25/6/05  Congratulations!

News has been received from Japan Hombu dojo that as from May 30th 2005 Sensie Holland has been awarded the title of Shihan. We, the members of the SAF, are extremely proud to hear of this news and look forward to an invitation to reading  "Matthew Holland Shihan 6th Dan", on his Certificate of Appointment which he has now received from Japan.

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Japan Consulate in Edinburgh

Shuhei Takahashi - Consul General and Mrs Takahashi in their home with Sensei Matthew Holland 6th Dan and Alan McKay 4th Dan. The occasion was was part of   "2005 EU-Japan Year of People to People Exchanges" .    Here follows part of Mr Takahashi's   recent comments:

Almost 3 months have passed since I came to Edinburgh, and I feel I am very fortunate to work in this beautiful city and help promote relations between Japan and Scotland.

Historically, there are many links between Japan and Scotland. Japanese engineering finds many of its roots in Scotland. Thomas Blake Glover from Aberdeenshire is the most famous Scottish person in Japan and is well known as the founding father of Japanese modernisation, as he commissioned warships for the Japanese navy, introduced the first railway locomotive and helped establish the economic giant Mitsubishi. Also greatly influential, was Professor Henry Dyer of Glasgow University, who was the first Principal of what is now the University of Tokyo in 1872 at the tender age of 24 years old. Through his position, he helped introduce engineering to Japan in the late 19^th century and in fact, one of his students named Kaichi Watanabe later studied at Glasgow University and then helped with the design and development of the 8^th Wonder of the World, the Forth Rail Bridge.

It is easy to measure the concrete ways in which the Scots helped the Japanese to modernise. However, it is less easy to measure how the friendships among them helped achieve modernisation. It is my firm belief that, more than anything else, the friendships and the network of "Scottish" connections that have been developed between Scots and Japanese are most invaluable assets for us and it is our duty to hand them down to the next generation.

These historical connections and friendships are going to be highlighted next year in a much wider context as Japan and the European Union have designated the year 2005 as the EU-Japan Year of People-to-People Exchanges. The aim of the Year is to establish true person-to-person and cross cultural contacts and exchanges between people in Japan and the UK and especially Scotland. Many events will take place next year including Japanese dance performances and Japanese Noh theatre productions. It would however, be wonderful to see yet more events planned for next year, events which I hope will further strengthen and deepen our relations through mutual understanding and respect on a more sustainable basis.

 New Yudansha. E Kearney. San Dan. H Roberston.Nidan. R Gaffney.Shodan. J Osborne. Shodan. J Krokowski. Shodan