The Kage Dojo 

I feel that the style of Jizaikan is very well rounded. Our basic philosophy is that of going on the offensive as soon as possible. We do all types of striking, inside and outside as well as throws, locks, breaks, submissions, ground fighting, historical ninja and samurai weapons as well as modern day weapons training. I feel that we teach a lot more advanced techniques earlier in the curriculum than To-Shin Do does. I was a senior instructor for To-Shin Do and ran a Quest center for 3 years. The system of Jizaikan Aiki Ninjutsu teaches white belts and above how to throw and lock up your opponent with all of the techniques taught. It is dangerous to strike someone and throw them away so that they can get back up and come at you again. There are techniques in Aiki Ninjutsu that our students learn as yellow belts that To-Shin Do teaches as Sandan techniques.

I have found the aiki principles that have been added to the ninjutsu techniques make them even more effective with even less effort required to finish an attacker. I have always been a ninjutsu practitioner that used the least amount of force necessary to take control of a situation and that is how I received my warrior name of Jutoshi "Warrior of the supple or gentle blade" because I use correct form and taijutsu instead of strength and speed to win.

Do we compete? No we are not about competition. Competition actually is the opposite of what we train on because it is ego driven and we work on getting rid of our ego. If my students want to compete that is up to them. I actually have a student who was almost accepted to Pride before it was sold and disbanded. I was supposed to go and help out at the fight. I am not against MMA, I just don't see that as real warrior training. Fighters and warriors are different mentalities. I am a warrior and have never been interested in being a fighter. You can read an article on my opinions on this subject on my MySpace page.

When Dōshu Maienza created the Jizaikan he wanted to keep it traditional and have 9 kyu ranks. We figured that it would suit American students better to have the "rainbow belts" found in other popular martial arts. Our rank system goes White, Yellow, Orange, Purple, Blue, Green, Red, Brown, Brown w/black stripe and black. We have 10 degrees of dan ranks and 10th degree is actually a white belt with blue kanji and writing to symbolize making a full circle. At each Kyu level the student is working on a specific "secret" or skill set that they must internalize before they move on to the next level. There are 36 secrets in our system. 4 sets of 9. The first set is on doing strong and effective techniques. The second is on how to "destroy" an opponent. The third is on dealing with multiple attackers and the last 9 are on leading an empowered life. This is what Mr. Maienza has brought to Ninjutsu. These are the lessons he has learned from training with all of the Shihan in Ninjutsu and also his training in the other martial arts he has black belts in.

I don't have any ranking or official training in Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu so I can't say how much has been blended into the techniques. All I can say is that training with Mr. Maienza has taken my martial arts abilities to a level I never thought possible. We teach all of the Ninjutsu techniques from all of the Ryu Ha. At Shodan our students have to memorize and demonstrate the entire Koto Ryu Shoden scroll without looking at notes as well as the Kuki Shin Kuji No Bo katas. At each black belt level the students will study a different lineage and be responsible for internalizing the material.

The whole idea of Jizaikan is Honor, Integrity and Mastery. There are too many students in the other organizations that have been given belts and have not mastered anything. This is the reason that the Jizaikan was formed. I know that it might be a fantasy but wouldn't it be neat if when you saw someone with a black belt you knew that they deserved it?

We do not do any sport sparring. We do Randori though. We have designated attackers and defenders but we work up to real life situations such as being in a ground fight and the attacker pulls a knife or gun or has friends who jump in and start fighting.

Jizaikan Aiki Ninjutsu covers basic ground fighting techniques in the event a student finds themselves on the ground with a person they do not want to harm such as a friend or relative. If you are attacked by an unknown assailant, I would not recommend trying to submit them and play to their strengths. The statistic in the U.S. is that if a male is attacked it is usually 3 on 1. If you are on the ground trying to ground fight someone their 2 friends will be kicking and stomping you if not something worse like stabbing you. We teach to get up as soon as possible and do what you need to do to escape.