For 1000 years the ninja have trained in their legendary art in the mountains of Iga province in Japan. This art is shrouded in mystery and mystique...
Mountain Quest is a special event that originates from and is unique to the Chapel Hill Quest Center. This amazing seminar consists of a three-day event in the North Carolina Mountains at a location reminiscent of the original Togakure mountain training ground of the ninja warriors of the past. Dr. Richard Stack searched long and hard to find a site worthy to carry on the Ninja lineage in North Carolina. An-Shu Stephen K. Hayes named the mountain upon which Mountain Quest takes place, Shin-Togakure Ryu ("New" Togakure School) because of its close resemblance to Togakure Mountain. This seminar takes place once a year under the teaching of An-Shu Hayes. The event is an opportunity for Ninjutsu practitioners from around the world to come together to train with the founder of To-Shin Do® Ninjutsu. The vast majority of the Chapel Hill Quest Center's black belts have tested at Mountain Quest. Shin-Togakure is located on 200 acres of beautiful private lands on Grandfather Mountain at the exact latitude (36 degrees) of the original Ninja training sites used in the mountains of Japan over nine hundred years ago. The setting is identical to that of Japan's Togakure Mountain, with lush green valleys, rocky cliffs, and waterfalls.
Dr. Stack with Stephen and Rumiko Hayes at Mountain Quest 2001 in North Carolina