Articles and Essays
A selection of writing by Mark Raugas on classical Japanese martial traditions, the influence of Daoism, esoteric Buddhism, and mountain aesceticism on martial practice, and the practice of traditional Chinese internal martial arts.
July 2026: A brief discussion of Yogācāra doctrine, Trikāya philosophy and how they may be expressed in the A-Un kokyū of certain lines of Shinkage-ryū.
July 2026: Early Shinkage-ryū densho show a change in theme where lines under Ogasawara's transmission of the art begin referring to enpi with the character for circle and including a concept of ensō. This might at first glance be a reference to the Zen circle. Later in some lines it becomes just that. But during the 17th century, it is explicitly a reference to the *endonkai* precepts of Tendai.
July 2026: Reading an analysis of the mokuroku of the immediate descendents of Ogasawara Genshinsai. Comparing the evolution across branches.
July 2026: Comparing Shugendō register Fudō/Monju wisdom-blade against Yagyū katsuninken — with godai-centered iconography as an attesting example.
June 2026: Examining swordsmanship preservation efforts in the late Edo period and afterwards. Survey of the Kōbusho, Gekken-Kōgyō, the Battōtai, Keishichō, Dai Nippon Butokukai, the Busen and later preservation societies.
June 2026: Ming Chinese master of Taisha-ryū and Shugendō practitioner. Some contrasts between Hiko Shugendō and Dewa Shugendō and a digression to a famous school of sword smiths.
June 2026: Dewa area bujutsu and the Shugendō connections of the original iai ryūha. Tengu-related origins as told in several martial traditions, contrasting them based on their period of development and social perspectives. How attitudes towards China affected origin tales over time.
June 2026: One thread that affects multiple articles here, whether on kobudō or Japanese religion, is the early Edo importance of Ming Dynasty culture in Japan as being desirable as an influence and the mid-to-late Edo scorn for Qing Dynasty China. This is only amplified in Meiji and beyond.
June 2026: A survey of Jikishinkage-ryū memorial steles across Kashima Jingū and Chiba — their texts, and the succession dispute they record.
May 2026: Some details on the Shugendō of Udo in Kyushu and how it might relate to the founding of Aisu Kage-ryū and the later influence of Shugendō on Shinkage-ryū.
May 2026: Details on the writings and practice of Ogasawara Genshinsai.
May 2026: A brief discussion of the seasonal mappings of kata in Jikishinkage-ryū kenjutsu and how those relate to Daoist complementarity, five phase theory, and partially to Mikkyō concepts.
May 2026: Tracing the threads from the legendary Kyō Hachi Ryū and Kiichi Hōgen at Kurama, through the tengu pantheon of Mt. Atago, Kōyasan and Kotohira, to the eight cipher-names Sekishūsai used to hide the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū Tengushō kata in his picture catalog.
May 2026: Examining some evidence for the genesis of upper-level Shinkage-ryū teachings based on information available about Aisu Ikōsai's founding vision of Sarutahiko, Kamiizumi's early training in Kashima, and the arrangement of Shinkage-ryū kata over time.
April 2026: Tàijíquán, along with Xíngyìquán and Bāguàzhǎng, forms the core of the internal martial arts, distinguished by their grounding in Daoist philosophy and Nèigōng practices.
January 2026: My training notes from 2008-2016 and my Inner Dharma writing on Jikishinkage-ryū from 2016-2025 have been collated and revised into a new book, which is available for sale. Please consider purchasing a copy to help support the maintenance of this site.
January 2026: Inner Dharma at twenty - a retrospective.
June 2025: Reading the kata of Jikishinkage-ryū through kuzushi — from the hidden order of initiative in tō-no-kata, through the turning point at its capstone, to the close-quarter application of kodachi — framed by the triad of heaven, earth, and man.
May 2025: When people become devoted to a martial art, they are doing so not at a single point in time but in a process that extends through time — the present moment, the memory they have of their training, and their expectations of the future. This can interfere with progress if nostalgia for their first impression of an art is in conflict with its higher-level teachings.
April 2025: Last year I began additional training in the union of Yoga and Buddhism offered through Tibet House. As part of this training, an essay comparing the Astanga (8-limbs) of Patanjali with the Buddhist Noble Eightfold path.
December 2024: Text on Jikishinkage-ryū Hōjō (foundational) swordsmanship, provided for reference based on Jikishinkage-ryū Sōhonbu and Hōbyōkan material. This is typically chanted or recited before performance of the Hōjō kata of Jikishinkage-ryū.
September 2024: Link to an essay on kata, heiho and shugyo, where I compare and contrast different surviving lines of Shinkage-ryū and reflect on my own practice.
February 2023: An essay published at Kogen Budo, where I look at some older writings from Japanese koryū that reference classical Chinese military treatises, and then examine how practices described in those works may be represented in arts surviving today.
October 2020: The Tàijí, Bāguà and Xíngyì taught as part of Yin Cheng Gong Fa includes an extensive curriculum of jian (sword), dao (saber), and qiang (spear).
September 2020: On solo practice, free sparring, entering HEMA competition, and the waning intensity of classical martial arts. A synthesis of reflections from 2017 to 2020 on what it means to keep kenjutsu practice alive.
August 2019: Reflections on a decade of practice in Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū, the decision to leave the art, and an analysis of what may lie hidden beneath its surface.
July 2017: Some notes on Japanese mountain religion from the Tōhoku region of Japan and its importance to practitioners of arts derived from the teachings of Takeda Sōkaku.
June 2017: An important translation of the Tàijí Classics has been published. Highly recommended.
February 2017: Collected thoughts on the historical influence of Chinese martial arts on Japanese jujutsu and how they relate to the topic of aiki in Aikidō and Daitō-ryū. What interested me about internal martial arts and how I have related that experience to my practice of Japanese budō.
August 2015: At the end of summer, I traveled to Princeton for a seminar in Bāguà and Tàijí and was accepted as a formal lineal student by my teacher, Zhang Yun. I also traveled to the Pacific Northwest, where I was able to visit with budō colleagues in Oregon.
May 2011: A brief discussion of power generation in internal martial arts.
