Tadaaki Ono

Background

Tadaaki Ono was born in Mie prefecture.

Education

Tadaaki Ono was an able swordsman even as a boy. When Ittosai Ito visited Kazusa, he became his disciple and was initiated into his Itto-ryu (One Sword) school of fencing. Traveled with his master in many provinces before he went to Edo, where he served Shogun lemitsu and Hidetada Tokugawa. Pie was the originator of the Ono-Itto-ryu school of fencing.

Career

He founded the Ono-ha Ittō-ryū style of swordsmanship after his teacher made him head master of the Ittō-ryū. He was one of two official sword masters for Tokugawa Ieyasu and his style, along with Yagyū Shinkage-ryū became one of the official ryūha of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

In Eiji Yoshikawa's book Musashi, Tadaaki appears as an aging samurai, instructor to the Shogun. He faces Sasaki Kojiro and gives up when realizing that he is now too old to fight people as skilled as Kojiro. He then withdraws from public life and goes to live as an hermit.

Achievements

• He was the originator of the Ono-Itto-ryu school of fencing.