Rules and Explanations for the reader 

OBC KM, stands for Compulsory Year's Certification Competence mark according to the curriculum handbook, which consists of local and national structure of coherent elements;

• National plan and standardization; Pass all the competency courses for the step-by-step OBC, cf. the Curriculum handbook. All KYU competency courses are taught by highly qualified Honbu instructors from 5th dan to 7th dan, black belt, single track level.
• National plan; Update and develop your course skills and yourself, under safe but challenging conditions by taking the OBC courses annually which will ALWAYS be at a higher level than the year before. It is Yamana-Itotani Sensei who teaches at OBC.
• Local Plan; Maintain your course competencies in the local Taijutsu association, so that your single-track skills are at least preserved and you have the opportunity to develop in the multi-track; Yakami Shinsei-ryu through OBC KM.

You are given two choices at the beginning of each season, which are usually dependent on your effort and contribution in the previous season according to the curriculum handbook;

• The options according to the curriculum handbook;
  • The progressive election; You want to maintain and develop yourself and your course competencies within the multi-track system Yakami Shinsei-ryu and have the option of being considered for graduation. The requirement is at least 80 % training in your local Taijutsu association.
  • The maintenance election; You want to maintain your course competencies within the multi-track system Yakami Shinsei-ryu, but opt out of the option of setting up for graduation. The requirement is at least 70 % training in your local Taijutsu association.
• Opting out according to the curriculum handbook;
  • Opt-out involuntary or voluntary; Life plays tricks on you; divorce, death, illness, injuries, deployment, life cycle, needing a break from it all. Your time and energy will be limited for a period, but you don't want to lose contact with your training buddies through years of joys and sorrows.

Option or opt-out of OBC KM in the Taijutsu local association according to the curriculum handbook  
Optional options according to the curriculum handbook;

• The progressive election is the only choice where you can be visibly annually certified through an OBC KM test and thus wear the honorable and beautiful competence maintenance mark, which marks for everyone that you have the latest updated competence knowledge within the OBC KM level:
  • OBC maintains your single-track course competencies, in the multi-track 1,000-year-old martial arts system, - but also ensures the value of your Yakami Shinsei-ryu martial arts journey following a clear common thread. The overview is lost if you do not maintain, like everything else in life.
    • Yamana-Itotani Sensei will continue to teach at all OBC - both course participants and Honbu course instructors, so that every year we raise the standard of competence and update the competence courses in one upward spiral of development after Strat23.
  • NKT; Test and prepare yourself during the NKT - National Competence training test, which is a maximum of 2 hours of uninterrupted "meditative demonstration" of all your either armed or unarmed course competencies - as one system.
    • NKT – National Competence Training, is now only compulsory for Honbu BB and SB teams. It is 3 x 2 times a year and will continue to be divided into an unarmed and an armed competence course part, as opposed to OBC which is divided according to TG – TEAM Group/Grades.
    • But there is a CLEAR connection between NKT and OBC, which have the same prerequisites and rules. BUT - the difference is that NKT can be considered OBC KM - Competence mark preparatory exam training, but also demonstration training.
    • The national NKT is free for Honbu BB and SB teams according to the motto; "Those who contribute to the development of themselves and thus also others, get at least as much in return". By participating in NKT, you contribute to the level of competence in Shindenkan and it is therefore recognized.
  • OBC and NKT ensure an increasing level of competence in Shindenkan. Each annual OBC will be at slightly higher level. The goal is at least one full belt per third year for black and senior brown belts.
  • But it also means, conversely, that degrees will be DIRECTLY comparable in the different generations and years in between!, and black and brown belts who do not maintain their skills or quit will very quickly be overtaken by those who do!
    • This means the following for students who have dropped out or have not maintained their skills;
      • A Gensei-ryu black belt from the 60s - 80s corresponds in knowledge and skills to a 5.kyu YSK today.
      • A Shindenkaner black belt from the 90s corresponds in knowledge and skills to a 4th kyu YSK today.
      • A Shindenkaner 3rd dan black belt from the 90s corresponds in knowledge and skills to a 2nd kyu YSK today.
      • A Shindenkaner 1-2.dan black belt, 00's-2009 corresponds in knowledge and skills to a 2. kyu YSK today.
      • A Shindenkaner 1-2.dan black belt, 2009-2012 corresponds in knowledge and skills to a 1. kyu YSK today.
  • OBC KM – Competence Mark confirmations, will be respectively before/during Spring meeting (OBC1-4 = OBC KM1 and/or OBC KM2) and Summer meeting (OBC5 and OBC6 = OBC KM3 and/or OBC KM4). The calendar plan is also organized with a view to optionally maximizing these two processes.
    • No OBC KM is given in advance. But from experience it will be the case that many will automatically feel that OBC KM is "just something that you have to do every year to get that OBC KM" and start sloppy and thus unprovenly "counteract" the whole purpose of OBC KM. THEREFORE – in season 2018-2019, you will get what you have correctly trained for – i.e. your competence. This means that OBC5+OBC6 will still be held together as during the summer meeting, but the result will be different: Some will achieve OBC KM III, others OBC KM II and hopefully OBC KM I. The same will happen with OBC1-4, but in less scale. This means you don't get anything rewarding, but you get it in the season that you are good enough for, which is according to your effort and merit in the season.
    • This also means that it is definitely an advantage if you want to fulfill your full potential, to minimize the risk of doing less well than your own expectations and efforts for the OBC KM certifications and thus the OBC KM mark result. It is therefore definitely an advantage for most Shindenkaners to combine the local OBC Taijutsu maintenance training with the six annual NKT "simulation stop tests", which reflect the best possible preparation for the season; OBC KM certification – without the often many nerves and nervousness that can prevent the best test.
  • Graduation rules, rules and GF18 Strat23:
    • Yakami Shinsei-ryu is a 1,000-year-old multi-track elite samurai system. You are now tested and graduated 100 % in 100 % of the multi-track system. This can be done in the modern busy world due to the OBC/NKT concept.
    • The previous season's OBC KM competency badge shows your multi-track competency at the end of the season.
    • BUT the OBC KM degree also forms the basis for your development in the new season, which will be at a higher level of competence every year.
    • This also means that all Shindenkaners every year will have the opportunity to build on their multi-track skills through direct teaching by Yamana-Itotani Sensei, which many have wanted and requested over the years.
    • This can now be done because of the OBC/NKT concept, which has minimized the distance between Yamana-Itotani Sensei and all members of the Shindenkan, - based on maintained competences which are built on every year according to the KISS principle.
    • You can wear your OBC KM mark locally as well as nationally IF you take at least the OBCs that are for your next Yakami Shinsei-ryu degree and thus automatically be offered a year's membership of your local Taijutsu OBC/NKT school.
    • OBC/NKT means that you must meet the Curriculum Handbook 100 % at a minimum level according to the Curriculum Handbook, which applies to everyone for 1,000 years.
    • The difference from before 2018 is simply that now all competences are at least confirmed and checked through OBC KM. They did not do this consistently before and therefore there were entire schools, instructors and students who were caught in this "Oops".
    • But there is truly room for everyone, the elite such as the exerciser. It is therefore voluntary in TG1 and TG2, but mandatory from TG3 (to 4.kyu YSK), to participate in the annual OBC certifications IF you would like to graduate and put yourself on the gross list of graduates in spe.
    • Examples and elaborations:
      • At the Honbu black belt team, you sign up for the gross list of graduates in spe at the beginning of the new season - Empowerment. There is NO guarantee that you will end up on the final net list, but you have made an active selection.
      • On the Honbu brown belt team, you make an active option by signing up for OBC/NKT up to your next degree. This means that you are thus placed on the gross list of graduates in spe, but without guarantees of ending up on the net list.
      • On the Honbu 9-6.kyu team, you can make a voluntary opt-out or opt-in regarding OBC/NKT. Honbu encourages the option and the long track, but it is only mandatory from TG3 – 4.kyu, IF you want to be on the gross list for a possible graduation.
      • NKT is compulsory from 2nd kyu graduations onwards. This is for the sake of the graduate's success and graduation experience process, as most have all OBC courses with a total of 21 multi-track competence courses.
      • NKT is voluntary before this degree, but it is strongly encouraged that Shindenkaners at the TG3 competence level also actively opt for NKT. This is how it will be in the 2018-2019 season as a pilot project.
      • OBC – NKT then we STRONGLY encourage all Shindenkaners to maintain their multi-track course competencies ALSO as TG1 and TG2. It also provides the best and easiest development process over time – until it becomes mandatory. Until then, we're still trying the old way - faith and love and the carrot of watching your clubmates walk around with the beautiful OBC year's Competence badges!
• The maintenance election; For various reasons, you want to slow down your development and Shindenkan activities, but maintain your course skills and the social local Taijutsu network built up through years of "blood, sweat, tears and lots of laughter"
  • OBC maintains your single-track course competencies, in the multi-track 1,000-year-old martial arts system, - but also ensures the value of your Yakami Shinsei-ryu martial arts journey following a clear common thread. The overview is lost if you do not maintain, like everything else in life.
  • The season's OBC courses give you the right to OBC maintenance in the local Taijutsu association. Since you do not want progression through belt graduation and OBC KM, your attendance percentage must simply be a minimum of 70 %. This ensures that you do not become "training partner nineteen".
  • But your choice also means that you lose the right to wear an OBC KM badge until you pass again for an OBC KM badge. The maintenance election may apply for a maximum of one full season before your election becomes effective; The opt-out, which will always accommodate the later option, – to return.

Opt-out options according to the curriculum handbook

• Life plays tricks on you; divorce, death, illness, injuries, deployment, life cycle, needing a break from it all. Your time and energy will be limited for a period, but you don't want to lose contact with your training buddies through years of joys and sorrows.
• We usually distinguish between two opt-outs; Where you are forced to do so and the voluntary opt-out
  • The forced is usually due to injuries, illness, divorce, death, or the spouse dictates it. In the best cases, this period lasts from 2-6 months and up to 12 months. After that, we usually don't see people again or they make a voluntary opt-out.
  • The voluntary opt-out is usually due to lost motivation, secondment, educational studies, etc. In the best cases, this period lasts from 6-12 months and up to 18 months. After that, we usually don't see people again.
• What does this mean specifically?:
  • You lose the right to visibly wear your OBC KM on the gi, as you no longer meet the requirements applicable to everyone to wear it. But you keep your beautiful OBC KM as a keepsake scrapbook, which shows that you once met the minimum requirements for it.
  • You choose to only train in the local Jokokan school or take a break from Shindenkan, knowing that you can always return to the level of competence you were at before and do not have to start over as before, as the OBC courses will support and help you now.
  • OBC ensures that if life's challenges are at stake; that you can ALWAYS turn the opt-out into an additional option again, and get back to the current course competence level, simply by taking the annual OBC, which gives you access to the local and national OBC training, together with others of the same competence level and attitude to it learn, develop and maintain one's skills, and thereby also contribute to the preservation of a 1,000-year-old cultural institution – spatial and timeless.