Toraji Ishida

Otherwise known as “Kojirou,” Toraji Ishida is a politics and economics teacher, and also the Kendo Club instructor of Muroe High School. He is perpetually broke and lives from paycheck to paycheck. He often does not have enough left over for food after paying bills and debts, so he ends up taking handouts from his students. At the beginning of the series, he is offered the chance of a lifetime from an old senpai, who wagers a year’s worth of sushi if Kojirou can form a female kendo team to beat his senpai’s team. Because of this, Kojirou starts putting in more effort in training his team, much to Kirino Chiba’s delight. The only person who know the real reason for Kojirou’s new devotion to training the team is Yuuji Nakata, who calls Kojirou “pathetic.” His parents own a convenience store, but it is revealed in one episode of the anime that they used to run a store that sold sake. Although he calls them old, Kojirou’s parents look younger than their age (and in his mother’s case, act younger than their age, considering the fact that Kojirou’s mother collects cute things). Despite the fact that Kojirou is broke, he somehow still manages to own a car. He was a kendo club member of his high school. In his high school years he beat his senpai, Kenzaburou, at a kendo meet and won a trophy for it (although he doesn’t actually want the trophy). Kojirou told Kenzaburou that his winning the kendo meet was due to luck, but eventually came to believe the win was because he was stronger than his senpai.