Hello,

There is a Katori Shinto ryu dojo near where I live but I see some people saying they are led by a teacher that is not legitimate. There is alot to read on ebudo but it is all old so what is the new situation? I saw that the Sugino group has been rehabilitated now, but I also heard that before this one of his students had verbal permission from soke Izasa to teach in Norway even though the shihan didn't like this. Are there other teachers who have verbal permission, too? I would like to know if this teacher has some kind of relationship with him because it sounds like several people are teaching with Izasa's blessing and the hombu dojo doesn't mention them on their website or books. I'd also like to know if it would be official if I take the keppan with a different group. Does the keppan document go back to the soke?

I also have a question about ranking. I know they don't use the belt system. The main website shows many teachers with menkyo and shidosha. Is this the english for a teacher's license? The group that is local to me is led by someone with a teacher's license, but I don't know what that means compared to menkyo kaiden or mekyo kyoshi.

Regards,
Josh