Hi all. I've been wanting to study ninjutsu for a while and will be relocating to Devon in the very near future so have been looking into tuition there. I have found two places to train that would be within reasonable distance from where I will be living. My problem is I don't know what, or who, to look at to get the best from my training. One place I have found is kokido Ryu ninjutsu under sensei treanor. The other is the Plymouth ninjutsu academy. They are both equal distance from where I will be living so was just asking some insight if anyone could help me? Is anyone aware of either school? any help would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks. Sam
kokido ryu Is a martial art invented by its coach, the website has no real details on it, I would avoid it. The Plymouth site, has all its coaches and background listed, it is "real" bujinkan ninjutsu, and its coaches all seem to be what they say they are. If its a choice between these two, id definitely choose the plymouth bujinkan dojo.
Plus there are stolen photos on the Kokido Facebook site. One I know is of Bujinkan members at embu. I sent a message to Duncan Stewart since it is a photo of him.
It seems the site has gone from Facebook, Kokido ryu ninjutsu is not there anymore, I hope Duncan has been in touch with him
This has been spoken about here on MAP before so here the e mail I sent to find out more based on what he had on his social media at the time. This is dated the 15/03/16. Guess what? I didn't get a reply. "Dear Sir I recently came across your page and as a fellow practitioner of Ninpo/Ninjutsu myself I must say that what you posted raised a few questions. Now please I am in no way calling you a liar. lets get that out the way for a start, but you mentioned Toshitsugu Takamatsu on your page. Takamatsu of course was the teacher of one Dr Masaaki Hatsumi and I did not know that he trained any westerners. In fact this would be great news if he had because we would not have to go via the Japanese, and visits to Japan which of course many of us have, but instead could get it directly from the source. You also say that you were born in 1960 and with Takamatsu passing away in 1972 you must have been pretty young. That of course would be fantastic if a person so young had been taught martial arts via Toshitsugu Takamatsu. Now as I said I am not calling you a liar but i'm sure you appreciate that people do make spurious claims on the internet, and I am wondering if you have any proof by which we could verify your claims i.e. Photos of you and Takamatsu, grading certificates, photos of you at Takamatsu' house or even in Japan at a young age would be good as a start. I guess living in Japan at such a young age you must obviously speak fairly good Japanese. Now i'm sure that with any documentation you can give us, especially in relation to Takamatsu it will make Kokido Martial Arts the place to come to when it comes to Ninjutsu. I would certainly come to train if you are as you say you are a direct line student of Takamatsu sensei. In fact i'd probably bring my own club members, and i'm sure many would follow. Any help at all in providing any background and documentation to back up your claims would be excellent and once done we can talk about how we can go about getting you to teach the arts of Takamatsu to a wider audience. Your faithfully Gary Arthur
Sambee, You should be OK with the Plymouth guys, they train under Keith Porter. Steve Morgan is also in the Exeter area, anyone know if he is on here? Dave.
The Ninjutsu Academy of Plymouth is perfectly fine, and I say that as an actual student there for quite some time; may I ask what it is that you're looking for, exactly? If you want a friendly place to train, with friendly and helpful instructors, then the Academy is an excellent place. We've been established in Plymouth (as the site states) since the early 80's, moved venue quite a few times, and currently reside in the Brickfields Sports Centre. All I can say is, if you want to train, then get on down there for a couple of sessions and see for yourself. If you've any further questions, or worries, please feel free to PM me.