In early June 1966, one month after arrival, Chiba Sensei was told by Mr Logan that they had arranged for him to do a demonstration at the Northumberland Police Headquarters in Newcastle, the intention being that the Police may hire him to teach a self-defense program. The event took place at a Judo dojo near the Police Headquarters, with a dozen policemen dressed in keikogi and two high-ranking officers sat in chairs observing. The two conditions of the police were that no striking or kicking, and no bloodshed were to take place due to the police’s policy against inflicting injury. For the first half hour Chiba Sensei responded to requests for defense against various attacks.
Towards the end of the demonstration Chiba Sensei was asked to respond to handgun threats, one position was in the surrender pose with his hands in the air and the gun behind his head. Chiba Sensei performed shihonage and the uke landed on his head which began to bleed covering the keikogi and he was carried out by his comrades after becoming unconscious. Chiba Sensei knew that the mission had therefore been unsuccessful and he never heard from the police force subsequently.
The situation for Chiba Sensei became steadily more difficult, and a couple of weeks after the demonstration he had a long conversation with Mr Logan with the aid of Mr Kimura. During this meeting it became clear to him that there was a dire political situation preventing him from teaching Aikido in the UK,and hence the unexpected break since arriving. There were two Judo organisations in the UK: the British Judo Council (BJC) and the British Judo Association (BJA).
The former was founded by Kenshiro Abbe, but the latter was recognized by the British authorities and was a member of the International Judo Federation (IJF) which was a member of the Olympic Committee that only recognizes one organisation per field, per country. The situation mirrored the history in Japan since Abbe Sensei had come from the Butotukai in Kyoto, rival to the Kodokan in Tokyo.
To be continued…
