German Federation / July 2009 - Contributors: Jan Lipsius & Sven Hebbe

From June 19th through 21st, 2009, the German Shorinji Kempo Federation (DSKV) celebrated the 30th anniversary of Shorinji Kempo in Germany in the cities of Augsburg and Koenigsbrunn.

The event showed not only how deeply rooted Shorinji Kempo has become in these communities over the course of three decades, but also the strong international ties the DSKV formed during this time. Moreover the event was honoured by the WSKO President So Yuuki's first ever visit to Germany.

On Friday the guests of honour, including So Yuuki, the secretary general of the European Office and WSKO chief instructor Aosaka Hiroshi, WSKO instructor Satoh Kenji and his son Satoh Takuma, as well as the vice consul and culture attache of the Japanese Consulate General, Mr. Suzuki Yasuteru, and Dr. Bockold, representing the German Japanese Society for Augsburg and Swabia, had the opportunity to visit the city of Augsburg where they were formally welcomed into city hall.

A pair of kenshi even performed an embu there to welcome and honour the guests. With its centuries long tradition of the promotion of peace and social welfare Augsburg is the perfect place for the centre of Shorinji Kempo in Germany. This was made clear even more during the visit of the "Fuggerei", the oldest social settlement in existence in the world.

Training commenced on Saturday with almost 150 kenshi, many of them children, from six different countries, Switzerland, France, Italy, the UK and, of course, Germany and Japan.

The very high technical quality was ensured by WSKO instructors Aosaka Hiroshi (8. Dan), Satoh Kenji (8. Dan) and Walther Wunderle (6. Dan), president of DSKV. Among the highlights were a very instructive demonstration of the principle "kuzushi" (taking of balance) by Aosaka-sensei and an inspiring speech by So Yuuki.

All weekend long volunteer translators from amongst the kenshi helped ensure that everyone was able to follow the instructions.

In the afternoon a formal demonstration was held before a local audience including many dignitaries from the city of Koenigsbrunn and beyond to further the spread of Shorinji Kempo and its message of peace and social service.

It featured a variety of embus, including defence against knife attacks, a dantai embu with the traditional bo weapon, paired embus from both German and foreign kenshi as well as the traditional "charity kicks and punches".

Additionally the sums of 500 Euro each were donated to two local relief organisations, the Child Protection Agency Augsburg and the Aid Fund Koenigsbrunn.

Later that day a formal dinner gave opportunity to form new friendships and deepen old ones between kenshi from different dojos and countries. After all these years the relationships have become so deep that every year the training camps feel more like great family gatherings with kenshi from all ages training and having fun together.

On Sunday the formal training continued for the first half of the day. In the afternoon a group of kenshi including most of the instructors also travelled to the beautiful castle of Neuschwanstein and ended the very fulfilling weekend with a relaxed meal in a traditional restaurant.

It was felt that after thirty years the DSKV has become both deeply rooted in its local communities and fully appreciated by the international Shorinji Kempo community, signified by the visit of So Yuuki.

 

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