To-Shin Do

To-Shin Do is a martial art style established by Stephen K. Hayes as a means of teaching ninjutsu (or taijutsu) in a format more accessible to American audiences. It is now practised in other countries including the U.K.,Belgium, and Italy. His prior organizations, the Shadows of Iga Ninja Society, and the Nine Gates Institute, relied more on the Bujinkan's methods of instruction. To-Shin Do was founded with the aim of blending classical martial arts techniques taught with more modern educational methods and techniques, classic weapons can also be learned in to-shin do.

Lineage

To-Shin Do encompasses the nine schools that are part of the Bujinkan organization:
*Togakure Ryu
*Koto Ryu
*Gyokko Ryu
*Kukishinden Ryu
*Takagi Yoshin Ryu
*Shinden Fudo Ryu
*Gyokushin Ryu
*Gikan Ryu
*Kumogakure Ryu

History

To-Shin Do was founded in 1996 as the curriculum for the HGI Quest Centers, a corporation founded by Hayes, along with business developer Bill Poett and Joseph Koenig. A couple of years later, Poett's role in the corporation decreased, and the business was renamed SKH Quest, Inc.

In 2003, Tom Maienza took over the business development role, and SKH Quest began to offer distance learning systems via DVD, along with the original concept of Quest Center martial arts franchises. Along with the To-Shin Do goshin taijutsu modern self defense, SKH Quest has started issuing classical rank cert in To-Shin Do Kasumi-An classical warrior arts training.

Ranks

To-Shin Do has a number of different belt ranks corresponding roughly to the former Marishi-Kai belt system above the rank of black belt, with a new, more differentiated ranking system below the rank of black belt. Ranks are based on the "go-dai" elemental system, historically used as a counting system in Japan.

Earth (Chi)

*White
*Yellow
*Yellow/black stripe

Water (Sui)

*Blue/white stripe
*Blue
*Blue/black stripe

Fire (Ka)

*Red/white stipe
*Red
*Red/black stripe

Wind (Fu)

*Green/white stripe
*Green
*Green/black stripe

Void (Ku)

*Brown/white stripe
*Brown
*Brown/black stripe

Black Belt Ranks

*Black - shodan 1st degree student
*Black - nidan 2nd degree student
*Black/red stripe - sandan 3rd degree student
*Black/red stripe - yondan 4th degree student
*Black/silver stripe - godan 5th degree student
*Black/silver stripe - rokudan 6th degree student
*Black/bronze stripe - nanadan 7th degree student
*Black/bronze stripe - hachidan 8th degree student
*Black/gold stripe - kyudan 9th degree student
*Gold - judan 10th degree student

Related Martial Arts

*Bujinkan (Masaaki Hatsumi)
*Genbukan (Shoto Tanemura)
*Jinenkan (Fumio Manaka)

External links

* [http://www.Skhquest.com/ To-Shin Do Homepage]
* [http://www.theQuestList.com/ To-Shin Do discussion list]
* [http://www.skhquest.com/forum To-Shin Do forum]

References