I begun studying martial arts at the age of 15, studying simultaneously Aikido (under the senior Japanese European Masters of that time, and being ranked 4th dan) and Karate under Hiroshi Shirai Sensei who ranked me 1st dan. I then studied Kendo for 5 years reaching 1st dan. I subsequently begun regular training in Japan over long periods in Abashiri, Hokkaido at the dojo of the Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu, as an uchi-deshi of the late Soke Takeda Tokimune. After I have studied with the best elderly students of Tokimune: Sano, Kato and Arisawa Shihan. I had the privilege to be taught the original techniques exactly as they had been taught for centuries in the Takeda clan. In Abashiri I have received the qualification of Shihan.