European Shintaido Milestones 

Milestones in European Shintaido

The European Shintaido College (ESC) was formally set up as a membership organisation in 2004. It was set up in response to a widely-felt need to better coordinate the activities of shintaido groups across Europe. The initiative to do this largely came from the French group, so many of the early meetings (known as Forums) were held in France. Later meetings were also held in the UK, Italy and the Czech Republic. These events quickly took on an international flavour and began attracting visitors from all over the world. 

ESC Forum Events

The idea behind the early Forum events was simple: each shintaido instructor, no matter what their rank or status, would pay a small fee to attend the event. This fee was to cover board and lodging only. Once at the event any instructor could propose a theme for a keiko (practice session), schediule and teach it. Some instructors, usually those with a higher rank, charged a fee for people to attend, while others offered their keiko free of charge. In this way each participant could choose which keiko to attend on each day from a wide range available. 

These events were very successful and gathered instructors from all over Europe. Over time, these instructors got to know each other better and began to forge their own international links.

The Fall High Events

After some years the Forum events gradually gave way to more traditional events, called Fall High meetings. These took place every autumn. The most senior instructors (known as Doshu) were booked to lead the event and directed all the keiko. This change happened because many instructors asked for this style of direct teaching. It was also felt easier to open such events to aspiring shintaido instructors (known as assistants) for whom the Forum events were sometimes a bit overwhelming and confusing. 

Shintaido Exams

Central to both styles of event is the examination system. These take place at both Forum and Fall High events and represent an opportunity for each shintaido instructor to advance their own grading in any of the four subjects studied in the shintaido system: kenjutsu, bojutsu and karate, as well as the core shintaido curriculum. By holding these exams at the European level it is easier to ensure that exams all over Europe are held to the same exacting standards. 

Structural Changes

For many years all ESC events were run by a group of senior instructors known as the European Technical Committee (ETC) in conjuction with volunteers from the national groups who hosted them.  They were supported by an elected Chair (who ran General Member Meetings at the annual events) and an Hon. Treasurer (who kept track of accounts). Each shinatido Instrcutor in Europe was expected to join the organsiation and pay a small annual fee, usually in addition to their own national organsiation. 

At the 2021 online meeting it was decided to do away with this informal membership system and instead  set up ESC as a federation, with a Board of Directors to manage ongoing activities. Each national group in Europe became a member of ESC (rather than each instructor) appointing one Board  member and agreeing to contribute financially to the organisation. More about this Board is here. The hope is that, by taking over the running of ESC, the Board can free up time for the ETC group of senior instructors to focus on refining and running the Shintaido exam system. 

Milestone Events

Below you will find a timeline of all the Forum and Fall High events which have taken place to date, as well as the quadrennial International shintaido events which have taken place every four years since shintaido began to spread around the globe in the 1980s.