Nakamura Taisaburo was born in 1912 in Yamagata prefecture. He began his study of kendo at the age of 15 and when he joined the Japanese Army in 1932 held the rank of 3rd Dan in both kendo and judo. After teaching kendo to the members of his regiment he was assigned to a junior military academy as a fencing instructor. He served in Manchuria in the elite Yamashita Special Attack Force and was assigned to the Toyama Military Academy in Tokyo where he became an instructor of combat swordsmanship, bayonet and knife fighting. He was in Japan helping to prepare for the final defence of the homeland when Japan surrendered after the dropping of the atomic bombs. Nakamura sensei was convinced that his special skills with the sword which resulted in him returning to Japan as an instructor had saved him from the fate of his sword instructor comrades who died in battle or were executed by the allies for performing executions with the sword. He therefore dedicated his life to the study and teaching of the life giving sword - katsujinken. However for the way of the sword to be effective in the spiritual forging of its practitioners Nakamura sensei taught that it must remain rooted in the realities of combat. For this reason he helped to maintain the tradition of Toyama Academy swordsmanship by founding the All Japan Toyama Ryu Iaido Federation and continued his lifelong research into the practices of Japanese swordsmanship. The outcome of these efforts was the founding of Nakamura Ryu Battodo in 1952. Among many other titles and ranks he was awarded 10th Dan Hanshi Battodo by the International Martial Arts Federation, 7th Dan Kyoshi by the All Japan Kendo federation, 8th Dan Hanshi Jukendo And 8th Dan Hanshi Tankendo. He was awarded the highest cultural award in Japan of National Living Treasure by Imperial decree in 1992. He continued to study, practice, teach and inspire until his death in Tsurumi on the 13th of May 2003.
