By Martin E. Hansen, Member until 2018

Shindenkaner – lead (in) yourself!

Everyone has heard of it – everyone talks about it – some fear it – some really want it – others say why? RRCAMPS. The "new" participants should soon have the veil lifted, would it be a revelation, an unpleasant experience or "simply" a new exciting journey towards what we all crave in Shindenkan - or someone says they will and others do - know yourself! Kimu Sensei, with the clear vision and overview of a true grandmaster, has created a concept adapted to a modern western world, where not everyone has the constant focus, self-motivation and survival instinct as well as uncompromisingness required to practice martial arts. The concept is called Ryugi Ryuha Camps and developed to develop the individual and show the common thread, not in martial arts, but in the personal development of the individual, or in Kimu Sensei's words "I meet people where people are and take them along a journey" It is also a message of mutual respect that Kimu Sensei believes in the full potential of all people and that they can utilize this regardless of their life cycle and background.

At 8.00 a.m. on a bitterly cold first Saturday in January, Shindenkan's chief instructors and future chief instructors met to spend the day on personal development under Kimu Sensei's expert guidance. For 3 of the participants – Karsten, Søren and Oliver, it was the first time they became acquainted with the concept – RRCAMP. There was a focus on reading in everyone's eyes on the doorstep to the classroom at Tjørnelyskolen, as they knew that this would be a long day filled with mental challenges. Beforehand, they had been warned that the lesson would end around 23.00 on Saturday but that Sunday might be used depending on the yield. This RRCAMP was also the first where also chief instructors in spe ie. future satellite school chief instructors and currently acting instructors were invited. RRCAMP.CIF was directly designed by Kimu Sensei to dress future Chief Instructors for the role. But also the old and gray 🙂 were invited along, as firstly it is good to have a recap, but most importantly knowledge sharing within TG groups and across TG groups - empowerment. At the same time, the camp also served as training and the masters TG group (Jens Hanshi-dai, Søren Renshi and Martin Renshi) were asked with a day's notice in advance to prepare some specific topics, whereby their RRCAMP actually started on Thursday evening. As with all other courses, the tasks were structured and outlined by Kimu Sensei, after which it was up to the three to fill in the framework with some concrete knowledge sharing.

Everyone was on time and the class started little by little at the breakfast table, where fresh rolls and strong, strong, strong instant coffee were consumed in an attempt to build up a buffer of caffeine to keep the little grays sharp throughout the day. During RRCAMP, classes start the moment Kimu Sensei appears, so the first thing everyone was asked to do was to introduce themselves, there were new participants after all. The idea was also to start a process with the participants, which was part of the "common thread" for the day - from the outside in. So what is meant by this? In short, it means that you have to know yourself in order to be able to lead yourself in the right direction and thus be able to lead others, which sounds quite simple, but something that few people achieve, since knowing yourself 100% means that you have the densho degree Menkyo. But everything has a start and it involves turning oneself stone by stone and getting to the core – one of these stones is to e.g. to be able to describe oneself, not everyone is equally good at this sales pitch, which is also used a lot for job interviews 🙂 In fact, much of today's teaching had to be based on what you do in business, which then meant that it was much more concrete for the participants and something they could relate to. Everyone got to describe themselves and put into words their years in martial arts, their private career etc. It was a good starting point for today's next lesson, which Kimu Sensei entertained with for the next few hours. First of all, this lesson was about reaching the individual participant and through their self-image. Kimu Sensei told about his own approach to martial arts, how he had had contact with SST and the "old" way of learning - koryo bujtusu, where the motivation is life and death or "one chance only". It was the method and the conditions of SST's school and Kimu Sensei's education that was total and uncompromising, which by the standards of the time created in a short time a true grandmaster and one of the highest ranking in the world – densho Inka. But not everyone can do this and anyway, if you want it enough, as Kimu Sensei says it "You are all unique and I believe in you - you also just have to believe in yourself" Kimu Sensei knows well he is unique and knows his skills, he has also recognized that very few can do what he has done, and therefore he has created Shindenkan, where the teaching methodology is based on empowerment and space for everyone, you get many chances, and not "one chance only". There is room for you to be on and off for periods depending on your life cycle and the path forward towards the "right path", where the fluctuations will be smaller until perhaps one day you find your way into martial arts. Everyone listened intently and was ignited by the belief in their own potential and that there really was a great master right there in front of them who believed in them so much. But the shoe pressed on the thorn at the same time - you also believe in yourself, do you know yourself? are you a sheep or a shepherd? 🙂 – understood as can you lead others and make a difference or do you want to be part of the gray mass? Do you love yourself? Do you love your wife/girlfriend sincerely and why? A lot of questions that came closer and closer - some fell silent, others probably laughed mostly in embarrassment. The point is that you must have the will to get to know yourself, ask yourself the "uncomfortable" questions so you know whether you are true to yourself or living in an illusion, lead yourself and thus be able to lead others. The future chief instructors and for that matter the seasoned ones became thoughtful but also saw the light and the idea of true leadership. Kimu Sensei made the subject more concrete and related it to everyday life and the topics, stereotypes and opinions you can be met with in everyday life as a head instructor and what it means to be a shepherd/guiding star/role model that someone looks up to and like others in the janteloven words will do anything to peel down. Powers come with being a chief instructor, but there is also an increasing responsibility, a responsibility for other people, for the system and values and of course your own development – in short, you must know your skills and be aware of the job you have to do.

This lesson led, after a short lunch, naturally to the next, where Kimu Sensei, with his many years in top management, briefly described the difference between management and leadership and how the tools in Shindenkan also link to these two concepts and the structure he has created with KPI , Eco wheels, RRCAMPs etc. is a complete management training step by step. To make it even more concrete, the participants were introduced to the tools function/job description, qualification profile and job expectation profile, which are of course stolen from the business world, but absolutely applicable in Shindenkan to describe the role of chief instructor and what expectations, responsibilities etc. come with it. The participants were then allowed to work in groups with the new tools and tie them to themselves and the profession as chief instructor in Shindenkan. After approx. 45 min. some of the participants (the new RRCAMP participants) had the opportunity to present their work to the rest of the team, they were good presentations with each their own positive way of describing the task. Kimu Sensei was also very satisfied and said at the same time that the participants should probably have the opportunity to make a little more out of the material later in the evening.

The day was approaching evening and Kimu Sensei then gave the participants a choice 🙂 Either they could test the physical form with a standard test program for a head instructor who always has a duty to be in shape, in this case a bronze circle of under 5 min, short break, beep-test run, short break and bronze circle under 6 min - or he could talk about the new structure for brown and black belt training going forward...Remarkably, after voting among the participants, it ended up that both parts had to be carried out. So first Kimu Sensei entertained until 17.30, after which he chose to withdraw. As he said "Now I have taught 67% of the time, so the last 33% will be your teaching, where Renshi'er and Hanshi-dai have prepared some presentations, and experience shows that it is best that grandpa is not here to steal the picture "At the same time, he specifically showed a timetable up to approx. at 01.30 as the participants had previously been given the choice to either work through Saturday and take Sunday off or go home at 23.00 and meet again on Sunday morning and finish the work, where everyone unanimously chose to "burn the midnight oil" and work through.

But before work comes pleasure, so all the participants went to the gymnasium, where a military bronze circle was first performed at a very high pace, then after 8-9 min. break a beep test that clearly bore the mark of a long Christmas holiday with roast duck and red wine and subsequent New Year's cure with miserable shape curves, but a final bronze circle at a high pace (average under 6 min.). With the lungs outside the body, a warm and well-deserved bath was taken, after which we drove to the nearest pizzeria for dinner. After dinner it was eventually it became 19.00 and it was time for Søren Renshi and Martin Renshi to get on with their presentation. The presentation lasted about 2 hours, during which there was a good dialogue with the other participants about the chief director's deed. The presentation gave an insight into the subjects that a chief instructor has to manage, from contexts in the organization to municipal conditions, etc., but also some good questions that the participants had to deal with. Jens Hanshi-dai then started with his part, which involved the presentation of the practical tools that have been developed according to Kimu Sensei's structure of the 5 KPI, but also a short workshop where work was done with the tools that have been developed in Excel and Among other things, used for checking off students in the dojo. Around. 22.30 it was time for the last lesson of the day, which was task solving according to the guidelines and timetable from Kimu Sensei. As camp manager, Søren Renshi had been given a task booklet with 4 tasks, where a time slot was set aside for each task. Not surprisingly, the tasks were to make today's previous work with the job profiles sharper through sparring and collaboration in the TG groups.

At 04.15 the final period was set for RRCAMP.CIF.13.1.1 with a joint photo, where there was still room and energy for a smile, because there always is in Shindenkan. No one looks askance at you if you smile or express your enthusiasm and joy, it is met with corresponding joy. It had been a long day, night and morning for all the participants, but in truth some instructive and eventful hours.