PROFILE OF HOKUSHIN SHINOH RYU SOKE, SHINODA OHHO MASATSUNE　宗家　篠田桜峰正庸

An early ancestor of the Shinoda family was Bukei Fujiwara Mei. Around the end of Nara 765 AD, a few members of the Fujiwara family moved to the Kansai area, settled in Mino and changed their name to Shinoda. A direct ancestor was Shinoda Saburoheii. Shinoda OhHo Masatsune was born in 1887 and grew up in Mino, this area is in the central part of Japan and is now known as Gifu prefecture.

At a young age, Shinoda OhHo Masatsune studied Kendo from the Police Kendo Instructor Ichikawa Sabanosukeuchi who was a friend of his grand father. Shinoda developed great skills and received the nick-name “Ko Tengu” from his teacher at the age of twelve.

Shinoda moved to Mito to become a student of Hokushin Itto Ryu Kenjutsu under the famous master swordsman Ono Nao Uemon, who was himself, a direct student of the Founder of Hokushin Itto Ryu Kenjutsu, Chiba Shusaku Narimasa. Letters indicate that Shinoda studied Kenjutsu with Ono Nao Uemon for an undetermined length of time.

Shinoda spent time in the army as an aid to General Fukushima Yasumasa and went to Manchuria where he gave Kendo and Ju-ken jutsu instruction to soldiers. Upon returning from service, he continued his studies with Hokushin Itto Ryu Kenjutsu, eventually mastering the style.

Shinoda then moved to Yokohama and became a student at the Shinto Kan Honbu Dojo learning Bujutsu under the founder of that school, Soke Hibino Raifu.

In 1922 at Kagoshima, the Japanese Prince Ima-ue received Prince Arthur of Great Britain, Duke of Connaught. Shinoda OhHo displayed swordmanship at the welcome ceremony and was honoured by receiving four letters, “Dan Shin Ko Ken” from Prince Ima-ue. Two years later Shinoda established the Shinoh Kan Dojo in Kagoshima. In 1937 Shinoda established and built the Shinoh Kan Dojo in Nagoya and in 1944 he received a citation letter from Kosaku (Duke) Kuga Michiaki,Kyu-ga Tsu-ken.

His dojo was destroyed by fire in 1945 due to the allied bombing of Japan.

In 1957 Tokugawa Yoshichika, a descendant of the famous Tokugawa Ieyasu family, helped Shinoda rebuild a new dojo in Nagoya. The Honbu dojo alone had 500 students and records show that there were over 20,000 students throughout Japan.

In 1965, a year before his death, the last Taikai of Soke Shinoda OhHo attracted some 15,000 participants.

The portrait of Shinoda OhHo Masatsune featured at the top of this page depicts the founder proudly wearing the medal that he was awarded by the Japanese Government for “Outstanding Contribution to Japan’s Cultural Heritage”.