若き日の千葉周作
Chiba Sōsaku, whose childhood name was Otome, was raised by his father Yukiuemon, the successor of the Hokushin Ittō-ryū style, and his wet nurse in Rikuzen Onikobe, where he early on earned the nickname "Little Tengu of Chiba." One day, Otome heard a rumor that Arao Miyauchi, who once was an internal student at the Chiba family but now ran his own dojo in Onikobe, was spreading false rumors out of resentment for not inheriting the Chiba house—a situation that led to his mother's suicide and his father's abandonment of the sword to become a doctor. Enraged, Otome stormed into the Arao dojo only to be captured and publicly humiliated at Onikobe Pass. However, in his heart, Miyauchi hoped to marry his daughter Nanae to Otome and have him inherit the Chiba family.