By Martin E. Hansen, Member until 2018
When will it peak? When is there no room for more peppercorns in the shopkeeper's house? Shindenkan's events are getting bigger and bigger, although the growth rate is not that great anymore, but with approx. 225 participants on the floor and almost the same number of spectators, it is also difficult to find room for more in a quite ordinary sports hall. But of course there is still room for more and we at Shindenkan hope that we get as much support in 2014 for our events and courses as we had in 2013. I wonder if 2014 will be the year when we reach the 500 mark for an event ?
Successful execution requires good preparation – This is the key word behind all activities in Shindenkan. Many companies try to aim for this – some are more or less successful, others fail miserably – In Shindenkan it's culture. We do it in Shindenkan, which many larger organizations dream of. In Shindenkan, we are imbued with perfection, dynamism and good preparation thanks to a grandmaster who throughout his career, both professionally and martial arts-wise, is driven to exploit his full potential. As an individual, this might be perceived as a selfish mindset, but Kimu Sensei does it not for himself, but for a greater purpose – Shindenkan. From individual to empowerment and from selfishness to charity. The Christmas gathering was therefore also prepared down to the last detail. As always, in the weeks and days leading up to the convention, Kimu Sensei had laid out the framework and main messages, which the instructor teams subsequently operationalized into training plans, which were then acted out for the convention. In addition to all this, several hours have of course been put into the practical preparation, which event manager Søren Renshi manages with a hard, knowledgeable and loving hand with the help of the many volunteers who are typically higher-graded students. Thank you!
According to tradition, Kimu Sensei opened the Christmas meeting with a small Christmas speech to round off the year and express the most important events of the past year. 2013 was a year marked by POMW and also the end of Shindenkan's biggest and most controversial project to date. Kimu Sensei started the journey back in 2011 and now here approx. 2.5 years later, the project is respected worldwide from the top of shooting, civilian as well as military. Kimu Sensei has shot with the best in the world, been taught by the best in the world and yes…. right up there with the best in the world. But most importantly and what was the project's most important milestone – proved Minouchi Sensei's thesis. For his own part, Kimu Sensei knew very well that he could achieve and master the metier of the modern warrior quickly and find the essence. He also knew that the chief instructors would be quite sure and relatively quickly to shoot an acceptable level. The exciting thing was how far down the ranks the Yakami Shinsei-ryu martial arts approach, attitude and learning processes in Shindenkan could be transferred to shooting. It turned out that it could happen at a very early level and already from 2-4 years of training in Yakami Shinsei-ryu and Shindenkan, and as you can read here on the website, POMW can create a Danish 1st division marksman of approx. 3 months corresponding to one US. Master shooter. Quite impressive, but as Kimu Sensei says - "Shooting is simple - As long as you don't look at it as something else". You must also not forget that firearms were made precisely so that you could train an army with high efficiency as quickly as possible. In addition to POMW, Kimu Sensei also had the opportunity to come to Japan in 2013 for a grandmaster training camp for Great Grandmasters, where he got to live out himself as a martial art grandmaster, which he greatly appreciates, as everyone in Shindenkan must have the opportunity to optimally development, and the call for development applies to everyone – from top to bottom and from bottom to top, but the top leads the way.
Before the actual teaching could really start, the participants had to be warmed up, which has gradually become a feature in itself. Every year, the two Honbu assistant instructors Søren and Martin Renshi are tasked by Kimu Sensei to prepare a fun warm-up based on current trends and as a fun ice-breaker. This year, to the great pleasure of the participants, there were some light dance moves inspired by the Danish Christmas lunches and the "Wild with dance" fever. And the 2 gentlemen actually manage to perform a dance that is worse than Allan Simonsen's performance without this being denigrated 🙂
Subsequently, the participants were divided into TG groups, i.e. 4 teams, with TG1 and TG1.5 being the largest with a total of over 120 participants. Each TG group was assigned their instructor teams, with the majority of instructors assigned to the above 2 groups. Kimu Sensei taught the upper TG group, except for the self-taught Black Belts, as part of their Advanced Instructor Training. It is precisely during competitions like this that the transfer of knowledge from highly experienced, highly graduated and highly trained head instructors can be passed on under the most optimal conditions as a team of instructors with responsibility for perhaps up to 100 students in a team. Kimu Sensei had organized the teaching so that it built on the theme from SBTLUS, which is the 2-day black belt convention that immediately leads up to the annual Christmas and summer convention. The theme this time was Koryu Naihanchi Sandan, including the understanding of bunkai in several levels, as well as why the Kata are built the way they are now. Thus, the main messages were symbolized as a "bottle with contents". First you train the foundation and the purely technical performance – the bottle, then how the technique is used through kumite – the content and finally the optimal utilization of the technique and yourself through bunkai kumite – the bottle with content. The messages were well received in all TG groups and, to everyone's praise, the work was very intense and focused on the selected curriculum that supported the messages.
The almost three hours of teaching flew by at a pace reminiscent of the Christmas gift race on a busy 23 December and it was time for the traditional group photo, where everyone present including the audience puts their hair up and finds an even bigger smile for everyone around the world can see how we enjoy ourselves in the Denmark of HC Andersen and the Vikings.
It was time for the last feature of the day and for many also the highlight of the day – graduation. A total of 184 students were set to graduate. In addition to this, another successful ken-jutsu 1 course was also completed with 20 participants, who of course had to get on the floor first and show their newly acquired competence together with course instructor Jens Hanshi-dai in front of Kimu Sensei and the rest of the Shindenkan. Their competency graduation went really well and Kimu Sensei looked satisfied, which is always a good sign. For the following 1.5 hours, the TG groups were called to the floor one by one to show selected techniques including, of course, what was trained at the event itself. As usual, the graduation session ended with Kata separation, where all TG groups are on the floor and show Kata, but "pass out" as they have not learned the Kata to be shown.
To finish the ring, the Koryu Naihanchi Sandan was completed with the participation of the group Kimu Sensei had taught, who had been given a very special task as a group and with himself, as well as the black belts.
A long but good day had come to an end, and it is with great pleasure that we can wish all the graduates the best of luck with their new degrees and skills. Several participants had caught Kimu Sensei's attention during the convention and the graduation, e.g. Lisbeth from Slagelse, who skipped a grade and was graduated 8th kyu directly, great! All JokoKidz did really well and it is always difficult to single out a few, but a handful of JokoKidz received special praise for a great graduation, event and attitude. Kimu Sensei always has an eye for the talent and the extra continuous effort, but most importantly they really show that they want to, and it is rewarded.
All that remains is to wish a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all of you – Shindenkaners, families, friends, sponsors and readers around the world. We are looking forward to 2014, which is sure to be a landmark positive building year for Shindenkan.
Happy New Year!
