Writing by Mark Raugas on classical and traditional martial arts and culture. https://innerdharma.org/ 2026-10-13T16:45:02-07:00 Mark Raugashttps://innerdharma.org/ https://innerdharma.org/ryuha/ 2026-10-11T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-11T08:37:35-07:00

Schools of sword, spear and jūjutsu taught at the Kōbusho or carried by its men into the modern era: the fuller records from my register of schools, with pointers to the rest.

https://innerdharma.org/kenshi/ 2026-10-11T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-11T08:37:35-07:00

Swordsmen, spearmen and jūjutsu teachers of the late Edo, Meiji and early Shōwa periods: the fuller records from my register of practitioners, with pointers to the rest.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/zoku-tokugawa-jikki.html 2026-10-10T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T19:17:31-07:00

The Zoku Tokugawa jikki, the day-by-day chronicle of the last shoguns, records Kōbusho appointments by name. We list the instructors, assistants and trainees made okuzume in 1861, and note how the chronicle treats men taken into shogunal service from the domains.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/kobusho-registers.html 2026-10-09T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T10:55:12-07:00

Three documents for Odani Seiichirō and Amano Shōshō, and a worked example of finding Jikishinkage-ryū swordsmen in the printed bakufu registers of 1860 to 1864 held by the National Diet Library.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/bakumatsu-dantai.html 2026-09-10T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T10:55:12-07:00

Some details on the Yūgeki-tai, Seiei-tai, and Shōgi-tai, late Bakumatsu military units that some Kōbusho figures were attached to.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/kenpo-ryakki.html 2026-09-04T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T10:55:12-07:00

We provide a translation of eight technical sections detailed from the Kenpō ryakki of Kubota Sugane (1839), with an extended note on the nagamaki.

https://innerdharma.org/shugen/kukai-prajna-paramitra.html 2026-09-01T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T09:35:54-07:00

A working translation of Kūkai's Hannya-shingyō hiken (般若心經祕鍵, 818) — the esoteric reading of the Heart Sūtra as the mantra-samādhi of Prajñā Bodhisattva, divided into five sections each keyed to a bodhisattva.

https://innerdharma.org/shugen/haguro-shugen.html 2026-08-15T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T10:55:12-07:00

Haguro Shugendō, its Tengu and Gongen, and the Dewa Sanzan area. An excerpt from 'Shugendō and Heihō'.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/ippusai.html 2026-07-31T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T18:52:51-07:00

Yamada Ippūsai Mitsunori (山田一風斎光徳) studied Jikishin Seitō-ryū as a youth and then studied Yagyū Shinkage-ryū heihō in a faction of the Edo line of that art. Later in life he returned to his first training, and eventually inherited that line of practice.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/shinkage-kyushu.html 2026-07-30T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T10:55:12-07:00

The Kyushu area Shinkage-ryū densho and the Tsuki no Shō of Yagyū Mitsuyoshi both provide descriptions of gokui and kuden level Shinkage-ryū teachings, the first in the form of makimono that list topics and the second in commentary by Mitsuyoshi.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/shinkage-ryu-sotomono_combined.html 2026-07-27T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T10:55:12-07:00

We provide a translation of a text on military strategy by Nabeshima Naotomo, as related to Yamazaki Jinzaemon in 1705 when Nabeshima was ninety years of age. From Fukui 1937's multi-volume work on the Tokugawa.

https://innerdharma.org/shinkage/gokui-1708-1768.html 2026-07-14T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T10:55:12-07:00

Summarizing Karukome's analysis of the content of two Edo period Jikishinkage-ryū transmission documents.

https://innerdharma.org/shinkage/mokuroku-1805.html 2026-07-14T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T10:55:12-07:00

Using NDL cursive OCR models Waseda University Jikishinkage-ryū densho holdings allows us to better gloss commentaries in cursive script as well as small block character notes.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/rikugen-roster.html 2026-07-10T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T10:55:12-07:00

We then provide details from a Kōbusho (講武所) discipline roster from the Rikugun rekishi (陸軍歴史 下), koma 96–108.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/kirigami.html 2026-07-07T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T09:35:54-07:00

A short translation of a matching-rhyme quatrain, brushed on a slip and bound into the front matter of the 1898 Takuan Zenshū, likely by Takuan, that turns on Zen imagery of drifting with conditions and remaining untouched by the world.

https://innerdharma.org/kenshi/matsuoka-yorozu.html 2026-07-05T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-11T08:37:35-07:00

Matsuoka Yorozu (松岡万, 1838–1891): shogunal retainer, sonnō-jōi activist, and swordsman who led the Seiei-tai guarding the retired Yoshinobu.

https://innerdharma.org/kenshi/chuujo-kinnosuke.html 2026-07-05T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-11T08:37:35-07:00

Bakumatsu bannerman (1827-1896) and one of the few Kōbusho men to teach in two disciplines, kenjutsu and jūjutsu; after the Restoration he headed the Seiei-tai guard and led the former retainers who reclaimed the Makinohara plateau for tea.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/taisha.html 2026-06-29T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T10:55:12-07:00

Ming Chinese master of Taisha-ryū and Shugendō practitioner. Some contrasts between Hiko Shugendō and Dewa Shugendō and a digression to a famous school of sword smiths.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/karukome-densho-tables.html 2026-06-23T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T10:55:12-07:00

Summarizing Karukome's research into the composition of written densho of Jikishinkage-ryū, especially where Kashima-centric claims enter the art.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/nativist-shinto.html 2026-06-22T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T10:55:12-07:00

How the nativist undertow inside Edo Sinophilia grew through kokugaku — Motoori Norinaga and Hirata Atsutane — into the kokutai/Kōdō ideology of Imaizumi Sadasuke and the early-Shōwa nationalist milieu of the Ketsumeidan Incident that the budō world brushed against.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/from-ming-to-meiji.html 2026-06-22T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-11T08:37:35-07:00

One thread that affects multiple articles here, whether on kobudō or Japanese religion, is the early Edo importance of Ming Dynasty culture in Japan as being desirable as an influence and the mid-to-late Edo scorn for Qing Dynasty China. This is only amplified in Meiji and beyond.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/kashima-jingu-stelae.html 2026-06-16T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T10:55:12-07:00

A survey of Jikishinkage-ryū memorial steles across Kashima Jingū and Chiba — their texts, and the succession dispute they record.

https://innerdharma.org/kenshi/matsuzaki-namishiro.html 2026-06-15T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-11T08:37:35-07:00

Matsuzaki Namishirō (松崎浪四郎, 1833–1896) of Kurume: his training in Katōda Shinkage-ryū, his musha shugyō and gekken years, the Shunpūkan, and his place in the early kendō world.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/oshima-ryu.html 2026-06-14T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-11T08:37:35-07:00

We examine a densho from 1792 of Ōshima-ryū, a spear tradition stemming from Ōshima Hanroku Yoshitsuna who studied methods passed down from Yuasa Shinroku. Its signature weapon was a long suyari and it held a long-time rivalry with the Hōzōin-ryū.

https://innerdharma.org/kenshi/hakomori-yosaburo.html 2026-06-13T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-11T08:37:35-07:00

Hakomori Yosaburō (箱守与三郎祐郷) taught Jikishinkage-ryū in Makabe-gun, Ibaraki, founded the Genbukan at Shimotsuma in 1904 and was the later Jikishinkage-ryū teacher of Nakayama Tatsusaburō (中山辰三郎).

https://innerdharma.org/kenshi/deishu.html 2026-06-13T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-11T08:37:35-07:00

Takahashi Deishū (高橋泥舟), spear master of the Kōbusho, head of the Yūgeki-tai and one of the three 'Shū' of the Bakumatsu.

https://innerdharma.org/shinkage/sojaku.html 2026-06-02T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-11T10:55:39-07:00

Sōjaku-no-koto (相尺之事; mutual distance or measure) is one of the formal matters listed in historical mokuroku of Jikishinkage-ryū kenjutsu. We examine its relationship to Sino-Japanese philosophical concepts.

https://innerdharma.org/shinkage/hasso.html 2026-06-01T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T09:35:54-07:00

Detail of Hassō Happa from the 1800 Kashima-shinden Jikishinkage-ryū Hōjō densho of Naganuma Tadasato, copied by Ogawa Yashichi, its place in Hōjō swordsmanship, and how the eight phases may relate to the eight extremes of Daoist Huainanzi geography.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/kodachi.html 2026-05-30T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T09:35:54-07:00

Discussion of kodachi and habiki practice in Jikishinkage-ryū Seitō-ha as informed by an examination of Saitō Akinobu (1901) Gokui Kyōju Zukai, explaining brief oral teachings.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/ogasawara-nitto.html 2026-05-29T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T09:35:54-07:00

The writings and practice of Ogasawara Genshinsai, his travels in late Ming China, and what Wú Shū's 1662 preface shows about the direction of sword transmission between Japan and China.

https://innerdharma.org/shinkage/phases-elements.html 2026-05-26T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T10:55:12-07:00

A brief discussion of the seasonal mappings of kata in Jikishinkage-ryū kenjutsu and how those relate to Daoist complementarity, five phase theory, and partially to Mikkyō concepts.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/on-teaching.html 2026-04-30T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-11T08:37:35-07:00

A poem by Yu Xin (513-581) evokes some thoughts on training and teaching — the importance of solo practice, the results of different experiments in teaching, why it is best to be cautious before taking on new obligations.

https://innerdharma.org/mindset/gokui-analysis.html 2026-04-23T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-11T08:37:35-07:00

Reflections on researching and writing about inner principles of Japanese swordsmanship and relating those back to philosophical topics.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/taiji-intro.html 2026-04-10T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T10:55:12-07:00

Tàijíquán, along with Xíngyìquán and Bāguàzhǎng, forms the core of the internal martial arts, distinguished by their grounding in Daoist philosophy and Nèigōng practices.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/id-twenty.html 2025-12-20T00:00:00-08:00 2026-10-11T08:41:36-07:00

Reflecting on twenty years of writing on martial arts, the integration of internal principles into classical swordsmanship, and a concluding pilgrimage to Japan.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/evolution-kata.html 2025-11-01T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-13T16:44:57-07:00

A short essay adapted from some correspondence where I examine the evolution of kata over time and how that relates to free practice, and the original combative intent of older martial traditions.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/yawara-overview.html 2025-10-12T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T10:55:12-07:00

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.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/tenchijin.html 2025-06-30T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T10:55:12-07:00

Reading the kata of Jikishinkage-ryū through kuzushi — from the hidden order of initiative in tō-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.

https://innerdharma.org/budo/taiji-layers.html 2025-05-21T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-08T12:06:52-07:00

Stages of training and how that relates to internal martial arts principles and the organization of older martial traditions.

https://innerdharma.org/shugen/vajra-yoga.html 2025-04-03T00:00:00-07:00 2026-10-10T09:35:54-07:00

Last year I began additional training in the union of Yoga and Buddhism offered through Tibet House. A short essay comparing the Astanga of Patañjali with the Buddhist Noble Eightfold path.