Originally Posted by
Goatlemon
...one of the top martial arts on my list is Hayashi-ha Shito Ryu Kai Karate, under a Rokudan.
Go for it! It's a major style with a huge following worldwide. Grading standards for instructors are high, and the well-developed syllabus means that instruction is pretty well standardized among different dojo.
The major methods you'll learn will be taisabaki (body movement/footwork), raka (hard blocks/strikes), ryusui (soft blocks/deflections), and kushin (advanced body shifting/springing).
There are many, MANY kata in the system, providing a lifetime of challenges.
(Are you thinking of training under Beng Soon Koh Shihan?)
Originally Posted by
Goatlemon
......I am very uninterested in competition...
Hayashi Sensei thought tournaments, properly used, were a good teaching tool as well as a way to promote the art to the public. While you probably won't be pushed to compete -- at least in the early stages -- you will probably be encouraged to do so at some point.
Originally Posted by
Goatlemon
...Also, the person in question seems to teach Okinawan weapons in his class, although I think only in the higher levels. Is this normal in Karate, let alone Shito Ryu?
In addition to being a shihan (master teacher) of two karate systems (Hayashi-ha Shito Ryu, and Goju Ryu Hayashi Kai), Hayashi Teruo was also Soke of Kenshin Ryu, a Ryukyu Kobudo system. The full spectrum of weapons in Kenshin Ryu includes bo, nunchaku, sai, kama, tenbe, etc. Bo, tonfa, sai, & nunchaku were almost universally practiced by the brown belt and black belt students I knew, although the other weapons were more rare.
I started training in bo as a white belt, and nunchaku as an orange belt (although most students in my dojo were not allowed to start so soon), and virtually all students at that dojo were training at least in bo by the time they were purple belts. Weapons training in karate, like in Aikido, adds an extra dimension that can help to uncover weaknesses and reveal strengths in your empty-hand technique.
Most of the Shito Ryu branches (Hayashi-ha, Motobu-ha, etc.) have kobudo within their curriculum, and many of the Shito Ryu masters trained under the same Kobudo master; Shinken Taira.
Originally Posted by
Goatlemon
......does anyone know of the sparring in the Hayashi-ha style? For example, is there sparring, and what level of contact is there generally?
This may have changed since I practiced the art 20 years ago, but at my dojo there was no face contact and only light body contact allowed at white and orange belt level, no face contact and moderate body contact at purple and green belt, and light contact to the face and moderate contact to the body at brown belt. Full contact was not allowed; we used the makiwara and heavy bag for that. (Of course, one person's definition of "moderate" may not be the same as another's. That's why ma-ai, taisabaki, and uke waza are important.) [Note: belt colors associated with each kyu vary from place to place.]
Originally Posted by
Goatlemon
...Another question, is there a Hombu dojo for Hayashi-ha Shito Ryu Kai, and a current head of the style? (One thing I did find in my research was that Hayashi Teruo has unfortunatly passed on.)
Yes, he died in 2004. I only met him once, in 1990, but it was a huge honor. He was 8th Dan then, and was promoted to 9th Dan a few years later.
Having been away from the organization for many years, I don't know about the current head of the system.
HTH.
Yours in Budo,
---Brian---
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How did you guess that? And how does someone from the USA know a teacher in a relatively small town in Australia? And of course, is he any good? 
