Okay, then let's approach this from another angle...
What exactly are you after from your martial art experience? You say that you are attracted to the "martial arts the samurai practiced", the questions here would be what about the samurai arts do you want (eg. weaponry, unarmed, historical apsects etc), and exactly what are you thinking of when you think of the samurai martial arts?
The first question is one that applies to any art you wish to study, but the reason I am asking the second one is that what many people think of as "samurai arts" are a little off-base, to say the least. If you will indulge me, I will go through some of the thngs you may want to consider, as well as some details you may not be aware of.
To begin with, an assumption. I believe you are after the unarmed methods, as the term you originally used is Aikijutsu (as shown above, this is not a common term). So the question becomes whether you are after Japanese unarmed methods, or if you are after the historical arts. To let you know, unarmed arts used by the samurai are a rarity, and the only way to get unarmed arts that may possibly have been used by samurai is to look to the Koryu systems. And they will not be easy to find, even in Japan.
As a note, the reason I say "may possibly" is that even if an art is Koryu, there is no guarantee that it was a "samurai" system. For example, the Asayama Ichiden Ryu, according to some of it's histories, was founded by warrior-farmers, not samurai. Most samurai systems focused on weaponry, with the possbility of unarmed combat methods as a secondary, or supplimentary system. These include Kashima Shinryu (primarily sword with jujutsu as a secondary art), Tatsumi Ryu (primarily sword with jujutsu as a supplimentary art), Yagyu Shingan Ryu (primarily armoured combat with various weapons which later developed an unarmed syllabus), Kukishin Ryu (a weapon school focusing on naginata early on in it's history, focusign on bo later, and adding the unarmed of Takagi Ryu).
Then we need to establish what you mean by a samurai art exactly. The first arts to be used and formalised by the warrior class were based on mounted horsemanship, and later on pole-arms (naginata, with some schools and groups having a prediliction for nagamaki, although still quite rare), then moving into spear in the Sengoku Jidai (and spurring the development of new types of armour to deal with these weapons). The use of sword as the primary weapon actually waited until peacetime, with the Tokugawa Shogunate decreeing that only the samurai could wear the daisho (two swords) as a badge of their rank in society.
So do you mean those used by Japanese warriors on the battlefield (which as I said will primarily be weaponry arts), or those used and learnt by the samurai (ruling) class. Remember, though, that during the Edo period, many samurai began to teach the commoners as a way of making a living as their use on the battlefield was no longer a major factor. This lead to what was refered to as "commoners jujutsu, or yawara". A number of Koryu systems could very easily be this "commoners" art, rather than a true samurai art. If you are after a Japanese historical combat system, that may not be a problem, but if you are after samurai-specific for some reason, it is going to make it harder still.
But there are options. Probably the main one would be one of the Ninjutsu organisations. I would probably recommend either the Genbukan over the Jinenkan or Bujinkan here (or, more accurately, the Kokusai Jujutsu Renmei, a separate but connected group to the Genbukan). The main reason is that the KJJR separates out the samurai/jujutsu systems, and keeps them apart from the "ninjutsu" arts, whereas the other organisations focus on distilling a set of skills from the entirety of the systems they teach. The Genbukan/KJJR have teachers and schools in a large range of locations, so there is a chance there may be something viable close by.
Which brings us to the last thing. Where exactly are you located? Your profile doesn't give any information, maybe if you let us know then someone here might be nearby, or know of something you haven't found yet. Or maybe something within reasonable travel time.
I wish you luck and success in your journey, and if you have more questions, ask away!
I think you misunderstand me, Chris. It was a simple compliment taking as it's springboard the last line of your post above :tup:.
