Gassan Heihō Kenjutsu (月山兵法劔術) is the name of my personal kenjutsu practice. Its core consists of the kenjutsu of Jiki Shinkage-ryū (opens in a new tab) (直心影流) and Yagyū Shinkage-ryū as transmitted by David Hall, together with a small number of kata from other lines of practice.
David Hall trained in Japan under Namiki Yasushi and Itō Masayuki of Jiki Shinkage-ryū Seitō-ha. He was their first Western student, learned the full kata curriculum through the habiki (刃引き; blunted-blade) forms, and demonstrated those practices publicly as their student. In 1981, he was given verbal permission to teach in the United States. He did so, later founding the at the Hōbyōkan in Maryland and working with a small number of people.
I was fortunate to be counted among them.
Gassan Heihō Kenjutsu is not a sanctioned branch (-ha 派) of Shinkage-ryū, nor a new ryū of its own. It is independent practice, continued after my teacher’s death, by someone who received his teaching but does not represent the teachers he learned from.
The word heihō (兵法) is used here in its broader sense — the art of strategy and martial method, not swordsmanship alone. My own study integrates the body mechanics of the Chinese internal martial arts into this practice; examining that synthesis is the subject of my book (opens in a new tab).
We use an older kanji for ken that was commonly used in Edo-period densho.
Gassan Heihō Kenjutsu is my own interpretation and continuation rather than a part of the received tradition of Jikishinkage-ryū, but I feel it is compatible with what I had earlier learned. I keep the distinction between my original training and my current practice deliberate: kata are received, but the internal-mechanics framework pays homage to my formal lineage.
I continue my training in natural settings in the Pacific Northwest. Two of my students are now practitioners in their own right. They have assumed leadership of the weekly class I began in Seattle as part of the Lonin League HEMA cooperative (opens in a new tab).
