Shoto Tanemura

Grandmaster Tanemura Shoto Sensei, whose martial arts names are "Bi Koku Ryu" (Secret Black Dragon) and "Ko Gyoku" (Shining Ball),was born on 28 August 1947 in the town of Matsubushi in Saitama Prefecture, Japan.

His given name is Tanemura Tsunehisa Minamoto no Shoto.
He took the name "Shoto" which means "Law of the sword".
He is a descendant of Shiro Takatsuna (of the Sasaki family).

One of Takatsuna's sons changed his name in Tanemura (to avoid retribution by the warlord) and took his family to the Matsubushi area where they remained for the last few hundred years. A grandson of Takeda Shingen came to the Matsubushi area and was later adopted by the Tanemura family. He mixed his blood with that of the Tanemura family.

The symbol of the Tanemura family is a combination of the Sasaki emblem and the emblem of Takeda. The females of the Tanemura family use a similar emblem which is also used by the women of the Imperial family of Japan.

His father (Sadatsune Tanemura - 5th Dan Onoha Itto Ryu) and father's uncle (Kakunosuke Yamazaki - 8th Dan Onoha Itto Ryu) introduced him at the age of 9 to the martial arts (Kendo and Jujutsu). It was a very hard time for the young Grandmaster who received his first Menkyo Kaiden in Shinden Fudo Ryu and Kukishin Ryu at the age of 20 ! At the age of 15 he started training with Grandmaster Toshitsugu Takamatsu Sensei. He majored in law at Hosei University and at the age of 22 he became a police officer, later an instructor, at Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Academy.