As a disciple of Shuei, Tamura exerted the usual strength such that he alone could keep taking Black to move first throughout a game (one-stone-handicap game called josen) with Master Shuei who otherwise kept gaining the upper hand with the other disciples by playing a handicap game called sen-ni (i.e. for two games out of three, the lower-rank player is allowed to take Black and for the last one game he or she plays a two-stone-handicap game), and Tamura was therefore viewed as the most successful candidate for the next Honinbo.
秀栄門下でも強さを発揮し、当時他の棋士達をことごとく先二以下に打ち込んでいた秀栄に唯一定先を保ち、本因坊継承の最有力候補と見られていた。