Mr. Garrido last replied to me on August 18th. Just after that reply, I emailed him back requesting that he answer two more questions for us:
1) What is Shimpo Sensei's first name?
2) How long did you study under Shimpo Sensei?
These should be no-brainer questions for him to answer.
On this email, I copied one of his students who has been offering assistance in answering our questions. Mr. Garrido has not answered either of these questions, and his student indicated that Mr. Garrido felt that he had answered enough questions.
The problem is that these two questions are very important questions, since Mr. Garrido's entire legitimacy to using the Daito ryu name is based on his shodan in Daito ryu. I understand that Shimpo Sensei has been to America several times for short trips in past years, and during the time that Yonezawa Sensei was in charge, it is possible that he might have awarded certificates to students during his visits. If this is the case here, then Mr. Garrido's claim is quite misleading, since the rank would in effect still be a "Yonezawa" rank (presented by a visiting senior instructor).
But in any event, even someone holding a legitimate shodan in an orthodox branch of Daito ryu would not have earned the right or permission to use the Daito ryu name and mon independently.
Mr. Garrido is even listing open seminar experience with Kondo Sensei as part of his Daito ryu credentials and legitimacy (which is very different from DR Kodokai anyway). Can a shodan level student (even assuming it was earned) really break off and teach/issue ranks under a classical art?
What is the story here?