Yes. There are few who are willing to accept that - until I came to Shieikan and met the other future members of the Shinsengumi, none ever had, and none would acknowledge my skill. They considered it a heresy, and I have been thrown out of more dojos than I care to count, told that I had no talent or that I was cheating.

[He shakes his head.]

It is not only in technique that samurai are assumed to be right-handed. The etiquette of how to carry one's sword, where to place it when sitting in someone's home...all of that has formed around the assumption that a sword is wielded in such a manner. When I attempt to follow the same reasoning, everything looks backwards, and I am assumed to be rude and ill-mannered, even if setting my sword at my right rather than my left would be infinitely ruder.

[Because unlike everyone else, he can pick it up and draw quickly with his good hand, if he puts it on the right.]

Shieikan was the only place where I was accepted without reservation, and where my talent was recognized for what it was.