Shindenkan World Heritage
Yakami Shinsei-ryu Taijutsu & Karate-do's world cultural heritage, background and history
The background; The need for self-defense and attack throughout history, in East and West
Needs and development often happen historically in roughly the same time periods, regardless of whether it is in the East or the West. It is often directly comparable.
After the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), the German-Roman Empire consisted of around 300 fiefdoms formally under the German emperor. But the fact was that they were all independent states with their own administration, economy and army – the united states with a German emperor as elected war leader and the Pope in Rome as spiritual leader. The Counts were all German princes with their own nobility and with various titles ranging from prince to king. The kingdoms of Saxony, Wurttemberg, Hanover's princely areas were between 15-20,000 km2. The Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe and Liechtenstein on 340 km2 and 160 km2.
This template can be directly compared to Japan at the same time. The Japanese emperor as pope and spiritual leader, but without real power. And Shogun as king and war leader and approx. 270 Daimyo fiefdoms with their own administration, economy, army, nobility and fiefdoms formally subject to the Shogun king. The size of the county principalities was directly comparable to the German ones.
The purpose of the sheriffs' armies in both Germany and Japan was to protect their own sheriff territory and be prepared to take over that of others. The next question we should have answered is whether army sizes and skill training were also directly comparable?
The Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe had an army of 1-2 battalions (about 500-1,200 soldiers), while the five major kingdoms had armies of 6-18,000 soldiers each. All other sheriff's armies lay between these points.
Source: 1618 – 1648 The Thirty Years' War – Berlin-guide.dk – Denmark's Largest Online Guide to Berlin
Schaumburg-Lippe Palace
But this is also where the direct comparison ends, as army sizes in Japan were typically up to 3-5 times higher and were about 3-5 % of the population size. In addition, the Japanese armies were top professionals and top trained. It is analogous to comparing experienced special forces soldiers with conscripts who have just completed the mandatory 4 months of basic training. The most professional part of the German sheriff's armies received a maximum of 6-12 months of intensive training. In Denmark at the same time, it was often weekend training a few hours every Sunday for more than 80 % of the Danish army. In the west this was the norm for a standing professional and supplementary army during this time period.
All comparisons with Japan also stop here. Because there is a very big difference. It's night and day. In Japan, the Japanese samurai warriors trained every day, morning to night, from the age of about 7, under the absolute best instructors that could be found. When they were 12-15 years old, they often experienced their first battle as observers and from the age of 17, they participated directly in the battles. Even the supplementary army's samurai warrior maintenance training can today be compared to the competence development efforts of world elite athletes of 15-30 hours per week. week.
The biggest difference, however, was that men like women, girls like boys from samurai families (Gentry) were trained in martial arts for the purpose. There was equality and diversity in Japan, according to conditions, purpose and task. Historically, samurai girls and women have participated in major battles throughout more than 1200 years of Japanese history. There are many Japanese legendary stories from the battlefield as well as at home, where a feminine and graceful samurai mother has defended her children and home against bandits and slaughtered them all!. See, that's true diversity. The women most often received a different kind of samurai warrior training, but not always!. Men and women were equal in the essence of the struggle. They were top-trained, top-motivated, multi-tracked men like women and whole people, and they were deadly dangerous!
Like comparing top professional soccer players with little football.
This starting point was the original basis for all martial arts today, and it still applies to Yakami Shinsei-ryu Taijutsu & Karate-do.
In Shindenkan according to our voluntary and unpaid association purpose, statutes, guidelines and set of values we have; equality, diversity and everyone without exception is treated the same, regardless of ethnicity, gender, religion, education, weight, age etc.
Therefore, a curl must be tied on the tail about the fact that men and women were equal in the essence of the fight in Japan. This was the case until approx. 1870, when the Meiji Revolution broke out and Japan had to be modernized with an ambition to be the Far East's new superpower. It was already successful almost 35 years later. But that meant a "Trial & Error" adoption of Western technology, experiential knowledge and value adjustment. Including a sharper gender division, which meant that women had to be put down in the West's basic view of women at the time; The weaker sex without male rights, opinions and power.
Even after the end of World War 1 in 1918, when the Treaty of Versailles had to be negotiated in place at the Trianon Palace (today the Waldorf Astoria hotel), the Western powers refused to accept the arguments of Japan's main representative. That human development will prevent war, and all nations and peoples should therefore be equal, including men and women. The only statement of support that the prince, general and lawyer, Saionji Kinmochi (1849-1940) received was from his old friend from his student days at Sorbonne University, the French president Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929). All other nations were opposed, led by the US, UK, Australia, which at the time maintained a strict division of society.
The Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919 by France, Great Britain, the United States and their allies on one side and Germany on the other to end World War I.
But the living man and Bujutsu master Saionji continued to fight for equality and diversity. He founded Japan's first law university in 1880; Meiji Law School (1880-1906), with Dr. Jur Kishimoto from Tottori as the first principal. Today, Meiji University collaborates with equal partner universities such as Stanford, Columbia, Oxford, Cambridge. It was not until 1938 that women could become lawyers. One of the first three female lawyers, all from Meiji University, was Masako Nakata (1910-2002), who was honored for her pioneering achievements with the exceptionally rare National Medal of Honor (1974) and subsequently also the Order of the Rising Sun, the Commander's Cross of 1st degree (1984), awarded by the Japanese Emperor. She slept peacefully in her home in Tottori, 2002. One of her oldest friends was a female Dr.Jur member of the Yamana clan.
For the sheriff and Genro, Saionji himself also did well. The close family network was reinforced with Sumitomo Mitsui Keiretsu & Bank, head of the court of the Japanese emperor, the Yamana princely family and in other areas. Saionji became Japanese prime minister and trade minister several times; Foreign Affairs, Education, Culture and Sport, where he i.a. approved and appointed Judo founder, Jigiro Kano as Japan's first IOC member. He was also honored by official Japan for his achievements as a Knight of the Grand Cross; Order of the Rising Sun, Paulownia flowers, Sacred Treasure and Japan's highest order; Chrysanthemum, and of a lot of European knightly orders can be mentioned; Knight Grand Cross of UK St.Michael Saint Georges, French Legion of Honour, and of Danish curiosity; Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Dannebrog presented by King Christian on 9
Liveman and Bujutsu master Saionji
King Christian IX 1863-1906
