About the Birthplace of Shusaku Chiba
The famous sword master of the end of the Tokugawa era was born in Kesen-cho, Rikuzen Takata in the 6th year of Kansei (1794). His childhood name was Otomatsu and he left Kesen with his family when he was five.
Shhuaku Chiba, in quality of the founder of the Hokushin Itto-ryu (a school of swordsmanship) opened "Genbukan", his Kendo dojo in Otamaga-ike, in the district of Kanda in Edo (former name of Tokyo). The school produced some of the leading spirits of the late Tokugawa period including Tesshu Yamaoka and Ryoma Sakamoto. Rikuzen Takata gathers every December the best kendo practitioners of elementary school age from the area covering all regions north of Kanto, at the occasion of the (annual) "Sword master Shusaku Chiba Memorial Kendo training Meeting for Children". While suspended during the period following the 2011 earthquake, the meeting started again under the name of "The Revival Sword master Shusaku Chiba Memorial Kendo Training Meeting for Children".
