Alan Ruddock

At age thirteen he found a book on Judo and from there his martial arts interest developed, he soon heard about Karate but there were no dojos or instructors at that time in Ireland so he trained with school friends.

[5] Ruddock was one of Ireland's first Karate practitioners and formally introduced the martial art to that country with his forming of the Irish Karate-Do Society.

As a karate man with both Judo and Jujitsu experience, I was not easily impressed by people flying through the air for apparently no reason.

I had made a huge effort by modern standards to be there to learn what was on offer but – over the first few months I began to think – 'Can this really be true, these guys are just falling over...' Then, little by little, as other guys who had 'gone for him' described their bewildering experiences of falling ( for no good reason ) and also my own careful observations of the reactions of his Ukes – I was convinced that this man was incredible.

There were a few Japanese women who trained and two foreigners, Joanne Shimamoto (who later married Akira Tohei) who was an American like Virginia Mayhew who was Nidan and set up the Hong Kong Aikikai prior to Kenneth Cottier.

Senseis (instructors) at the dojo during this period, apart from the founder Morihei Ueshiba & Koichi Tohei included Kisshomaru Ueshiba, Shoji Nishio, Seigo Yamaguchi, Kisaburo Osawa, Morihiro Saito, Mitsugi Saotome, Hirozaku Kobayashi and Norihiko Ichihashi.

In his memoir Ruddock recalled Ueshiba intervening when Ichihashi became overly zealous in his throws but also fondly remembered many aspects of the latter's instruction and in particular advice Ichihashi provided as he was about to return to Ireland: " Remember, all these things like bowing and sitting in seiza are Japanese – not Aikido.

"[11] Ruddock also trained at Nishio's Otsuka Dojo ( the latter held senior dan grades in Aikido, Iaido and Karate).

In terms of O-Sensei's ability, if you begin to understand the real meaning of Ai Ki, his 'mobile phone' is within your grasp!

Ruddock returned to Dublin and started an Aikido group which had a number of the people with whom he had originally learned Karate with as members.

Leaving Ireland to find employment, Ruddock went to London but soon realised that he was on a "different path to others who followed the 'official' Aikido line".

This was on track for a number of years, but the sense of being part of a worldwide monumental structure operated like a commercial business from Japan was not where he wished to be.

This is an umbrella organisation where anyone from any dojo or 'style' was welcome to come to explore an Aikido which was "always focused on the essential simplicity of the Founder's art."

In 1995 Ruddock reconnected with Henry Kono and the latter subsequently travelled to Europe many times to jointly instruct at various Aikido seminars.

He subsequently graded sixth dan within the Butokukai (which Morihei Ueshiba had been involved with originally), an organisation which includes all Japanese martial arts.

Ruddock is on record as saying the only certificate he really valued was his shodan (1st degree black belt) taken in the original old Hombu Dojo in Tokyo, he usually never mentioned his grade.

In recent years Ruddock travelled extensively to give seminars in Ireland, UK, Poland, Germany, Italy, the Basque Country, Portugal and the Netherlands.

From his length of practice and time with Morihei Ueshiba, Ruddock was one of the most experienced Aikidoka in Europe but it's widely acknowledged in Aikido circles that he was very discreet about it, which was in keeping with his teaching style: humble, kind and not aggressive but yet very focused and relaxed when he moved and most of all, very effective.

Like many modern martial arts, Aikido derives from a number of prior systems but the latter is relatively unique in being widely recognised as the primary distillation/creation of one man- Morihei Ueshiba.

Ueshiba was in his eighties by this time and as he "grew older, more skilled, and more spiritual in his outlook, his art also changed and became softer and more circular.

Some Aikido practitioners, often those whose training lineage derives from direct students (other than Ruddock) who trained with Ueshiba earlier in his life and thus passed on a 'harder' style of the art, have argued that this was "old man's Aikido"[16] and by implication questioned if such an interpretation is effective in its execution as a martial discipline.

In his memoir, Ruddock makes a point of observing: "many Aikidoka try to create what they assume O-Sensei was doing before the Second World War.

"[18] When asked in 2008 to describe the main aspects of his teaching, Ruddock said: "I try to show to students the simplicity of basic 'techniques' which actually follow the principle of genuine Ai Ki.

[2] Ruddock was taken ill while returning home from a weekend of Aikido training in Midleton, County Cork and died peacefully on 2 April 2012 in Beaumont Hospital, Dublin.