Takamatsu Toshitsugu The Last Shinobi Book by Wolfgang Ettig

Takamatsu Toshitsugu, the last shinobi, deeply influenced the modern budo world. He united in one single person a number of historical martial art systems and took these from Japanese medieval times into modern age.

-Born in 1889, in an era when the whole of Japan hastily orientated itself by the newly discovered Western culture.

-Grown up under the care of his beloved grandmother Nao and the influence of his draconian father Gishin.

-Trained under the severe supervision of his grandfather Toda Shinryuken, to whom he owed his stamina and tenacity.

-He spent many years on dangerous journeys in the vastness of Mongolia and China.

-He was friends with a man who was to hand down Takamatsu's thoughts and teachings from Japan to the whole world after his death in 1972: Hatsumi Masaaki.

-Competing with Fujita Seiko, the last Koga Ninha, whose own biography has astonishing parallels and a lot in common with Takamatsu Toshitsugu's biography.

This book does not only describe the eventful life of two restless men, but also delivers fascinating insights into the historical backgrounds of Japan on the threshold from medieval to modern times.

Wolfgang Ettig is considered to be the founder of ninjutsu in Germany. Besides judo, goshinjutsu, aikido, and various other Asian martial arts, he has mainly been studying Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu under Bo F. Munthe (Sweden) and numerous famous teachers in Japan, the USA, and Europe for 25 years. Since the seventies he is a well-known freelance and author.