In 1856 Sakakibara was appointed as a professor at the Kōbusho (講武所), a shogunate-sponsored military academy.
He received this post through the auspices of his teacher Otani, who had himself been granted a teaching position there.
In this role, Sakakibara was noticed by the shōgun Tokugawa Iemochi, who appointed Sakakibara as his bodyguard and fencing instructor.
He also married Taka, the daughter of the shōgun's personal retainer Iwajiro Mihashi.
In order that his headmastery of the Jikishinkage-ryū would not interfere with his duties to the shōgun, his student Matsuoka Katsunosuke was temporarily placed in charge of the school.

By 1863, Sakakibara was a head keeper at Edo Castle and received a stipend of 300 ryō per year.
He resigned from this post in 1866, after Iemochi's death and started a dojo in Kurumazaka (a neighbourhood of Edo, now part of modern Ueno).
In 1856 Sakakibara was appointed as a professor at the Kōbusho (講武所), a shogunate-sponsored military academy. He received this post through the auspices of his teacher Otani, who had himself been granted a teaching position there. In this role, Sakakibara was noticed by the shōgun Tokugawa Iemochi, who appointed Sakakibara as his bodyguard and fencing instructor. He also married Taka, the daughter of the shōgun's personal retainer Iwajiro Mihashi. In order that his headmastery of the Jikishinkage-ryū would not interfere with his duties to the shōgun, his student Matsuoka Katsunosuke was temporarily placed in charge of the school.
By 1863, Sakakibara was a head keeper at Edo Castle and received a stipend of 300 ryō per year. He resigned from this post in 1866, after Iemochi's death and started a dojo in Kurumazaka (a neighbourhood of Edo, now part of modern Ueno).
Sakakibara Kenkichi