Research
Inner Dharma is a writing project concerned with traditional martial arts and culture, especially my practice of classical kenjutsu and its relationship to internal martial arts training and Sino-Japanese philosophy and religion. It documents my travels in these arts and my practice and understanding as it has evolved.
Below are research notes that have emerged from this project centered around lines of Shinkage-ryū kenjutsu.
As automated tools have matured (e.g., Gemini, Claude, etc.), I have been able to access more primarly language sources and historical documents associated to older martial traditions and explore both the arts and their historical practitioners in some detail.
I hope these notes are of interest to the broader community, independent of my more personal essays and reflections found above.
June 2026
We discuss details surrounding the martial arts and competitive practices of Matsuzaki Namishirō, master of Katōda Shinkage-ryū kenjutsu.
June 2026
Extensive documents from Kyushu in 1766 and how they relate to the Edo area Yagyū and Jiki Shinkage-ryū densho contents. We find independent corroboration of common Shinkage-ryū influence in these arts at the same time of the writings of Naganuma Kunisato in 1768. Specifically, the gokui section of Jiki Shinkage-ryū mokuroku overlap substantially with the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū Okugi, suggesting a majority of those concepts were preserved in Jiki Shinkage-ryū.
June 2026
Detail of Hassō Happa from 1800 Kashima Shinden Jiki Shinkage-ryū densho by Ogawa Yashichi, its place in Hōjō swordsmanship, and how the eight phases may relate to the eight extremes of Daoist Huainanzi geography.
May 2026
Details on choices of romanization of 直心影流 — this project uses Jiki Shinkage-ryū, but other choices are also valid.
May 2026
Last in a series. We examine a seal of transmission of self-protective methods dated 1675 and compare it against a different line of transmission from 1812.
May 2026
Discussion of kodachi and habiki practice in Jiki Shinkage-ryū Seito-ha as informed by an examination of Saitō Akinobu (1901) Gokui Kyōju Zukai, explaining brief oral teachings.
May 2026
Summary of 1800 Kashima Shinden Jiki Shinkage-ryū densho by Ogawa Yashichi, comparing it against other densho I analyzed in my recent book.
May 2026
A brief discussion of the seasonal mappings of kata in Jiki Shinkage-ryū kenjutsu and how those relate to Daoist complementarity, five phase theory, and partially to Mikkyō concepts.
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.
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.
March 2026
These notes collect the documentary side of some of my research into the *gokui* (極意) of Kashima-shinden Jiki Shinkage-ryū.
October 2025
We examine some features of armed and unarmed grappling and small weapon styles from the medieval period to modernity and draw some parallels and distinctions between them, especially as related to combat sport and contemporary military practices.
June 2025
Reading the kata of Jiki Shinkage-ryū through kuzushi — from the hidden order of initiative in to-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.
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.
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.
July 2012
Some notes on Japanese mountain religion from the Tōhoku region of Japan and its importance to pracititioners of arts derived from the teachings of Takeda Sokaku.
May 2011
A brief discussion of power generation in internal martial arts.