artistic director

Yoshihisa is a native of Tokyo, Japan. He came to New York in 1997 and met Yoshi Amao in 2001. He felt strong passion in sword fighting and decided to make it his life work. In 2003, he launched Samurai Sword Soul with Yoshi, and has been teaching TATE (samurai sword fighting) class with him ever since.

Yoshihisa creates most of Samurai Sword Soul’s work. In SAKURA, The Emblem for Cherry Blossom Festival at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, he served as a director, choreographer, and actor, and has continued to do so ever since. He has been choreographing sword fighting not only for Samurai Sword Soul, but also for many films, martial arts stage plays, and contemporary dance pieces. Throughout this extensive body of work, he has established his own choreographic sword-fighting style.

Yoshihisa’s credit includes the Broadway musical Pacific Overtures in 2004, in which he choreographed the sword fighting scenes.

As an actor, he has appeared in leading roles in more than 20 independent films. Blue was a one-man play in which he performed the lore of Kenny (lead) and was accepted in Holzstock 05 Kurz Film Festival. In recent film, The Shadow of Death by Zaffi Films, he not only acted as Kuzaemon, but was also in charge of the sword fighting choreography. He also appeared in various commercials for clients such as ANA, Sony, Intel, Disney, and Coca Cola.

samurai sword soul co-founder/artistic director/actor

Photo: Takahiro Ueno

Photo: Kenji Mori