikido teacher holding the rank of 8th dan. He was one of the very earliest non-Japanese to practice the art.
Nocquet studied Greco-Roman wrestling as a young man. He began the practice of Jujutsu in 1937 with Israeli professor Moshé Feldenkrais. Later Mikonosuke Kawaishi came to Feldenkrais’s dojo to teach and Nocquet became Kawaishi’s student.
In 1954, Nocquet was encouraged by Tadashi Abe to travel to Japan to see Morihei Ueshiba and study at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo. Nocquet stayed for nearly three years (1955–57), living in the dojo; he was one of only two non-Japanese to enjoy this privilege during that early era, the other being subsequently Terry Dobson.
This was a difficult time for him as a westerner as there were virtually no other non-Japanese practicing aikido at the time.
During Nocquet’s initial time at Hombu, he was the only uchi-deshi.Later Nobuyoshi Tamura and Masamichi Noro took up residence there. Nocquet and Tamura, both of whom held the rank of first dan at the time, trained extensively together.
Source: Facebook/Aikido
