Kashima-shinden Jikishinkage-ryū (鹿島神傳直心影流) is the school of Japanese swordsmanship I maintain a practice of and a focal point of my continued research. I trained at the Hōbyōkan dōjō under David Hall and now mentor a small group in Seattle in order to continue my practice.
Its lineage, teachers and present-day groups are kept at jikishinkageryu.org (opens in a new tab). This page gathers my research on the school: translations and analyses of its densho, its history and its swordsmen. My book The Truth of the Calm Spirit collects my earlier writing on my practice and was composed after the death of David Hall in 2025 based on my training notes and reflections.
Research
Swordsmen of Jikishinkage-ryū
A selection of important 19th and 20th century swordsmen who practiced Kashima-shinden Jikishinkage-ryū, in order of birth when available, providing links to their records hosted at jikishinkageryu.org.
Yamada Ippūsai Mitsunori
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.
Comparing the Heihō Zakki (1708) to the Mokuroku Kudensho (1764)
Summarizing Karukome’s analysis of the content of two Edo period Jikishinkage-ryū transmission documents.
Analysis of Jikishinkage-ryū Densho Commentary
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.
Evolution of Jikishinkage-ryū Densho
Summarizing Karukome’s research into the composition of written densho of Jikishinkage-ryū, especially where Kashima-centric claims enter the art.
Memorial Steles of Jikishinkage-ryū
A survey of Jikishinkage-ryū memorial steles across Kashima Jingū and Chiba — their texts, and the succession dispute they record.
Ibaraki area Jikishinkage-ryū
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).
Fixed measurement and the three accordances
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.
Eight Phases and Eight Extremes
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.
Kodachi: The ura of Hōjō
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.
Late Ming Chinese Influence on Ogasawara Genshinsai
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.
A-Un, Gogyō, Godai and Beyond
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.
Hōjō ken Kokoro-e sho
Text, with a translation, 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.
