Documents

Blank certificates for four grades — Okappiki, Komono, Dōshin and Yoriki — were created on 12 August 2009, the month the organization first appears online. The copies kept by the organization were received by e-mail from founder Don Cunningham in June 2012.Source D3Source D2 No certificate for the highest grade, Machi-bugyō, has been found.

Each certificate pairs the English rank with vertical kanji: the organization’s name, 江戸町形逮捕術, at the right, and the rank followed by 免状 (“licence”) at the left. The holder is “licensed to rank of” the grade “in recognition of the great progress made by diligent study of traditional Japanese arresting arts.”Source D3

Prospective members filled in a three-page petition. It asked for martial arts background and ranks held, membership of other organizations, any special expertise, three personal references, a statement of interest in traditional arresting arts, and a declaration about any conviction for a violent or sexual offence — which, the form noted, did not automatically exclude an applicant. Holders of yudansha rank attached a copy of their latest certificate.Source A22

The petition was sent by e-mail to the director or by post to a regional representative.Source A22Source A20 This describes a historical process. The form is not reproduced and is not in use.