Last Updated on Saturday, 02 January 2010 21:23 Thursday, 02 December 2004 07:54

The Bushido Cross is awarded to Black Belt males in Zen Do Kai. We explain how and why this happens here.

The original Zen Do Kai cross was the square cross. It was modelled on the Finnish cross of bravery and was originally awarded by Soke Bob Jones to two of his protection services men, Dave Milne and Bill Sabotka. During the sixties, as his security firm grew, Soke awarded more of the crosses to his personnel. The early seventies saw Soke engrave the word 'Bushido' onto the cross. This translates literally as 'the way of the warrior'. Suddenly the cross took on a slightly new meaning. The Bushido Cross (as it is still known) was presented by Soke to his higher grade Zen Do Kai students as a symbol of protection of the junior Zen Do Kai brothers (students in the ranks). This instilled an unrivalled incentive for every new student to maximise his efforts to gain acceptance in "the new family of security". Still today, male Zen Do Kai practitioners train fiercely to earn the honour and privilege of being awarded the Bushido Cross.

The Cross of Liberty. This is the first Finnish decoration and was instituted on March 4th, 1918 (later it became the Order of the Cross of Liberty, Finland's premier award). It had been a suggestion of General Mannerheim to institute this cross to reward bravery for meritorious service during the Finnish War of Liberation.

Order of the White Rose. Instituted by Baron Mannerheim on January 28th, 1918. The White Rose could be awarded in war or peace to Finnish citizens or foreigners, for service to the nation of Finland. It could also be awarded for bravery in the field of battle.

Information on the Finnish Crosses courtesy of Micheal Shackelford and Images courtesy of Hendrik Meersschaert.