​​Oishi Susumu was a famous swordsman from the Yanagawa domain. It was next to the Mike domain and Oishi's family were samurai who guarded the border between the two regions. They were skilled shihan (masters) of Aizu Kage Ryu, a now extinct style of swordsmanship, and taught in both Yanagawa-han and Mike-han. Oishi Susumu himself was very tall. He measured 210cm and chose to use a sword (shinken) and bamboo sword (shinai) that were considerably longer than the typical length

Around 500 years ago, when our school Muso Shinden Eishin Ryu Iai Heiho (MSERIH) was created by Hayashizaki Jinsuke, the swords used were longer than what many schools use today. By the time of the 7th headmaster, Hasegawa Chikaranosuke Eishin, the swords used by samurai became shorter. However, our school today still uses the original sword lengths. The lengths are relative to an individual's height. Some of the benefits of using a longer heavier sword is that it helps to be