Edwin Stratton
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Edwin William James Stratton (July 17, 1936 – March 9, 2000) was a British aikido teacher and the founder of Yoshinkan UK.
Eddie Stratton had a long history in the martial arts. Having trained and taught in numerous countries around the world, teaching martial artists, police and military personnel. Having learnt from great masters and developed his martial arts to become a great master himself.
His first introduction to martial training was when his father bought him a pair of boxing gloves at the age of 9, and his first introduction to the ring was a roped of area in his back garden when he and his friends would have friendly matches - they usually ended up as a free-for-all and bloody noses were order of the day!
Later he was trained by George Pine of Dartford in Kent, who received the MBE for his devotion to amateur boxing. The highlights of this time were becoming the Southern Area Lightweight Champion, and boxing on the same bill as Dave Charnly (who became British, European and Empire Lightweight Champion) and a young heavyweight amateur champion named Henry Cooper.
At 16, he joined the Merchant Navy and had been twice around the world before jumping ship in New Zealand at the age of 19. Two months later he was caught and brought back to England for his national Service. He volunteered for service in Malaysia and this was where he met Thamby Rajah.
After Watching Thamby, he thought that as a boxer he could easily overcome him. He was amazed at how this slight man handled and controlled him. Of course, he did not know that Thamby was a student of the great judo masters Ichijama and Kyuzo Mifune, and the great aikido master Gozo Shioda.
On his return from Malaysia, he introduced Yoshinkan aikido for the first time to Great Britain in the early 1960's.
During his time in the army, he was also practiced karate and judo, and later also became a professional wrestler. He became the first martial arts wrestler, and in the '60s, the first British person to smash tiles on British television with a headbutt. He went by the name of "Professor Eddy Stratton", but also as the masked baddy, "Doctor Kamikaze".
He travelled to Japan and trained under Gozo Shioda. Later, Gozo Shioda came to England and stayed with Stratton.
In 1982 Stratton was invited to the USA to teach at the United States karate Association's Police Seminar and he also taught at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
He also taught Aiki Jujutsu for Robert Clarke's World JuJutsu Federation (WJJF), with whom he held a 6th Dan in Aiki Jujutsu. The certificate for this rank still hangs in his home.
In 1998, after one of Thamby Rajah's visits to the UK, Stratton received his 9th Dan in aikido.
He died on the 9th of March, 2000, after a long fight against cancer
