Biography
Tamura Nobuyoshi was born in Osaka on 2 March 1933, the eldest son of Ukiji and Okié Tamura.[62][1] He was the eldest of six children.[1][2] His father taught Japanese literature and kendo,[62][3] and his mother was a schoolteacher.[1] His father died of tuberculosis when Tamura was 16, by his own account.[64][5][14] After that, Tamura spent time in Tokyo, including about a year in the macrobiotic dormitory of Sakurazawa Yukikazu (George Ohsawa), before he went back to finish school.[7][16]
Direct student of the Founder
Tamura as a direct student of O-Sensei
Tamura was an uchideshi, a live-in disciple, of O-Sensei Morihei Ueshiba. He joined the Hombu Dojo in 1952 (admitted on 5 August, according to the 1961 Honolulu programme) and, like others, commuted at first; he moved into the dojo around 1953 or 1954 uncertain. The introduction to his collected texts gives 1952 for his admission as uchideshi.[4][64][62][6] He taught at the Hombu, at other Tokyo dojos and at a US Navy centre in Yokohama.[4] He often went with O-Sensei on his travels within Japan,[5] and in 1961 he accompanied him and Tohei Koichi to Hawaii for the inauguration of the new Waialae dojo in Honolulu. It was his first trip abroad.[4][64][62] He was known as one of O-Sensei’s favourite uke (the partner who receives the technique and takes the fall) for demonstrations: the 1961 Honolulu programme names him among the Founder’s “favorites”, and Yamada Yoshimitsu wrote that the quality of Tamura’s aikido came mostly from being O-Sensei’s uke.[4][14]
“We happened to enter the dojo simply because we could stay for free. You could not say that our initial motivation for being there was to become uchideshi.”
In 1964 he married Rumiko, a violinist who practised at the Hombu. In the autumn of that year they sailed from Yokohama on a Messageries Maritimes liner. The voyage was also their honeymoon, and they landed at Marseille on 13 November 1964.[1][16][62] From then on he was the Aikikai’s delegate for Europe.[14][6] He helped give French aikido its structure: first the UNA (1971) and the state teaching diploma, then the FFLAB in 1982, which became the FFAB.[1][8][17] From 1978 to 2009 he led the international summer course at Lesneven every year,[1] and he taught regularly across Europe and beyond.[2][6]
When he arrived, aikido in France had only about 400 to 500 practitioners. Masamichi Noro, a friend from his uchideshi years, had come in 1962.[64] In Tamura’s own account, the French Aikikai group (ACFA) led to a European body, the ACEA (later the European Aikido Federation), and from there to the International Aikido Federation (IAF). The UNA standardised ranks and created a teaching licence for aikido only; it had about 20,000 members by 1980. After a break with the judo federation, the FFLAB was founded on 8 May 1982. In 1984 the Aikikai provisionally recognised both French federations, the FFLAB and the FFAAA, and asked them to unite.[64]
In 1992 he founded the Shumeikan dojo and the École Nationale d’Aïkido at Bras (Var). “Le Dojo de Bras est né”, he wrote of its opening on 1 February 1992.[62][18][16] He declined the 9th dan during his lifetime: O-Sensei had said that aikido went up to 8th dan, and Tamura asked that it be given only after his death.[9] He died at home in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume on 9 July 2010, aged 77.[1][14]
Key timeline
Dates marked uncertain appear differently in different sources. Every version is shown.
- Born in Osaka.[1][2][3]
- His father dies, on 10 July. Tamura said he was 16 at the time, which gives 1949; his sister’s account gives 1948.[5][14]
- Admitted to Ueshiba’s dojo, according to the 1961 Honolulu programme.[4]
- Becomes a resident uchideshi. The introduction to his collected texts gives 1952; other sources give 1952–53, 1953, or “1953 or 1954”. Tamura said he commuted at first and moved in “around 1953 or 1954”, and later “I think 1954”.[62][64][6][2][5][16]
- Shodan.[4][1]
- 5th dan: 25 Oct 1959 in the 1961 programme; 15 Jan 1960 on one club page.[4][1][21]
- Goes with O-Sensei and Tohei Koichi to Hawaii for the inauguration of the new Waialae dojo, Honolulu (27 Feb – 11 Apr 1961, according to the contemporary programme). It was his first trip abroad.[4][64][62]
- 6th dan.[66][21]
- Marries Rumiko in Tokyo.[1][16]
- Arrives in Marseille and becomes the Aikikai delegate for Europe.[1][16][14]
- Demonstration in Madrid; becomes technical adviser to aikido in the Spanish judo federation.[23]
- Technical director of the Union Nationale d’Aïkido within the French judo federation.[1][8]
- 8th dan Aikikai.[1]
- First international summer course at Lesneven, Brittany.[1]
- Founding of the FFLAB (later the FFAB); founding of AETAIKI in Spain.[17][1][22]
- Ministerial recognition of the FFAB.[17]
- Publishes Aïkido : Étiquette et transmission.[1]
- The dojo at Bras opens (“Le Dojo de Bras est né”, Tamura wrote): the Shumeikan, at Les Allées, home of the École Nationale d’Aïkido. Officially inaugurated 2–4 Sept 1995. One club history gives 1991.[62][18][16][20]
- Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Mérite (France).[2][1]
- Dies at Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume.[1][14][3]
- Posthumous Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays, presented to Rumiko Tamura.[1][15]
The full story is being researched for a forthcoming biography. If you knew Tamura Shihan, please share your memories.