MINOWA Masaru

Born in 1941 in Tokyo, Japan.
He began practicing kendo in 1954 during his first year of junior high school, coinciding with the establishment of the Junior High School Sports Federation.

In 1967, he joined the Kodansha Noma Dojo, studying under Hanshi Masafusa Mochizuki. He also trained with Hanshi Yukichi Sato (9th dan), Hanshi Chutaro Ogawa (9th dan), and Hanshi Takeo Morishima.

In 1980, he obtained a high school kendo teacher’s license from the Ministry of Education (now the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) and became a kendo instructor at Tokyo Metropolitan Takashima High School.

In 1989, he relocated to Hakushu Town in Yamanashi Prefecture, at the foot of the Southern Alps, where he built “Seishinkan,” a kendo dojo equipped with lodging facilities.

He served as a kendo advisor for Yoji Yamada’s acclaimed samurai film trilogy: The Twilight Samurai, The Hidden Blade, and Love and Honor. Additionally, he contributed to the kendo magazine Kendo Nippon with a two-year serialized column titled Records of the Ascetic Practitioner (Former Noma Dojo).

In 2015, at the request of Dmitry Kabrilov, head of the Chimera Dojo in Moscow, he published The Mind of Kata: The Unified Path of the Sword, written by Katsumi Minowa. The book was translated into Russian and English by Hajime Bushimakin.

Carrying forward the spirit of the former Noma Dojo, he continues to promote Seishinkan’s unique approach to kendo.

Seishinkan Dojo Official Website http://seishinkandojo.jp