[4] Whilst at Keio, he began the study of karate under Funakoshi Gichin, the attributed father of modern-day karate-dō.

When Naruse heard that Saitō would be heading off to war, he had the blade of his most treasured katana fitted to the body of a military issued guntō.

[5] During his military service, he made regular visits to the dōjō of Miyawaki Tōru, master of Chuya-ha Itto-ryū and Shirai-ryū Shurikenjutsu.

Eventually, however, both Miyawaki and his Shizuoka-based dōjō fell victim to a strategic bombing campaign, which had been targeting the armament factories and airfields in Hamamatsu.

[6] During this period, Naruse Kanji had written to Saitō Satoshi and expressed his wish for him to succeed him as headmaster of both the Negishi-ryū and Yamamoto-ryū traditions.

[7] For seventy years, Saitō Satoshi had been a devoted researcher and collector of all things related to Japan’s militaristic past.

From 1997 until his death in 2014, he served as Chairman (会長) of the Nihon Kobudō Shinkōkai (日本古武道振興会), Japan’s oldest and most illustrious kobudo organisation (est.

On 16 March 2014, Saitō Satoshi attended a plum-blossom festival with one of his senior students, David Barber, head of the Kamakura branch.

A master of the Katori Shinkon-ryū, Matsubayashi Samanotsuke Nagayoshi, aka "Henyasai" (the bat), later founded his own school of sōgō bujutsu in 1644 and named it Ganritsu-ryū.

Due to their light weight and concealability, Lord Date insisted that women within his household be trained in the art, as a method of self-defense.

At her father's request, Takako passed the art on to Kaiho Hanpei, the official sword instructor for the Mito territory.

Used in conjunction with weapons, such as the sword and shubō, Shirai-ryū shurikenjutsu is a powerful and devastating system of traditional Japanese combat.

[11] During his lifetime, Saito Satoshi only accepted a small number of students, which he trained privately at his home dojo in Tokyo.