Ishida, Toraji

石田虎侍

Also known as "Kojirou," Toraji Ishida serves as a politics and economics teacher and the Kendo Club instructor at Muroe High School. He is constantly broke, living from paycheck to paycheck. He frequently lacks sufficient funds for food after covering bills and debts, leading him to accept handouts from his students. At the start of the series, an old senpai offers him a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, wagering a year's supply of sushi if Kojirou can assemble a female kendo team capable of defeating the senpai's team. Consequently, Kojirou increases his training efforts, much to Kirino Chiba's delight. Yuuji Nakata is the only one who knows the true reason for Kojirou's renewed dedication to training the team, referring to Kojirou as "pathetic." His parents own a convenience store, though one anime episode reveals they previously operated a sake shop. Although he describes them as old, Kojirou's parents appear younger than their years (and his mother acts younger, given her collection of cute items). Despite his financial struggles, Kojirou somehow manages to own a car. He was a member of his high school's kendo club. During his high school years, he defeated his senpai, Kenzaburou, in a kendo meet and won a trophy for it (though he did not actually want the trophy). Kojirou initially attributed his victory to luck, but eventually came to believe he won because he was stronger than his senpai.