Mountain, Sword, and Mind Volume II
Inner Dharma began because of my interest in the Japanese mountain religion called Shugendō. Mountain, Sword, and Mind is a project on the influence of mountain religion on medieval Japanese martial arts that began on Inner Dharma and grew into two volumes that span almost nine hundred pages.1
The companion volume, Volume I: Shugendō and Heihō examines early martial traditions, their founding legends, and how they relate to the Shugendō canon. I hope you find one or both volumes to be of interest, regardless of whether you practice an older Japanese martial art or are simply interested in Japanese military and religious history.2
Mikkyō, Zen, and Daoist Sources in Shinkage-ryū
Mikkyō, Zen, and Daoist Sources in Shinkage-ryū: Reading the Heihō Kadensho, Tsuki no Shō, Honshiki Sanmondō, and Shinpishō, Mountain, Sword, and Mind, Volume II (opens in a new tab). Inner Dharma, 2026. 479 pages.
In Volume II we examine core Yagyū writings from the 17th century, including the Heihō Kadensho of Yagyū Munenori and the Tsuki no Shō of Yagyū Mitsuyoshi, which records oral teachings (kuden) of Munenori and writings of Sekishūsai. For completeness, we provide new translations of several works by Takuan, including the Taiaki and Fudōchi Shinmyōroku. The gokui of Yagyū Shinkage-ryū at the time are examined in relation to Zen and Mikkyō concepts.
Then, in its second part, we provide an overview of early Owari Shinkage Yagyū-ryū and the changes introduced into its curriculum, examine the gokui concept of seikōsui in the Honshiki Sanmondō of Kimura Kyūho (senior student of Yagyū Munenori who was given the name Unchū-ryū). Then we read the Edo Yagyū-ryū Shinpishō of Sano Yojizaemon and examine Kyushu area Shinkage-ryū densho.
We close with a translation of the Shinkage-ryū Sotomono of Nabeshima Naotomo (1705), decribing military matters, and provide a historical discussion of famous tales of early Shinkage-ryū from the Gekiken Sōdan of Mikami Genryū (1790). We also provide notes on related topics in Kashima-shinden Jikishinkage-ryū, Seigo-ryū jūjutsu, and Ōshima-ryū spear.
End Notes
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A work of this scale would not have been possible for me to accomplish without the use of AI – some information on research methods and conventions is available, including the use of automated tools for optical character recognition, translation, search, and proofreading. ↩
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These volumes attempt to be precise but are not academic histories. Instead they are close readings of historical sources. In doing so, we relate the statements made about many older martial traditions by their witnesses and practitioners, but each surviving faction or group will have their own in-tradition orthodoxy. ↩