During the summer of 2025, my kenjutsu instructor suddenly died. Not only did I not have my own connection to Japan, I lost the one resource I could go back and ask questions of and get feedback from within Jikishinkage-ryū.
As part of sorting out my thoughts on kenjutsu after that tragic event, I began collating my notes and diving into the historical documents and Japanese books I had access to. I wanted to write a summary of my understanding of the art — that understanding eventually became a small book:
The Truth of the Calm Spirit: The Practice of Shinkage-ryū Heihō as Taoist Internal Alchemy, M. Raugas, 2025.
In it, you can get a glimpse of my view of what was at one point in time a quite deep martial art that had great influence. This is a fitting place to pause and take stock of my own efforts and progress.
My hope is that work might serve as a point of departure that inspires talented individuals to learn more of the art than I have been able to. Jikishinkage-ryū, as I discovered over time, was clearly a deep and rich body of teachings. Its echoes reverberate in several arts, both old and new.
