Daisuke Nishina was born around 1161 A.D. in the village of Togakure (modern day Togakushi). His family samurai, he grew up immersed in the warrior arts and the strict code of ethics that would later be formalized as bushido. Around 1181 he would put his warrior training to the test when he joined Yoshinaka Kiso in an effort to defend against an invasion by Kiso's half-brother. Allied with a clan that was defeated in a series of battles against superior forces, Daisuke lost everything, including his samurai status, and escaped to the mountain wilderness southeast of Kyoto. Wandering among the pine forests and marshes of the Ku Peninsula around 1184, he met the yamabushi warrior monk Kain Doshi, who had fled to Japan from the political and military upheaval in China.

Deep in the mountain caves of Iga Province (modern day Mie Prefecture), Daisuke studied with the mystic, learning new concepts of warfare and personal power based on Chinese and Tibetan ideas about the natural order of the universe. Daisuke was taught the practical applications of the balance of the elements in diet, in combat, in thought and emotion, and in utilizing the forces and cycles of nature to his advantage. Far away from the limiting system of samurai conduct that he had never thought to question, he discovered a completely new way of channeling his will. He became Daisuke Togakure, assuming the name of his village, and giving birth to the ninja legacy. Daisuke's descendants would later develop and refine these concepts into the Togakure ryu of ninjutsu, and would come to be known as the ninja, Japan's famous warriors.

The lineage as constructed by Toshitsugu Takamatsu: