History

The teacher of our program is Masao Inoue. He is the chairman of Tennen Rishin-ryu Hino Dojo and he is also a descendant of Genzaburo Inoue (1829-1868), who was an executive of the Shinsengumi.

Genzaburo was born into a family of Hachioji Sennin Doshin in Hino. Hachioji Sennin Doshin was a group of samurai who maintained the security in the suburbs of Edo while also engaging in agriculture.

Genzaburo studied Tennen Rishin-ryu swordsmanship and was a licensed master. Genzaburo participated in the formation of the Shinsengumi and became an executive of the Shinsengumi.

Tennen Rishin-ryu is a school of swordsmanship founded by Kuranosuke Kondo during the Kansei era (1789-1801) in the Edo period.

Tennen Rishin-ryu was popular among Hachioji Sennin Doshin and became popular among wealthy farmers as well. Wealthy farmers needed to learn swordsmanship to protect themselves because the suburbs were not so safe.

Therefore, while many schools of swordsmanship became sports, Tennen Rishin-ryu developed as a practical swordsmanship.

Since Hino had a leading dojo of Tennen Rishin-ryu, many swordsmen trained in the area.

The Shinsengumi was a group of swordsmen at the end of the Edo period about 160 years ago. They maintained public order in Kyoto under the shogunate and cracked down on outlaw samurai.

The main members of the Shinsengumi studied Tennen Rishin-ryu and the Shinsengumi was called "the strongest group of swordsmen".

However, the trend to defeat Edo Shogunate was unstoppable, and the Shinsengumi perished along with Edo Shogunate. The Shinsengumi members who lived and died as samurai to the end are known as "Last Samurai".

The Shinsengumi executives Toshizo Hijikata and Genzaburo Inoue were from Hino, and Souji Okita spent his childhood in Hino. Therefore, Hino is said to be the hometown of the Shinsengumi.