Saito Ninjitsu

Grand Master Maui Saito was born and raised in Hawaii.  His full name is Maui Kekoaali’iokalanikuikala’akea Hans Christopher Saito (Master Maui K.H.C. Saito), reflecting his broad lineage.

He is the Soke (Head) of Saito Ninjitsu (Saito Bloodline Ninjitsu), and Saito Ninjitsu International, and his local business name is also reflected as Maui Saito Ninjitsu. 

He has taught in the USA from the East to the West Coast, Canada, Europe and the Orient.  Along with teaching adults, teens, and children, he has taught in prisons, the peaceful side of the Saito Ninjitsu Art, and worked with several law enforcement agencies, sheriffs departments and security/personal private body guards, and produced instructional video DVDs. He has called Scottsdale, Arizona, his home since 2006. 

“This Art was a Gift taught to me by my father, [Great] Grand Master Mark K. Saito Sr., [10th Degree Black Belt & 8th Level Ninjitsu Mastery]. He was a Ninjitsu Master of 8 times the 40 separate Arts of Japan. [Each level of Ninjitsu Mastery equals black belt levels in 40 separate arts of Japan.] He was the highest ranking Grand Master of Saito Ninjitsu Mastery." - Grand Master Maui Saito

Grand Master Maui Saito studied directly with his father, the Great Grand Master Mark Kahalepaiwi Saito (Mark Sr.), longer than any other student of the late great grand master - side-by-side, in depth, and fully committed, for 36 years, reaching full mastery in the art.  His father promoted him to 6th Degree Ninjitsu Master, the highest rank he has ever given.

He studied Aikido, Judo and Jujitsu at a very young age, and at fifteen he was able to begin his strict study of Saito Ninjitsu under the careful tutelage of his father.

"During the summer that marked the beginning of my study, a light had gone on for me.  Being raised in Hawaii, I surfed most of my childhood...  There was nothing like it in the world; the deep blue sea, big waves, and a thrill seeking ride that would take my breath away.  I always felt as if Mother Earth was holding me in the palms of her hands with her wind in my face.  There was my spirit in mother nature’s arms and a God force guiding the way.  Even my wipe-outs were incredible!  God always brought me to the surface for my next much needed breath of air.  When I started training with my father, it was the same feeling.  It was the breath of life-giving air, and it was the source of connection to life’s eternal force.  It was the same spirituality and power unlocked and in it’s greatest magnitude.

"It was 1972 when I went to California and started training with my father. I spent 8 to 10 hours a day at the Dojo, 5 to 6 days a week. This was my choice, I did not have to do this. I studied and practiced every bit of the family Art. This lasted 3 months then I was back in Hawaii as a sophomore in high school. I noticed a change in myself and so did all of my friends. My confidence had gone up quite a bit. I learned how to protect myself; I learned self-defense. An internal shift had occurred and a doorway had opened. My confidence was rooted and I could reach farther than I ever had before. I went back to California and studied with my father the following summer. It was great! I got to study Martial Arts 8 to 10 hours a day. My Senior year in High School my academics went up to almost straight A’s, a first for me! After I graduated in Hawaii, it was straight back to California to my father’s Dojo to earn my Black Belt.

"I trained for many years under my father, bouncing back and forth from Hawaii to California. I went to visit other Dojos and even studied a few Arts under different Senseis. I kept my mouth shut, went in as a white belt and learned huge differences between what my father taught me and what others had to offer. There was no comparison. After 13 years of training and teaching, in 1985, I found myself to be very powerful and very good at fighting. At that time I realized an imbalance existed, that went something like this… I knew the next time I got into a fight, I would hit him, he would fall to the ground, he would not get up and I would spend the rest of my life in jail. Wow, something was not right. At that time I put down my weapons and stopped teaching. Wouldn’t you know it, as life unfolds it’s mysteries to us, the next year I found myself back in California training under my father.

Great Grand Master Mark K. Saito, Sr. teaching in the "dungeon" above

"In 1986 my father took a handful of students and taught the Philosophy and the Spiritual aspects of our Family Art, which was taught to him in secrecy by his grandfather Hanshichi Saito. He had never before taught at this high a level. I was very fortunate to be invited to this particular class. My father expressed patience. He expressed the willingness to believe. There were large pieces of paper taped to the wall stretched out across the room. He lectured philosophy and spirit as he wrote on the walls from one end of the room to the other. Back and forth tying everything together. He revealed moves to us in some of the dances we learned that he had never shown us before. We trained and practiced at a different level. He taught more self defense and fighting. Every night he had taken all the Martial Arts he had taught over the years and tied it all together with the Philosophy that was passed to him from his grandfather. His words were, "This is the magic!  This is what’s missing in all the other Arts. This is what the others have been dying to learn. This is not written, nor is it taught anywhere in the world.”

The level my father taught me at that time is far superior than anything else out there. It has taken me years to comprehend and develop these skills at a much higher level, to understand the philosophy. It has taken me years to understand it well enough to teach it. I’ve taught for many years in Hawaii and California. I’ve even taught at the Master’s Dojo nicknanmed “The Dungeon”. There was a lot of blood, sweat and tears in our training days. This gave me a great foundation. The philosophy he taught me in 1986 was invaluable. I spent the first 13 years of my training learning how to take a person apart and got very good at it. I spent the next 22 years learning how to put that same person back together. That has brought me forward to this day."

- Grand Master Maui Saito

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the art as it was meant to be

Upon promoting his son, Grand Master Maui Saito, to 6th Degree Ninjitsu Master at the time, the highest rank he has ever given.  His father, Great Grand Master Mark K. Saito, left his son the task of organizing and correcting the Saito Family Bloodline Art, so that it would be ensured that in the future the art would be correctly taught in its full form.

Following are some excerpts from a letter about the issue written by Grand Master Maui Saito.

"For those that wish to take this Art into the future, who have not been correctly and officially ranked by my father or myself, I am here to help you progress."

"If you have studied our Saito Ninjitsu Family Art and have felt it’s true magic and power, called the gift, then it will resonate with the same vibration that is within your spirit. This is the Saito Ninjitsu that my father has shared with the world.  Many pieces to the magic of the Art are missing [from unauthorized instruction] and no longer exist as my father has mentioned to me in numerous conversations. He repeated, “There are pieces missing, very important pieces.  Some of it looks similar but it is not the same Saito Ninjitsu that I taught. And some of it, I don’t even recognize.”

"We both agreed [on a new dojo name] so future students would know the difference of which Ninjitsu they are studying and which contained the true magic.  At this point, I wish you could have seen how happy my father was; he called me 8 times that day because he knew that the Art was going to get fixed."

"If you wish to take our Saito Ninjitsu Family Art into the future I ask that you follow the way my father approved of me teaching our Saito Family Art.  It will contain all that my father has taught.  It will be numbered, filmed and documented in DVD form so the original pieces of our Saito Family Art remain intact.  It is also designed as a dictionary or training and teaching guide for the future.  This will help keep the Art intact and will help keep it from getting diluted again in the future. 10 years, 100 years and 1000 years from today, the Art can remain the same."

"This Art requires people of high integrity, and of good character."

"It is of great importance to this school and to the Saito Family to maintain an intimacy comparable to that of an undivided and loving family."

"I will teach everything my father has taught me including the higher spiritual part of the Art, the real Saito Ninjitsu Mastery.  For those of you that reach the level of Mastery (10th degree Black belt or higher), I will share and teach from the 21 Masters Scrolls that my father taught and left with me in safe keeping."

"We are committed to our mission to promote and ensure the preservation of the Saito Bloodline Ninjitsu Art and it’s full Mastery as it has been taught and handed down for thousands of years in its complete, original, and authentic form."

"I look forward to the future that will bring the ancient secret teachings of a way of life with its power and wisdom to the world."

Grand Master Maui K.H.C. Saito
The Head Soke Council of Maui Saito Ninjitsu & Saito Bloodline Ninjitsu
Saito Ninjitsu International

certified instructors

certified black belt instructors &
approved saito ninjitsu martial artists

Certified to teach Saito Ninjitsu at their Dojo’s and have successfully completed the Saito Bloodline Ninjistu – Level 1 Training or Higher.  These are Martial Artists and Sensei’s (instructors) that are currently teaching Saito Ninjitsu either in part or in whole.

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