Mark Raugas

I practice internal martial arts and traditional weapons arts from China and Japan.

Internal Martial Arts

Yuèshān-guan [月山館; “Moon Mountain Hall”] is the name of my practice of Chinese internal martial arts — this includes Héběi Xíngyìquán, Northern Wú (吳) Tàijíquán, and Yin (尹) Bāguàzhǎng as taught by Zhang Yun lǎoshī in Yin Cheng Gong Fa (YCGF) North America. I am his 40th lineal student in this tradition. YCGF Pittsburgh maintains a very nice list of forms — my practice is centered around portions of the curriculum listed there.

Japanese Swordsmanship

I studied portions of the curricula of several koryū before moving to Seattle, most important of which has been Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū kenjutsu. I learned that art from David Hall and then worked with a small group to maintain my practice using the name Gassankan [ 月山館 ] — information of my perspective on kenjutsu and how it has evolved over time can be found at the link above. I have graduated two of my students, who now lead weekly training in Seattle — those interested in a robust approach to kenjutsu can reach out to Jiki at Lonin.