As for his lineage, it's never discussed at the school and questions about are deflected and not answered. I have been to Grove's house and he openly displays photos of him with Anshu Hayes and Soke, but now I realize that those could have been from nearly any event. I also have three of the training manuals he gave to students, as well as a two others that were before I started training with the group. Each manual has a slightly different history of how the art was founded. Since I am currently at my office, I do not have access to them, but if can summarize it later tonight or tomorrow.
Another comment that should be pointed out is that when I first started the school had divisions to the students. The guys in white gis were "samurai" and the black gis were "ninja." The "samurai" guys learned mainly swordwork, while the "ninjas" learned primarily unarmed. Later a third division, "kunoichi", was added and they dressed in blue gis. About two years before I left everyone was sort of stuffed back into the "ninja" group and the multi-colored gis went away.
The style is best described as eclectic. There are the standard joint locks (Omote Gyaku, etc) that I learned again at the Budo Taijutsu school I was at for a while, as well as throws and strikes. The strikes, especially the kicks, are more similar to what I have seen in a karate or Tae Kwo Do school. Everything in the unarmed section of the syllabus is aligned along elemental paths--Earth was strength/stability, Water was mobility, Fire was aggression, Wind was evasion, and Void represented adaptability. From a movement point, Earth stood still, Water moved to the 45 degree angles, Fire moved forward, and Wind spun around in a circle.
The school is also heavy into acrobatics and weapons, most likely because of Grove's movie background. He teaches what he calls four basic weapons, which are hanbo, kusarifundo, throwing spikes, and tanto. Everyone also learns a sword "style" which are based on the type of sword you are using. The three swords he really teaches are katana (and also twin katana), shinobigatana (a straight sword with a longer handle, I have a bokken of one if pictures are needed), and something called a "koshigatana", which always reminded me of twin wakizashis. In addition to those weapons he also throws in a mix of staff, chain, kusari-gama, and just about anything else that looks cool.
There is also a heavy focus on acrobatics. I never liked acrobatics, but when I was training heavily with Grove I could do handsprings off of obstacles and developed about an eight foot long jump.
Here are just some of the cult like aspects of the school:
- Around brown belt (I think it's a blue belt now) everyone in the school is given a bugo (warrrior name). It is supposed to represent your fighting spirit or something. Along with receiving the name it is expected of you that you are going to get a tattoo of your bugo on your right forearm. I didn't ever get the tattoo because I never bought in, but I know dozens of people in the Denver and Portland, OR areas who have giant animal/dragon tattoos on their forearms with the crest Grove made up.
- Most of the student's don't refer to the school as a school They call it the "Clan" and are interested in doing things for the "Clan."
- The school is really heavy into titles. Grove refers to himself as "the Jonin" and the student who has been with him the longest has been given the title "Kenshi." Other titles he has handed out include multiple "Chunins" and one student was given the title of "Taisho." No one refers to Grove by name, everyone at the school calls him "Jonin." People who have left the school still do it as well.
There's more, but most of that is just personal observations I've made since leaving the school.
Grove is very gifted at what he does--it's not ninpo, but he's good at what he has created. He is also very charismatic, so he is able to attract a semi-solid student base. It's just unless someone really enjoys thinking of themselves as a "ninja" (a friend who also trained there referred to Grove's school as LARPing) the school, and it's culture, grows stale after a while.