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Why Certification?

 

  Today,the martial arts are big business for many people.  There isn't a major city in the world today, that does not have one of more martial art schools.

 

  But, with that, comes competition, and with competition, comes fraud, and nowhere is that more centered, than in the ranks or titles claimed by these phoney instructors.

 

  The is no law preventing this, although there are efforts through the various bettter business bureaus worldwide, to challenged the exagerated claims on the grounds of fraud.

 

  The International Martial Arts Licencing Board was created to counter this wide-spread illegal misrepresenrtation by doing credential verifications and issueing board approved licensing for successful applicants,

 

 

Grandmasters & Soke Boards explained !

 

 

   There are very few martial artists who have the lineage to award the title of grandmaster, regardless of the hundreds of so called soke boards or headfounders boards out there.

   There are many persons from China for the chinese arts that can sanction new founders, but there are only three known with that authority for the arts from Japan, and The International Martial Arts Licensing Board is indeed fortunate to have been sponsored by one of the legitimate such person for Japanese arts, one of those persons with that qualifications.

  It should be pointed out that there was never a Soke or Sigung BOARD in the martial arts, because you cannot award ranks you dont have yet. All these Soke boards are made up of first generation founders, and a first generation founder is not yet a grandmaster of a developed art, he/ she is the creator of a developing system, one that will only be complete when he/ she dies, then it will have a history and the begining of the lineage for that unique art, so its impossible for them to sanction each other.. remember if a person inherits an established art, but the art was never sanctioned by the original creator, its not valid,and  then that person cannot issue 10th dan ranks of sponsor another first generation founder, and, being a movie star, a champion competitor, does not qualify you to create a new art, nor can anyone be a soke of more than one art !

  We didn't just enlist one of the many claiming to have that authority without first doing a thorough investigation, and that included research into how that process was carried out in Asia, and to do this we interacted with many people who were high into the martial arts.

  We found that it might be hard to use a person authorized through the chinese arts because most who wanted to start their own style prefered japanese things like the belt system, the gis or komono, and that language, so, we confered with people with ties to Japan to find out the best eway to do that process.

  Initiallly, after the late 1800's, all grandmasters from Japan went through the Dai Nippon Butokukai and the ministry of education, and bodies like the FAJKO or Kodokan, and everyone knew who was what.

  But, through a lawyer who was really into the martial arts, we were told about the traditional way grandmasters were selected,and it was through military commanders and advisrs to the Shogun as military leaders, like generals in the modern military today, a commander oversaw various weapons divisions as well as infantry trainees,and he said that, there were still a few who follow that method today.

  It turns out there were exactly three of these bodies in existance,two headed by Japanese, and one by a Canadian. And we approached sources close to both these Japanese bodies, but neighter wanted to be involved in our efforts at creating a board to standardize the awarding of grandmasters status, noting that several prominent Japanese masters are now selling rank and titles, and there was much bad publicity about it in their higher circles.

   The Canadian, at 74, was semi-retired, and wasn't sure of such a venture due to earliar negative experiences with a group in california who were using his name for fraud,this fraulent group (AJJAF) were asked to remove all references to him from their website, but they refused, and many associete his group with that body today,

   After deliberations, he agreed to act as the sponsor, but under very firm commitments from those to whom he issues licenses and titles, to structure their proposed style in a proper manner and follow basic rules that will protect his integrity.

 

   Anyone can say they are a Soke, Sigung or Iemoto, and nobody can stop them ! Sadly. 99% who use these titles are frauds, not only in North America, but worldwide, a tip of this can be seen the belt they wear: A legitimate headmaster will wear and ordinary white or red belt, no stripes, maybe their name or style in kanji on one end of belt, and the belt will not go down to their knees, yet another clue is the gi they wear, if covered in crersts, its hardly going to be legitimate, and if they wear a hakama, the belt will be on the outside if they are bogus, and there is a reason for that : Real grandmasters are creating a new style, its in the building stages, its not going to be a style until they die or are too ill to oversee it, so they should drop the ego, nothing was created yet, and they should be drawing attention to the traditional art that is sponcering them, and the art they are creating, not to the one creating it............humility is the sign of a true master or grandmaster.

 

 

   Gunshi Williams has a very diverse martial arts background, he hold high ranks in jujitsu and karate, he holds rank in judo, and took seminars in bjj, kung fu, kickboxing, boxing, jujitsu, aikido, mma, and many more systems, he has competed in most of these systems, so, he could start  a new style based on his own experiences, instead he teaches the style he inherited and promotes that style and not himself..So, all Sokes are expected to stress that their legitimacy is by being a Soke of division of Saigo Ha Daito-Ryu Aiki Bujutsu, not a student of Gunshi Williams, nor holding rank in the main style of Saigo Ha Daito-Ryu Aiki Bujutsu which is known as Shinto-Ryu Aiki Bujutsu that Gunshi Williams teaches.....