Midlands School of Martial Arts is remembering Hanshi Ridgely Abele today, which would have been his 76th birthday. While many at our school never trained directly with Hanshi Abele, we all owe him an immense debt of gratitude – and not just for how much we learned from him training in the martial arts. He was a man who truly lived his faith and passed that on as part of his teachings in the dojo and beyond, beginning with his dojo kun that begins: Karate begins and ends with Courtesy. While he has been gone for almost 17 years, he is not forgotten. Rarely does a day go by that I don’t think about him – or pass on something I learned in my nearly two decades training under him. We miss you, Hanshi.
What a giant. Hanshi Abele is with me in my karate training every day. I am blessed to have known him and be taught by him. We stand on the shoulders of giants. Learning from tradition to go beyond. Lead by example. I hear his voice now.
Thank you Hanshi!