內法
Inner Dharma was a blog concerned with classical and traditional martial arts and culture. Below you can find demonstration, seminar and event reports that in many cases contain photos that do a better job conveying the arts I have been fortunate to witness than anything I could write.
☴ Kagami Biraki at Lonin 2025
I attended Kagami Biraki at Lonin League in Seattle, Feb 2025. Our Jikishinkage-ryū study group demonstrated Hojo, To-no-kata and Kodachi. It was a privilege to see the demonstrations of budo from members of Tenshin Buko-ryu, Takamura-ha Shindo Yoshin Ryu, and Japanese Fighting Arts Northwest. At the end, I was able to demonstrate some aspects of Xingyi and Taiji spear practice.
☴ Visiting Kyoto and Nara
Visiting sacred places has been an important component of my martial arts training over the years. I returned to Japan in autumn and visited several temples and shrines in Kyoto and Nara.
☴ Kagami Biraki 2024
Kagami Biraki held at Lonin League in Seattle, Feb 2024. Our group performed selected from the curriculum of Jiki Shinkage-ryu; we were honored to be able to watch the demonstrations by Tenshin Buko-ryu and our guests Japanese Fighting Arts Northwest.
☴ Tsubaki Grand Shrine America
Visiting Tsubaki Grand Shrine America in June of 2023, before it is closed.
☴ Kagami Biraki 2023
Our group participated in a Kagami Biraki ceremony to observe the Lunar New Year in Seattle in January 2023. We performed kata selected from the curriculum of Jiki Shinkage-ryu and were honored to watch presentation from the Tenshin Buko-ryu class at Lonin.
☴ Keiko at Seattle Budokan
In August we conducted group practice at the Seattle Budokan in August 2021 during a lull in the pandemic. We have been training outdoors in the Seattle area for the last year after Lonin League lost its space and it was nice to be back for an afternoon in a traditional dojo.
☴ 2019 Pittsburgh Taiji Seminar with Zhao Zeren and Zhang Yun
Pittsburgh seminar in Northern Wu Style Taijiquan with Zhao Zeren and Zhang Yun.
☴ Swordsquatch 2018
Some photos of the open steel Longsword finals at Swordsquatch this year.
☴ Swordsquatch 2017
Photos from the Swordsquatch HEMA Event in Seattle in September 2017.
☴ Taiji Classics Seminar
Attending a seminar detailing excerpts from the Taiji classics.
☴ Enbu for Karunakaran
Memorial demonstration in honor of the late Karunakaran-sensei, senior student of Donn Draeger in Shinto Muso-ryu Jo.
☴ Longpoint 2016
Photos from the Longpoint HEMA Event in June 2016 in Howard County, Maryland.
☴ Wu Taiji Quan Seminar with Zhao Zeren and Zhang Yun
Zhao Zeren and Zhang Yun taught a series of three seminars on the Wu Style Taiji Quan of Wang Peisheng during May 2016 in Princeton, Pittsburgh, and Silver Spring.
☴ Princeton Bagua and Taiji Seminar
At the end of summer, I traveled to Princeton for a seminar in Bagua and Taiji 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 budo colleagues in Oregon.
☴ Capital Katori
I practiced in a branch of Katori Shinto-ryu hosted at Capital Aikikai in Silver Spring, until early 2015. Some photos from workshops and seminars from 2010 and 2014 can be found below.
☴ Tian Gang Dao Seminar
This weekend I traveled to Pittsburgh for additional training in neijiaquan. I attended Zhang Yun's taijiquan class and met up with several of his senior students I had not seen in a while. It was great to train with everyone and get pointers on my body organization. I also had a chance to get further correction of my Yin Bagua Zhang and also learn the remaining sections of the Hebei Xingyi Quan Za Shi Chui (mixed skills) form.
☴ Demo of Araki-ryū and Tenshin Buko-ryū
A brief reflection on a demonstration of Araki-ryū and Tenshin Buko-ryū at the NAMT 2013 Night of Budo.
☴ YCGF Maryland Wu Taiji Seminar 2008
I attended the 2008 summer Yin Cheng Gong Fa seminar in Frederick, MD.
☴ Dewa Sanzan
It was while visiting Dewa in 2005, especially Gassan Dai-jinja and the Haguro Shugen Honshu Kotaku-ji Shozen-in in Haguro-machi, that I made the decision to stop training in modern martial arts and instead focus my training efforts exclusively on classical and traditional, especially Taoist, approaches to martial culture.
