Inner Dharma (内法) is a writing project maintained by Mark Raugas that is concerned with classical and traditional martial arts and culture — below you can find links to its essays and longer works. I want to thank all the readers who provided feedback and encouragement over a period of twenty years.

Most of its content concerning Kashima-shinden Jikishinkage-ryū kenjutsu is now available as a book:

• M. Raugas, The Truth of the Calm Spirit: The practice of Shinkage-ryū Heihō as Taoist Internal Alchemy, 2025.

I hope you will consider purchasing it to help support this site. Other essays from Inner Dharma on Shinkage-ryū have been published at Kogen Budo. More information on Jikishinkage-ryū, including links to active training groups I am aware of in North America and Japan, can be found at jikishinkageryu.org.

Additional content is preserved here in revised and expanded form:

• 2026: Some Reflections on Gokui.
• 2026: An Overview of Tàijíquán Practice.
• 2022-2025: Layers of Training.
• 2018-2020: Pressure Testing in Classical Budo.
• 2014-2019: Seven Lessons from Katori Shintō-ryū.
• 2007-2012: A Partial Anthropology of NYC Aiki-jūjutsu.

I have done my best to combine shorter essays into longer works, each with a coherent theme that I hope is of lasting interest. For brevity and ease of navigation, training updates and event reports are no longer hosted — instead some photography of my travels is still available. Information on my continued practice of martial arts can be found at gassankan.org. I may be reached via email at the address below.

Mark Raugas