Each province had a shogun, or military commander, who had a team of advisors, and a military coordinator who oversaw each branch of the military, from long range weapons, to personal weapons to unarmed combat, these were called Soke of head of a clan, and they trained the samurai under them.
These "soke" or headfamilies (a clan was a family structure) oversaw a branch or military unit, some were into swords, others archery, spear, staff, others empty hands, and they issued ranks withing that unit or art.
But, because they were the highest possible position, they usuallly considered themselves "above rank" with the title as Soke or grandmaster as how they were adressed by others, although if desired, they could assume a rank in their system based on age, most did not do this, as it demeans their position of authority as the absolute head of the art or style..
However, they were never the head of the shogunate, they were overseen by the Shogun, his Yokiyori (advisors) and Gunshi (military coordinator) who made sure his training was evolving, and he followed the code of bushido.
Thats how a grandmaster was created in fuedal times, none created an isolated art, all were part of a military structure, thats why its called martial arts,( martial means military)
The age of the shogun and samurai are gone, but there remains at least three inheritors of the position of Gunshi, and with that position comes the authority to issue sokeships.
One of these remaining three is Gunshi Williams who inherited the arts of the Aizu, Minamoto and Takeda clans
As our sponsor, he uses this exact method to license grandmasters and issues ranks, licenses or titles
大東流合気柔術
All new sokes becomes the head of a DIVISION OF SAIGO HA DAITO RYU, under his/ her name and are added to the lineage and are above rank. (they can claim 10 th dan if they chose, but is not required) as you can see in this chart.
Say the new headmaster calls his system Kaido-ryu , the full name will be Saigo-Ha Daito Ryu Kaido-ryu, and will be registered as such.
Basic rules of ediquette will be followed by all shodai soke because this is a traditional martial art going back 1200 years.
Nobody will recieve ranks in Gunshi's system (Shintokai) unless they train under him and pass the testing because that is fraud.
Cross-grades or honrary ranks are also a form of fraud, so we don't issue them, nor do we accept them from the new founders or high ranking yudansha.
Shodai Sokes who break the basic rules will have their santioning revoked.
No other so-called Soke Board can offer the legitimacy and legality since there is no such thing as a Soke board, none have Asian protocol concerning head founders .
The largest soke board out there was created by a nidan who was refused sokeship status, so he created his own, which is bogus, and all the certs he issues are worthless, he was investigated, and refused santioning, so he set up a totally fake soke to arrain fake legitimacy.
The idea of a soke board is a western concept that started in the USA in the 1970's, it was the earliest form of rank swapping, then in 1976, a more realistic recognition or sanctioning method was attempted,but out of over 4000 applicants, less than 75 qualified by the most basic standards, so it disbanded a few years later .
