Inner Dharma: Twenty Years On

内法

Inner Dharma is a writing project concerned with classical and traditional martial arts and culture that was active between 2005 and 2025.

In 2004, while visiting the Dewa Sanzan area, including Gassan Dai Jinja on Mt. Haguro and Haguro-san Kōtakuji Shōzenin Kogane-do in Haguro-machi, I decided to study classical and traditional arts instead of continuing to practice Aikidō and Kempō.

Much of my earlier writing on Inner Dharma was concerned with the process of shifting from practicing modern goshin-jutsu influenced by Aikidō to traditional internal martial arts. Over time, I let my original Aikidō and Kempō practice go.

I began learning classical weapons arts from China and Japan around the same time. Inner Dharma later served as a place where I could write down my thoughts about traditions like Shintō-ryū and Shinkage-ryū as I explored kata as well as their variation and application, and eventually had the opportunity to pressure test my skill and decided what path ultimately to follow.

Twenty years after this project began in Dewa, I visited Kyoto, including the seat of Honzan-ha Shugendō not far from the Kyoto Budōkan (the site of the Meiji-era Butokukan) as well as the shrines and temples at Kuramadera, an area associated with several important martial arts figures from Japanese history.

I spent time thinking about my continued endeavors and came to the realization I needed to focus on continuing to develop my skill at traditional internal martial arts instead of attempting to rectify my Japanese swordsmanship, which had evolved over time to become increasingly influenced by internal martial arts concepts, with existing official lines of practice.

In cultivating a more withdrawn approach to my study, I am reminded that the final level of practice of Jikishinkage-ryū, called marobashi or marubashi (丸橋), is silent. It is time for me to take that silence as the path.

The phrase hyakuren jitoku ( 百錬自得 ) means that through a great deal of practice you can better understand yourself. I am grateful for the opportunity to know myself a little better for having trained. I am grateful both for the chance to have worked with several people as my understanding has evolved and for my conversations with experts in the field. I am better for those interactions.

Over time I more strongly feel that each person needs to walk their own path and come to their own decisions about where and how best to train. Probably the most important things Inner Dharma provides are a bibliography of works that feel enduring in the field and a list of schools I recommend, both of which I hope will be useful to others.

Looking out from the veranda of the Nigatsu-do, above Todaiji in Nara, I came to the realization that I had completed the journey that started with Inner Dharma in Dewa twenty some odd years ago. I want to thank the readers of this blog for their feedback and encouragement and wish you all the best with your training.