A licensed practitioner of the Tennen Rishin Ryu,[3] in 1863 he joined the Rōshigumi together with Okita Sōji and Inoue Genzaburō.
However, not long after their arrival in Kyoto, the Rōshigumi was disbanded, he and the rest went back to Edo, leaving behind Okita Sōji, Inoue Genzaburō and few members there.
[1] At that time, he and Mitsu moved to one of the barracks (kumi-yashiki 組屋敷) in the former Edo residence of Tanuma Okitaka[4] with their children.
[5] After the start of the Boshin War, he and Mitsu took care of a terminally ill Okita Sōji until the forces of the northern domains, as well as the soldiers of the former shogunate, retreated to the Tohoku region.
[3] In 1872, the family returned to Tokyo and lived in a place called Ume-yashiki (梅屋敷; "Plum Mansion") in Sumida-Mukaijima.