Mitsuo Kure graduated from medical school in 1972 and became a surgeon based in Tokyo. His lifelong interest in samurai began at an early age, when he began constructing historically accurate models of samurai figures. Later, with the assistance on Togo Ryu, a well-known Japanese historical novelist, he began to reconstruct full-size samurai armor and started what is now one of the premier re-enactment groups in Japan. His group is currently one of the leading organisers of samurai battle re-enactments in Japan.