it is interesting what you said about gyokko ryu and koto ryu footwork
i find gyokko ryu has a more defencive feel. from a standing position and the backwards in 45 degree angle.
and koto ryu more of a attacking feel. and attacking while you are moving forward.
i tend to favour gyokko ryu footwork more. feels more stable and koto tends to change feet more often.
Togakure ryu i dont know. i am not up to that yet. sounds like alot of fun!
my sensei once when explaining gyokko ryu and koto ryu said gyokko ryu is more like what a palace guard would use. and koto ryu for siege warefare. like escaping from a castle and running forward into enemy.
I wonder how you would descibe Togakure ryu?
thanks
Okay, there's a few things to cover here... to begin with, I am your Sensei, so the separation between what "your sensei" told you and asking how I would describe Togakure kinda confuses me.... after all, it's not as if you don't know who's on the other end of this keyboard!
In terms of the footwork of the two Ryu-ha in question, both prefer slightly different angling concepts, but I wouldn't necessarily say that Gyokko is that much more "defensive". It prefers coming in from an angle, and utilising a more "circular" approach than Koto's straight line movements, but the idea of "defensive" or "offensive" is more in the mindset of the kata (and Ryu) itself. Even at the very beginning, with Koku and Renyo, you're being taught to "attack" the incoming limbs of an opponent, and the evasive actions are more to be in the right position to come in at the angle Gyokko prefers.
In terms of prefering one or the other, so far you have had a taste of each. It's good that you're starting to become more aware of them, and finding where you're comfortable within the art, but realistically you've had 6 months of Gyokko, and now 3 months of Koto so far... that's all. It's really not enough to get any more than a brief taste. Oh, and Koto is plenty stable, in fact it relies on being completely stable when striking while the opponent is unstable (again, what Koppojutsu is about, attacking the structure of the opponent, such as their stance and stability). Togakure Ryu you'll see from July onwards.
In terms of Gyokko being what a palace guard would use and Koto for siege warfare, that's not quite what I said there.
Gyokko Ryu's history says that the skills were originally developed at the Chinese Imperial Court, where they were developed by a Princess (or Lady in Waiting), or possibly smaller statured Palace guard. This is why it moves the way it does, not relying on strength, but instead moving around to better positions in order to maximise your power, and minimise the opponents ability to react. That's not the same as saying it was for a Palace Guard, though.
Koto Ryu includes stories about it's practitioners operating as small "disruptor" groups, and acting as anti-siege combatants, rather than being involved in siege warfare on the other side.
Togakure Ryu and how I would describe that, well, Togakure Ryu has a very limited Taijutsu aspect, mostly focused around escape if discovered on a mission. There are no striking defences whatsoever, just grabs, advances with weapons, and weapon attacks. Movement tends to be low, stable and resistant all at the same time, and almost all kata follow the same basic concept: Try to keep distance in order to escape, if that doesn't work, then suddenly rush in past the opponents attacks and defences, quickly apply the technique, then distract to create distance to escape. That'll make more sense later this year for you.
from what I've gathered, a lot of people here already know what makes Ninjutsu unique and different, and are more interested in the history behind it and it's various schools. But being new here myself, that could just be because i follow a lot of threads that Mr. Parker posts in, and those tend to just go in that direction naturally... 
