Shindenkan Summer Convention – the biggest and most successful convention in 4 years!
Because at Shindenkan we have room for everyone and at the Summer Convention 2023 there were a lot of people who showed up on the day, both participants and spectators, and after such a fantastic season, the Summer Convention 2023 became the biggest and most successful Shindenkan convention since 2019 - that is, before Corona. There was an absolutely fantastic atmosphere and a great many of both participants and spectators came up to me afterwards to express their enthusiasm for the event and thanked me for a fantastic season both in the national activities and the local training.
We pay tribute to our 1,000-year-old cultural heritage in the Shindenkan through Yakami Shinsei-ryu Taijutsu & Karate-do, because we have to know all facets of martial arts – not just single-track, but multi-track – to be graduated.
Shindenkan's competence system is offered as courses in the single-track competences that must be completed and passed to a given degree in Yakami Shinsei-ryu Taijutsu & Karate-do. We then develop our single-track competencies through the annual OBC KM courses and carry out standardized maintenance in our single-track competencies through the annual NKT trainings.
To that extent, Shindenkan is a fantastic training place for everyone who wants to improve their martial arts skills and strives for personal development through increased self-esteem and self-confidence, but we also set demands on ourselves through OBC KM certification, where once a year we prove that we still master all the single-track skills – a certification that is valid for one year at a time!
The Summer Convention is traditionally a celebration for all participants with both OBC KM certifications, plenty of KYU and brown belt graduations and this year was no exception. At the summer meeting 2023, a total of 51 graduations and 15 new OBC KM certifications were completed in our multi-track System 🙂
When I look back on this season, it is filled with really nice memories of a very positive bright youthful energy, a fantastic dynamic training, a lot of new and happy members who have just started their journey in Yakami Shinsei-ryu Taijutsu and Karate- yes, a lot of old members who have come back after their breaks and last but not least a very large retention of all our old members.
This season we have seen the most amazing unity grow in the local clubs and across the national training seminars - this is perhaps the biggest compliment to Shindenkan Denmark after several years of Corona deprivation and it bodes well for the future. With that in mind, I must say that I am incredibly looking forward to the coming season, because I wish and fervently hope that we will fill up the ranks again, with even more new members, even more KYU and brown belt graduations and maybe also new black belt graduations 🙂
Where is Shindenkan today?
Shindenkan Denmark is, as it has always been since 1967, a federation of local municipally approved independent democratic associations, all of which offer teaching and training in the 1000-year-old Japanese cultural heritage and martial arts Yakami Shinsei-ryu Taijutsu & Karate-do. We were founded already in 1967 and have been a member of the international competence organization Jokokan International since 1988, and all member schools teach and train according to the same curriculum manual – common competence and standard.
Jokokan Honbu Dojo Camps is the pivot for all competence in Shindenkan Denmark and is the guarantor of the preservation of the genuine system and the original competences and represents the national and international level of competence in Shindenkan Denmark as a genuine course and leadership development organization for all Shindenkan member schools.
All Shindenkan's member schools teach and train according to exactly the same curriculum manual - common competence and standard - that's what makes us so strong.
I am personally very proud of the recognitions we have received in Shindenkan, including both Jokokan Honbu Dojo Camps which were recognized by DGI Landsorganisation, as an international competence and specialist association with an agreement signed by Søren Møller and Honbu chairman Kimu K. Bjarkmann in 2009 .
And just as much by Soke Sensei Tonegawa and Jokokan Honbu Dojo Japan who was internationally recognized by the Japanese Emperor and the Ministry of Culture - with a Knight's Cross 1st degree - Order Of the Rising Sun - 2020.
This award is extremely rare and only a few martial arts organizations have achieved this since 1877 and there is no higher public recognition and blue stamping of a Japanese Budo and Bujutsu system in the world.
I am also very proud that the head instructor of Jokokan Honbu Dojo Camps is one of the top three instructors in Honbu Dojo Japan. The Shindenkan is therefore also affiliated with one of Japan's oldest noble Daimyo Count families with more than 2600+ years of history and origins from the Imperial family.
Democracy in Shindenkan
We are one of Scandinavia's oldest martial arts organizations since 1967, but we also have 1,000+ years of history and background in Japan. That's why we call ourselves Viking Samurais!
The summer meeting celebrates the end of the season for us Viking Samurais, but also at the same time celebrates the democratic process in the voluntary and unpaid work of the association. It is an old tradition that the chairman of the association gives a short presentation to start the summer meeting. It was all 98 registered participants and even more relatives - so a few hundred convention participants really happy 🙂
Shindenkan Process for General Meetings (GF)
We effectively ensure democracy and that as many as possible are heard, through a Bottom-up process - which starts in the Local General Assemblies and rises to the National General Assemblies.
The process follows the same structure every year and contains the following process steps:
- Basic structure – from the GF of all local member schools
- The creation from the KYU Representative Office, Brown, Black Belt and OBC teams
- The finishing touch – All national activities during the season – the operation
- GF decision - Those who contribute actively also have the most active influence
Continuity is created through the primary participants in the process – who follow it all the way:
- SOPORG – Shindenkan Organization Committee which consists of Honbu dojo's chairman and deputy chairman, Shindenkan Denmark's chairman and deputy chairman, and a qualified member representative and the most important thing is that they are democratically elected.
- Executive board of representatives which is made up of the highest graduated, most active members in all local schools, and almost all of whom are either local board members or national board members - they are all role models who contribute and lead the way!
FACTS about Shindenkan Schools
All member schools are democratic associations run by passionate people who carry out a 100 % voluntary and unpaid effort - because we want to make a difference!
- We have room for everyone – the elite such as exercisers.
- We are value-based.
- We meet our members where they are and take them on a journey.
- We believe that we can make a difference.
- We invest in multi-track competences, which, like life, are multi-track wholes
In Shindenkan, we always think about Bismarck's proverb that says: "Everyone can learn from his own mistakes, but a true leader also learns from the mistakes of others!". Therefore, we have cleaned up hard and consistently looked at all the bodies in the cargo and once again we have learned that one person with Entourage can ruin the life of everyone else.
We all know it, perhaps from our workplaces or from our schools - that one bad boss destroys an entire competence team or that one bad chief instructor can destroy an entire association! or more! When we stand there, we know that there will be confrontations and that confrontations lead to choices, which are always either additional choices or opt-outs! So the most important thing we can do is – to do the right thing!
And that's OK, because we must live up to our purpose clause and put the joy of training above our own interests - We must put Shindenkan's Value Set above everything and live up to meeting people where they are and taking them on a journey in the world of Shindenkan multi-track martial arts .
Summer meeting 2023
The summer meeting is always incredibly exciting and inspiring to watch, also because this is where graduations to the higher degrees take place, and where the super cool OBC KM 1-4 certifications are completed. For this summer meeting, Yamana-Itotani Sensei had planned an OBC KM certification which was at the same time a demonstration of Shindenkan's highest competences - and there was a unique opportunity to show the many spectators and members what Shindenkan really is when we are at the highest level.
It was fantastic to stand in the middle of it all and feel that OBC is precisely the continuous development spiral that maintains and gradually increases the level of competence and we did it together - and of course after teaching from Yamana-Itotani Sensei.
After all, OBC was created to draw the future and reflects all the members' level of competence for one year at a time and is therefore also scalable over time in relation to all the members' different and changing life cycles - it's just super cool.
The new season is going to be even more amazing 🙂
In the 2022-2023 season, we have gained more than 60 new members and it is my great wish for the coming season that we will have as many new white belts join the local associations. We are ready for all JokoKidz, JokoTeens and adults. We have to because the fantastic energy and atmosphere we have felt this year has given me the hope I wanted and again given all of us old members in Shindenkan an opportunity to show the way, a new fantastic energy for them and for us, a opportunity to show Shindenkan's value set in its very best version and where we can be the very best version of ourselves.
The coming season is no exception – because the goal for us at Shindenkan is still to be of benefit, especially to our members but also to the community around us! Because all people need the cool energy and to be taken along on a journey that will develop us and to be met where they are and to be taken along by us who passionately want to make a difference.
Come and join us for another great season and make your mark on life - because there are no limits to what we can achieve together if we honestly strive to go all the way.
I am so happy and proud of the development that has taken place in Season 2022-2023 for Shindenkan and now a fantastic summer has started in Denmark and who could wish for more than the unity, the joy and the level we have achieved.
But we want to do more - be more - stand out - stand up for who we are 🙂
That's why invite Everyone who wants to is welcome - We will be accepting new members as early as 21 August 2023.
I am looking forward to the coming season together with ALL of you - Because in Shindenkan and in all the local schools there is room for everyone - the elite as the exerciser.
