[3] Kawakami boasts no ninja bloodline of his own, but says he learned his art as a boy from a man named Masado (Masazo) Ishida, a medicine peddler claiming to be one of the last remaining ninjutsu practitioners alive.
According to Japan Times, "Kawakami has something most other ninja claimants do not — an earnest combination of humility and scholarship.
[5][6] His top student, Yasushi Kiyomoto, is the only one teaching from the Banke Shinobinoden group.
[7] Kiyomoto operates a dojo in Sagamihara-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture, but he no longer takes on new students.
[8] He told BBC News: "In the age of civil wars or during the Edo period, ninjas' abilities to spy and kill, or mix medicine may have been useful.