{{short description|Japanese aikido teacher (1926-1984)}} {{for|the rower|Tadashi Abe (rower)}} {{Infobox martial artist|name=Tadashi Abe|native_name=阿部 正|birth_date={{birth-date|1926}}|death_date={{death date and age|1984|11|23|1926}}|native_name_lang=ja|martial_art=Aikido|teacher=Morihei Ueshiba}} {{Nihongo|'''Tadashi Abe'''|阿部 正|Abe Tadashi}} (1926 – November 23, 1984)<ref name="aikiencyc"> {{cite book | title = The Aiki News Encyclopedia of Aikido | date = 1991 | author-last = Pranin | author-first = Stanley A. | author-link = Stanley Pranin | publisher = Aiki News | location = Tokyo, Japan | pages = 3 | isbn = 4-900586-12-9 }}</ref><ref name="aikidojournal" /> was the first aikido teacher to live and teach in the West. He began training in Aikido in Osaka in 1942 and went on to train directly under the founder of the art Morihei Ueshiba at Iwama as an uchideshi during World War II.<ref name="aikidojournal">{{Cite web |url = http://www.aikidojournal.com/encyclopedia?entryID=4 |title = ABE, TADASHI |publisher = aikidojournal.com |accessdate = 8 September 2010 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20090213152433/http://www.aikidojournal.com/encyclopedia?entryID=4 |archivedate = 13 February 2009 }}</ref> In 1952, after graduating in law from Waseda University, he moved to France where he studied law at the Sorbonne and taught aikido as a 6th Dan representative of the Aikikai. After seven years, he returned to Japan. By 1964 he held the rank of 7th dan.{{citation needed|date=August 2025}}
Aikido had been introduced into France a year earlier by Minoru Mochizuki during a visit, but it was Tadashi Abe's teaching at the judo dojo of Mikonosuke Kawaishi where aikido was first taught on a regular basis in the West.
In his beginning years in aikido, Abe had been very keen on ascertaining the martial effectiveness of the art.<ref name="Reminiscences">{{Cite web |url = http://www.aikidojournal.com/article.php?articleID=369 |title = Reminiscences Of Minoru Mochizuki |last = Pranin |first = Stanley |publisher = aikidojournal |date = September 1986 |accessdate = 8 September 2010 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20100314204500/http://www.aikidojournal.com/article.php?articleID=369 |archivedate = 14 March 2010 }}</ref> He wrote two books on aikido in French, and a scathing letter in critique of Koichi Tohei´s decision to break from the Aikikai and start his own Ki Society.<ref name="aikiencyc" /><ref name="aikidojournal" /> He was the cousin of New York Aikikai chief instructor Yoshimitsu Yamada.<ref name="aikiencyc_yamada"> {{cite book | title = The Aiki News Encyclopedia of Aikido | date = 1991 | author-last = Pranin | author-first = Stanley A. | author-link = Stanley Pranin | publisher = Aiki News | location = Tokyo, Japan | pages = 140 | isbn = 4-900586-12-9 }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120919124250/http://www.aikidojournal.com/images/catalog/ch01_full.jpg The Principle Disciples of Ueshiba Morihei] *[https://tadashi-abe.blogspot.com/ Tadashi Abe Memorial site ] {{Students of Morihei Ueshiba}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Abe, Tadashi}} Category:Japanese aikidoka Category:University of Paris alumni Category:Waseda University alumni Category:1926 births Category:1984 deaths Category:Japanese expatriates in France