Toda Shigemasa

Toda Shigemasa (1554–1625) was a warrior and master swordsman of the Sengoku to early Edo period who served the Maeda clan, lords of the Kaga Domain. Renowned by the epithet "Master Echigo," he was an adept of the Chūjō-ryū school. Adopted as a son-in-law to inherit the Toda family and its swordsmanship—a comprehensive martial art centered on the short sword and known as "heihō"—he served three generations of Maeda lords, distinguished himself in battles such as Suemori Castle, and received an exceptional stipend of over ten thousand koku. A proposed duel with the shogunate's fencing instructor Yagyū Munenori was reportedly called off lest one master be disgraced, a tale that attests to his renown. He died in 1625.