Togakure Ryu Ninjutsu

Ninjutsu did not come in to being a specific well defined art in the first place, and many centuries passed before Ninjutsu was established as an independent system of knowledge in its own right. The Ninja at the beginning did not use that label for themselves; they were merely practitioners of strategies that were cultural opposites of the conventional outlooks of the ruling Japanese Samurai Class. Their highly illegal counter culture went underground and it was for this reason alone that the art was shrouded by centuries of mystery and deliberate confusion in Japanese history.

In AD 637 En no Gyoja, a warrior monk, set up his Shugendo Dojo in the Togakure Mountains. This following carried on for a further 500 years. Daisuke Nishina was born into this sect in 1165. In 1181 the Shugendo warriors were crushed by Heike Troops and Daisuke Nishina was forced to flee south to Iga Province. Here he met a mystic warrior priest, Kain Doshi. He studied this mysticism and adapted it to his own Shugendo learning. As a commemoration of his rebirth, he changed his name to Daisuke Togakure and with this Togakure Ryu was born.

Because of their split society, the Ninja families adapted a highly professional form of self defense for survival and this professionalism was used during the 13th to 16th Centuries in the civil struggles of the Japanese Warlords. They were classed as masters of all undercover strategies and over 200 families operated as spies and agents.

When peace came to Japan the Meiji Restoration of 1868 saw the old warrior skills, such as Ninjutsu as barbaric and all martial arts were stripped of warrior significance and were transformed into sports or personal development exercise systems. The art of Ninjutsu nearly died completely due to this, but thanks to the teachings of the Togakure Ryu being passed down to Toshitsuga Takamatsu (1895-1972) the Ninja warrior system was reborn to what it is today. After his training Takamatsu went on to be the 33rd Soke (Grandmaster) of the last remaining Ninja Family.

Masaaki Hatsumi (1931-present day) traveled across Japan to train under Takamatsu. After several years Hatsumi was the last remaining student and Takamatsu passed down the secret lores of the Ryu, and therefore became the 34th Soke and is head of the family today.

What was once condemned as underground assassins technique, is today more recognized as a positive and powerful way of life in which harmony with nature, a working knowledge of universal laws and intuitive realization of where the future is headed and learned through the experience of the Warrior Ways.