Shimada Torinosuke — The Swordsman Who Taught Katsu Kaishu
Somebody taught Katsu Kaishu to use a sword. That was Shimada Torinosuke — the swordsman who said flatly that the sword is the mind.
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Who Was Shimada Torinosuke?
Shimada was a swordsman from the Nakatsu domain in Buzen province, in what is now Oita prefecture. His school was the Jikishinkage-ryu.
Three things carry his name.
He became the leading student of Odani Nobutomo, the man generally reckoned the finest swordsman of the late Edo period.
He opened his own hall in Asakusa — at Shinbori, in 1843.
He trained Katsu Kaishu, the man who would later negotiate the surrender of Edo Castle without a battle.
He was born on 22 May 1814 and died on 28 October 1852, aged thirty-eight.
Shimada Torinosuke from Kyushu to Edo
Shimada was the son of a Nakatsu retainer. He learned the sword at home and was known across Kyushu while still young; local tradition places some of his training at Tenchu-ji, in what is now Yoshitomi town in Fukuoka.
What kept him from remaining a provincial name was going to Edo. The city held Chiba Shusaku's Genbukan, Saito Yakuro's Renpeikan and Momoi Shunzo's Shigakukan — the three great schools, where the ambitious from every province turned up to test themselves.
Shimada faced Odani Nobutomo, could do nothing against him, and enrolled, according to the traditional account. From there he rose to the head of Odani's students.
Shimada Torinosuke as Katsu Kaishu's Teacher
Katsu Kaishu trained at Shimada's hall.
In later life Katsu recalled that his teacher pushed him toward Zen as well as fencing — nights of sitting meditation, then back to the training floor.
When Katsu explained the nerve he showed in the Bakumatsu — sitting down opposite Saigo Takamori with the fate of Edo on the table — he tended to trace it back to that period of sword and Zen.
A fencing master forming a politician's nerve is not a rare story in this era. Yamaoka Tesshu and Sakakibara Kenkichi came out of the same Jikishinkage-ryu lineage.
Shimada Torinosuke's Saying, "The Sword Is the Mind"
The line handed down as his runs roughly:
The sword is the mind. If the mind is not right, the sword will not be right either. Whoever would learn the sword must first learn the mind.
He is not talking about technique.
That was an answer to the state of fencing in his day as much as a piece of philosophy. Edo's schools had become a competition over match records and signboards, and training was drifting toward winning bouts and nothing else. Shimada put the question of what the strength was for back on the table.
How Shimada Torinosuke Died
Shimada died of illness on 28 October 1852, aged thirty-eight.
Perry reached Uraga the following year. Shimada never saw the black ships — he died just short of the era his student would help steer.
Katsu Kaishu was twenty-nine when his teacher died. He was already established in Dutch studies and running his own school by then, and three years later he was sent to the naval training centre at Nagasaki.
A monument marks his birthplace in Nakatsu.
Shimada Torinosuke Timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 22 May 1814 | Born the son of a Nakatsu retainer in Buzen |
| 1830s | Builds a reputation across Kyushu and travels to train |
| late 1830s | Goes to Edo, enrols under Odani Nobutomo, becomes his leading student |
| 1843 | Opens his own hall at Shinbori in Asakusa |
| 1840s | Katsu Kaishu enters as a student |
| 28 Oct 1852 | Dies of illness, aged 38 |
| 1853 | The year after his death, Perry arrives at Uraga |
His teacher was Odani Nobutomo and his student Katsu Kaishu; for the fencing world they lived in see the schools of Edo.
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