In the 1970s, Hayes traveled to
Japan. In June 1975, he met and began training under Tsunehisa Tanemura. He later trained under
Masaaki Hatsumi, who refers to himself as 34th Grandmaster of
Togakure-ryū ninjutsu and is the founder of the
Bujinkan (武神館) organization. Hayes returned to the United States with his wife, Rumiko, in late 1980 when his Japan residency visa expired, and began teaching and authoring numerous books and magazine articles. In 1985, he was entered into the
Black Belt magazine's Hall of Fame as Instructor of the Year. He was again featured on the cover of
Black Belt in the March 2007 issue. The magazine's opening editorial described him as "one of the 10 most influential living martial artists in the world". In 1993, Hayes was awarded the
judan (tenth-degree
black belt) in Bujinkan from Hatsumi. an art based in his experience of
budō taijutsu. In 2006, Hayes's name was removed from the display of active Bujinkan teachers, ending his official role within that organization. That his name plank was removed from the Bujinkan Honbu wall has been documented by both parties. However, the specifics regarding the motivation for the removal are in dispute. Some suggest Hayes was expelled from the organization. Hayes explains that he simply no longer participates as an active Bujinkan instructor. To-Shin Do is taught through his SKH (Stephen K. Hayes) Quest locations. The SKH Quest network now spans 31 schools across North America, Europe, Australia and Africa. Hayes acted in the 1980 television miniseries
Shogun and in 2004 was featured in the
Discovery Channel documentary
Unsolved History regarding ninja and their practices. ==Buddhism==