Although he had some training in Judo as a schoolboy, John Anderson did not begin the serious study of Japanese martial arts until 1985 when he became a member of the Bujinkan organisation. As there were no other competent Bujinkan groups in the South Wales area, he founded a Dojo, the Bujinkan Kashi Dojo, under the guidance of his instructor in order to further his own training in 1989.

During his time as a member of the Bujinkan, John travelled to Japan on a number of occasions to advance his studies and it was during one of these trips that, in 1993, he first met with and trained under Manaka Sensei. Although the experience of training with Manaka Sensei left a lasting impression on John, it would be another seven years before he would get the opportunity to train under Sensei again when he travelled to the USA to participate in one of his seminars.

In 2001, after a long period of disillusionment with the training and the lack of quality control in the Bujinkan, John decided to give up the 8th dan rank and instructor status he held in order to start over again as a white belt student in the Jinenkan. In October 2003, John passed the Jinenkan 3rd Dan test at a seminar with Manaka Sensei held in Aberdare and shortly afterwards was given permission to open up a Jinenkan Dojo.

In addition to teaching at the Dojo, John also teaches seminars throughout the UK at the request of other groups and instructors. He has also written a number of articles about Kobudo for the National Martial Arts Press several of which have been published in magazines including "Fighters" and "Traditional Karate".