Kondō Isami
Hijikata spent his youth selling his family's Ishida sanyaku (medicine for treating injuries such as bruises and broken bones) while practicing his self-taught kenjutsu. His brother-in-law, Satō Hikogorō, who was married to his older sister Nobu, managed a Tennen Rishin-ryū dojo in Hino; through Satō, Hijikata later met Kondō Isami and was formally enrolled at the Tennen Rishin-ryū's Shieikan in 1859. Although Hijikata himself never fully mastered the Tennen Rishin-ryū, it is said that he managed to develop the "Shinsengumi-Kenjutsu" fighting style from the Tennen Rishin-ryū.