Terutaka Kawabata
河端照孝
A Japanese swordsmanship master born in 1940 in Tokyo, founder of the Ryushin Shouchi-ryu school, who in 1987 cut through a helmet with a sword live on television.
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Terutaka Kawabata (河端照孝) is a Japanese swordsmanship master and the founder of the Ryushin Shouchi-ryu school. He was born on 12 July 1940 in Tokyo.
He trained at the Sogo Budo Shobukan dojo, founded by his father in 1964; according to the source he began training at the age of twenty. His main teacher was Ueno Yasuyuki Genshin (1913–1973), head of the Tenshinsho Jigen-ryu school.
In 1987, live on TBS television, he cut through a helmet with a single stroke using a sword forged by Yoshihara Yoshindo; according to the source, this was the first demonstration of this technique since 1886. For this act he received the Budo Korosho award for merit in martial arts, which the source describes as the highest honor in the world of Japanese martial arts. He founded the school in 2006 under the name Ryushin Jigen-ryu, which he changed in 2011 to Ryushin Shouchi-ryu. He served as director, deputy director and head of the kobudo section of the International Martial Arts Federation (IMAF) and taught in Europe and the USA.
His best student was Yahagi Kunikazu, who became the second head of the school in 2008.