Tamiya Heibei

Tamiya Heibei (birth and death dates unknown) was a swordsman of the Sengoku period, known as the founder of Tamiya-ryū Iaijutsu, and he made a great contribution to the development of iaido (a system of techniques for instantly drawing a sword from its scabbard and cutting).

Heibei is said to have come from the Kantō region and became one of the five leading disciples of Hayashizaki Jinsuke Shigenobu, who is said to be the progenitor of iaijutsu. His iaijutsu was beautiful, and he was praised as "Bi no Tamiya" ("Tamiya of beauty"). According to the Honchō Bugei Shōden, he devised and recommended a long-hilted sword whose hilt was about three sun longer than the average hilt of the time.

It was Heibei's son, the second-generation Tamiya Nagakatsu, who called the school "Tamiya-ryū". Nagakatsu served Tokugawa Yorinobu, lord of the Kishū Domain, and spread Tamiya-ryū. Afterward it was also transmitted to Edo and to various domains, including the Okayama Domain, the Kaga Domain and the Mito Domain, and it developed in its own way in each region. It is thought that many lineages were lost after the abolition of the han system, but Tamiya Shinken-ryū (now Tamiya-ryū Iaijutsu) and Shin-Tamiya-ryū are still passed down today.