Ellis Amdur (born March 27, 1952, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is a writer, an American practitioner of martial arts and as of 2024, retired crisis intervention trainer.
He started training in aikido in 1973, and after moving to New York, lived in Terry Dobson and Ken Nisson’s Bond Street Dojo.
After gaining a degree in psychology, Amdur traveled to Japan in 1976, and while there, entered the Tenshin Bukō-ryū Heihō and Araki-ryū, two traditional koryu.
[1][2] In recent years, Amdur has continued his training in several areas: a study of 'internal strength' paradigms, as suited to use within traditional Japanese combative arts; Arrestling, a mixed martial art specifically for law enforcement, created by Don Gulla; Amdur's 'new-old' development, Taikyoku Araki-ryu in which, in collaboration with established groups of expert martial artists, one or more 'modules' of Araki-ryu are studied in depth, and applied to the environment where the particular group functions (competitive grappling and law enforcement being two examples).
Amdur developed and taught courses on tactical communication for law enforcement and corrections as well as social services and businesses.