Kengan Matches

The Kengan matches (拳願仕合, Kengan shiai) are a system implemented over 300 years before the events of Kengan Fanon that enables large corporations, organisations and businesses to settle conflicts and business deals by sending fighters to determine the victor in organised fights.

History
In Shotoku Year 5 (1715), in the darker recesses of the nation of Japan, there were bloody conflicts between the merchants as they all desired the status of Shogunate Purveyor (the highest rank among all merchant purveyors). With the merchants willing to go to any lengths to achieve the status, the increasingly violent conflicts spiralled out of the merchants' control until the intervention of 7th Shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Tokugawa Ietsugu. Summoning the merchants at the heart of the quarrel, Ietsugu told them to settle their conflicts by "battling it out fair and square".

Upon the Shogun's command, the merchants formed a guild and, whenever a dispute arose, they would establish a venue of competition through the guild with the results of the competition being indisputable. Conflicts were settled in a simple 1-on-1 fist fight between combatants hired by opposing merchants. As such, merchants entrusted their desires to the fists of fighters.

The first official Kengan match was not between merchants, but was actually to decide who would become the next Shogun after Tokugawa Ietsugu's early death. The two branch families, the Owari Fief and the Kii Fief, put forward their fighters and the Kii Fief came out victorious, with their fighter being none other than the Lord of Kii Fief, Tokugawa Yoshimune, himself.

The Matches
There are 1205 registered fighters in the Kengan matches with fighters having an average of 8½ matches a year. Because of how frequent and brutal the fights are, fighters retiring early or even dying are by no means rare. However, they are promised decent compensation in return.

Rules
There are a set of rules that keep the order of the Kengan matches including, but not limited to:


 * Any conflicts between corporations outside of official Kengan matches are strictly forbidden.
 * Use of weapons by fighters is considered cheating and results in a disqualification.

When Nogi Hideki assumed office as the new Chairman, he enforced a new rule regarding affiliated fighter safety:


 * Any corporation that causes a fighter to die will be banned from the Kengan matches for up to a year.
 * If the corporation sends in a fighter with overtly heavy injuries and that fighter dies, the corporation who sent in the injured fighter will be held responsible.
 * If the fighter kills the opponent after the ref has called the match or the opposing corporation has surrendered, the corporation who hired the murdering fighter will be held responsible.
 * In the case of "ring death", neither corporation is held responsible.

Kengan Association
The Kengan Association (拳願会, Kengankai) is made up of the managers of the Kengan matches. They all represent prestigious businesses and it is customary for members of the association to stand witness to the match results.To 'legally' become part of the Kengan Association, a person needs wealth and social standing in addition to the recognition of the Kengan Association. However, there are those who use the Kengan Association's authority to conduct unofficial matches with "membership" at stake, doing it for the money paid as the "challenger's fee". Despite the matches being unofficial, the referees are dispatched from the Kengan Association and the results of the match are absolute. The "challenger's fee" is ¥100 million.

Kengan Annihilation Tournament
When at least 50 members of the Kengan Association endorse it, a contest for the Kengan Association chairman's seat becomes eligible. In recent times, Nogi Hideki of the Nogi Group, gathered the required amount of endorsements, eliciting the chairman of the Kengan Association at the time, Katahara Metsudo, to create a Kengan Annihilation Tournament, an influential event that decided who became the next Kengan Association chairman.

Notes & Trivia

 * In the early days of the Kengan matches, the Kengan Association had a rule that members were only allowed one fighter in their employ.