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Finding a master of the dark art of ninjutsu in modern westernized Japan seems as unlikely as finding an active practitioner of the magic of Merlin in contemporary industrialized England. Yet, incredibly enough, the art did survive through centuries of obscurity. The ways of the ninja were secretly perpetuated by a small group of quiet, concerned men, committed to the ideals of enlightenment set forth by their ancestors. In the mountain forests of Iga the knowledge survived down through the centuries, passed from the Togakure clan to the Toda family, then handed on to Toshitsugu Takamatsu. The young Toshitsugu was trained in what had been northern Iga by Togakure-ryu ninja of the Toda family, and later earned the name Mongolian Tiger while living and studying with the best of the boxing masters in China during the early 1900s. Master Takamatsu kept his ninja training a secret throughout his entire life. So thorough was the deception that when his neighbors read of his background in the obituaries in 1972, they were stunned.