Below you can find links to published work that developed out of writing that was first featured on Inner Dharma.
The Truth of the Calm Spirit
The Truth of the Calm Spirit (opens in a new tab), Inner Dharma, 2025. 368 pages. An examination of the practice of Jikishinkage-ryū kenjutsu through the lens of internal martial arts.
This work contains my research and notes on Jikishinkage-ryū through the end of 2025, including a summary of its early history, including the travels of Ogasawara Genshinsai to Ming China, its kata, and descriptions of its philosophical content drawn from available Japanese language scholarship and library holdings. Please visit jikishinkageryu.org (opens in a new tab) for my more recent writing on this art.
Contents Includes: Introduction (Origin Myths, Broader Context of Transitional Arts, Free Practice), Lineage, Philosophical Context (A-Un Kokyū, Shunkashūtō, Unpō, Kiai, Kuraidori), Kata (Hōjō, Tō no Kata, Kodachi, Habiki, Older Kata), Advanced Matters (Koto, Gokui), and the Ryū no Maki.
From the Kōbusho to the Butokukai
From the Kōbusho to the Butokukai (opens in a new tab), Inner Dharma, 2026. 366 pages. The late Edo period Kōbusho, the martial academy of the Tokugawa, its swordsmen and their styles, and the institutions that followed it into the modern era.
In doing my research on Jikishinkage-ryū, I became interested in the late Edo period Kōbusho that many famous Jikishinkage-ryū swordsmen were attached to. That exploration grew into its own work covering over 20 traditions and 45 practitioners from this time period and serving as a companion to my first book.
Contents Includes: Overview of the Kōbusho Organization, Major Teachers and its roster, the 1839 Kenpō Ryakki of Kubota Sugane, Bakumatsu Units (Yūgekitai, Seieitai, Shōgitai), Gekken-kōgyō, Battōtai, Keihōkan, Keishichō, Dai Nippon Butokukai, Budō Senmon Gakkō, Nativist Shintō from Kokugaku to the Ketsumeidan, and Kobudō Preservation.
The work includes discussion of important figures of this time period including: Amano Hachirō (opens in a new tab), Amano Shōshō (opens in a new tab), Awa Kenzō, Chiba Shūsaku, Chūjō Kinnosuke, Fujita Taiichirō, Fukuda Hachinosuke, Hakomori Yosaburō Suokuni, Henmi Sōsuke, Honme Yarijirō (opens in a new tab), Iba Sōtarō, Imahori, Inoue Hachirō, Kajikawa Yoshimasa, Kawaji Toshiyoshi (opens in a new tab), Kobayashi Sadayuki, Kondō Yanosuke, Kunii Zen’ya, Matsudaira Chikaranosuke, Matsuoka Yorozu, Matsushita Seiichirō, Matsuzaki Namishirō, Mitsuhashi Kan’ichirō, Mitsuhashi Torazō, Mochida Moriji, Monna Tadashi, Naitō Takaharu, Nakayama Hakudō, Nakayama Tatsusaburō (opens in a new tab), Odani Seiichirō (opens in a new tab), Okumura Sakonta (opens in a new tab), Saimura Gorō, Sakakibara Kenkichi (opens in a new tab), Shibata Emori, Shimada Toranosuke (opens in a new tab), Shimoe Hidetarō, Shingai Tadaatsu, Takahashi Deishū, Takahashi Hatsuji, Takano Sasaburō, Takayama Minesaburō (opens in a new tab), Toda Hachirōzaemon, Tokunō Sekishirō (opens in a new tab), Ueda Umanosuke, Umezaki Yaichirō, Yamada Jirokichi (opens in a new tab), and Yamaoka Tesshū.
Major schools related to the figures above are treated alongside them, each carrying its own chapter or section: Chūya-ha Ittō-ryū, Hokushin Ittō-ryū, Hōzōin-ryū, Kashima-shinden Jikishinkage-ryū, Jitokuin-ryū, Kashima Shin-ryū, Katōda Shinkage-ryū, Kitō-ryū, Kyōshin Meichi-ryū, Musashi-ryū, Ryūgō-ryū, Seigō-ryū, Shingyōtō-ryū, Shintō Munen-ryū, Taisha-ryū, Tamiya-ryū, Tatsumi-ryū, Tenjin Shin’yō-ryū, Totsuka-ha Yōshin-ryū, and Tsuda Ichiden-ryū.
Forthcoming
I am preparing two additional volumes I hope to have available in late 2026 or early 2027. The first is focused on Shugendō and its influence on Muromachi and early Edo martial traditions. The second is centered around Yagyū Shinkage-ryū and its primary sources, related traditions, and modern scholarship on the art.
Shugendō and Heihō
Shugendō and Heihō: Sacred Space and Martial Practice, Mountain, Sword, and Mind, Volume I. Inner Dharma, 2026. 361 pages.
Contents Include: Introduction (the Shugen shinkan-shō, the ten realms and the body of the Buddha, Tengu, Gongen, Sacred Mountains, En no Gyōja, Rigen Daishi), Sacred Places (Kuramadera, Atago Dai Gongen, Kashima and Katori, Udo Dai Gongen, Hikosan, Dewa Sanzan, Kumano Sanzan), Sacred Practice (Kukai’s Hiden Key to the Heart Sutra, Endonkai, Zaō Gongen, Sanbō Kōjin, Fudō Myōo, Monju Bosatsu, Mara), Gunjin Santen (Mahakala, Marici, Vaisravana), Kuji, Goshinhō, the Diamond Body, Mantra index.
Tengu and Shugendō related origins of martial traditions associated to sacred places are discussed, drawing from the Honchō Bugei Shōden (本朝武藝小傳) and Bujutsu Ryūso-roku (武術流祖錄), and other sources.