Oishi Susumu

Oishi Susumu Tanetsugu (大石進種次, 1798–1863) was a Japanese kenjutsu practitioner. He was active during the Tenpō period in the first half of the nineteenth century. A retainer of the Tachibana clan, he was unusually tall for a Japanese person of his day, standing tall.

Having trained in the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū, Oishi started his own style of swordsmanship called the Oishi Shinkage Ryu, which attracted many pupils and made Oishi comparatively wealthy. He also made money from dojo arashi (dojo storming), a practice in which a skilled swordsman would challenge masters of other schools. As Oishi was a formidable fighter, many teachers paid him off in order to avoid the embarrassment of a public defeat. Oishi himself eventually suffered a swift and humiliating defeat at the hands of Otani Nobutomo, a swordsman of the Jikishinkage-ryū. He also made use of customised bōgu (kendo armour), adding complex deflective crests and flaps to confound an opponent's attacks.