Lineage means something only to people who put stock in lineage. I have been with my teacher for a long time, and if someone says they trained with him I put some stock in that, but I have found plenty of folks who have trained with my teacher that would get the snot stomped out of them regardless of their "lineage."
Unless your teacher and his teacher and his teacher are there fighting for you, lineage means precisely d**k. Sorry to be so blunt, but there it is.
Sure, lineage appears to ensure that the transmission of information is unbroken from the super high godly mucky-muck that started whatever brand X martial art you study, but if the person that taught it to you didn't "get it" himself, and taught it to you half-a$$ed, then I suppose all the history and lineage in the world boils down to precious little...
I agree with what was said earlier by tmanifold and others - if the teacher can't walk the walk, who cares if he can talk the talk... I can read about history in a book. If I am with a teacher to train, he/she better be able to pass on the skills required.
I studied with RyuShiKan for a very short period of time in Japan. Whether he was a direct student of Taika Oyata or not, he was able to do what he claimed he could do (over and over again, I might add, not just once or twice), and that cinched it for me. I have a dear friend that is a student of Sensei Sherman Harrill in Iowa, and whether he was student of Sensei H or not means little (I have felt "Uncle" Sherm's skills first hand, though I have never seen him teach)... Mr. Kerker is simply frightening to behold, and that is what makes me want to train with him (and to stay in his good graces...

).
Lineage is crap. It
is important, don't get me wrong (before everyone starts trying to imply that I think folks like Temple Kung Fu and Oom Yung Doe are legitimate, or that I am a MMA sympathizer - I'm not; traditionalist to the bone, as long as tradition serves a practical purpose), but again the lineage is not going to be doing the fighting for you.
Just my 2 cents.
Gambarimasu.
:asian: :samurai: :asian: