In 1873 the Rikugan Toyama Gakko (Toyama Military Academy) was established in the Toyama district of Tokyo. The purpose of the academy was to teach officers and enlisted non-commissioned officers of Japan's modern conscription army the leadership and martial techniques of modern warfare. The military curriculum included swordsmanship.

   Nakayama sensei's background in Eishin ryu became the basis for the five original standing kata. A fencing instructor at the Toyama academy named Morinage Kiyoshi reworked the kata and expanded the syllabus to seven kata.

     Based on his experience and his knowledge of calligraphy, Nakamura sensei formalized the Toyama ryu swordsmanship into the familiar eight cuts and eight kata that is the core of what we see today. Toyama ryu is a gendai (modern) martial skill and not a revival of a koryu (ancient) martial tradition. It was created to be practical and effective on the modern battlefeild and techniques considered obsolete in the modern army  were discarded. Toyama ryu also uniquely puts it's main emphasis on tameshigiri (live test cutting).