Announcement
by the JKO President
Shihan Kenji Midori, June 2001
This is to
inform you that Yasuhiro Shichinohe, Okinawa Branch Chief and IKO President, and
Shigeru Tabata, Yamagata Branch Chief and JKO Board Member, have resigned from
our organization.
I will try to explain the reason for the resignation down below:
As explained before, Mr. Matsui has been trying to prevent Branch Chiefs and Dojo Operators in our organization to put advertisement in the NTT Telephone Directory. Mr. Shichinohe and Mr. Tabata have without any permission nor discussion with the JKO and the Board, been in touch with the group headed by Mr. Okada which also has filed a law suit regarding this matter against Mr. Matsui. Further on January 12th, Mr. Okadafs group held a press conference after which Mr. Hasegawa, Mr.Oishi, and Mr. Sakamoto resigned from our organization and, the names of Mr. Shichinohe and Mr. Tabata were on documents forming an organization with the above people. As the President of our Organization, I had several discussions with these two, explaining that Mr. Okada and his group has been gathering the people that resigned from our organization, Mr. Hasegawa, Mr. Oishi, Mr. Sakamoto, Mr. Miwa, Mr. Kuwashima, in order to use their names in this courtcase. But those people left our organization, thus it showed their determination not to cooperate with us, it is therefore not proper to cooperate with that side in this matter. It is also impossible to work on two sides, since our organization also has been signing a petition to the court regarding this matter. Not only myself, but other people in our organization have been trying to convince and discuss with Mr. Shichinohe and Mr. Tabata for some time, but unfortunately they didnft understand this issue. They both neglected my opinion and signed the petition submitted to the court by Mr. Okada and his group, included Mr. Sakamoto, Mr. Miwa etc. And at the JKO extra General Assembly Meeting, held on April 25th, Mr. Shichinohe explained that he wants to continue to work with the Okada group, and that he wants to resign from our organization.
At present our organization has also signed a petition to the court in the above matter, in order to protect our rights, and the purpose is to protect the right for all members of the organizations, and as to the court cases against Matsui, we are at the moment in a very critical and important stage. It is therefore extremely disappointing that these two have neglected the organization, and acted by themselves in this way.
I think that I have mentioned before, that as an organization, we have to work together and think of what is best for the organization, however, it is sad to see that too many of our members put themselves in the first place and the organization in the second. If we work together we will be strong, but when you start to get afraid, and listen too much to other people around you, it is easy to start to doubt what is the right way. This time, two Branch Chiefs, who were both appointed Branch Chiefs by Sosai Oyama started to doubt and felt they would be safer working with the Okada group, in order to protect their rights. However, as announced in this Newsletter, the Branch Chiefs in our organization who were appointed by Sosai Oyama have secured their rights to advertise in the NTT Directory. We are all trying to run an organization, but before this we are Budo-Kas, and if we are following the true Budo Way, we must learn to be patient, to trust those close to us, and to put the ego in the second place.
Mr. Shichinohe also kept the position of IKO President, he was the leader of our World Organization, and the World Cup is Scheduled to June 23rd, at which the IKO General Assembly also will be held, and of course the President is the person to be in charge of this event. Members throughout the world has been trusting him, counting on him, and expecting him to be one to guide our organization to the right direction. I understand very well that our members feel like they have been cheated on, and I donft know how to apologize for this, since the sincere policy of our organization is to work together and trust each other. Further, two of the competitors in the Japanese World Cup team are members of Shihnohefs dojo. As to Mr. Tabata, he had the important post in the organization as Board Member (JKO). It is impossible to understand how two people with important positions within the organization can act in this way, without even any consideration to the organization.
Because of the reasons explained above, our organization, JKO will not leave this matter only by accepting the resignation of these two, but at the JKO General Assembly scheduled to July 9th, we will also discuss some kind of official penalty on them, based on our Regulations.
As to the competitors who will represent Japan at the World Cup, two from Shichinohefs dojo and one from Sakamotofs dojo, the Board has decided to only this time accept the participation of these competitors since at the time they were selected as participants for the 2nd World Cup in June 2000 Mr. Shichinohe and Mr. Sakamoto were branch chiefs officially registered in our organization and also I and every one of our organization know that those competitors obtained their rights to compete in the 2nd World Cup as members of the Japanese team through their own efforts. I also like to emphasize that all of us will not oppose such their rights and will support their participation in the 2nd World Cup.
Lastly, as the President of JKO, I would like to extend my deep apologies and I regret very much that we have to see these two people leave our organization, but I believe at the same time, that we are still moving in a positive direction, and that our work for a strong and stable organization will still continue, and I promise you that our organizations not only JKO but also IKO intend to continue to work openly, with free communication and collaboration, according to the policy stated by our members.
I look forward to seeing you all in Budapest!