Below you will find content from the Inner Dharma writing project concerned with my practice of kenjutsu. I practiced Katori Shintō-ryū at Capital Aikikai from 2005 to 2015, reaching the level of mokuroku. I practiced Jikishinkage-ryū at the Hōbyōkan from 2008 to 2016, reaching the level of chuden. I also have learned portions of the older curriculum of Yagyū Shinkage-ryū.
April 2026
Reflections on researching and writing about inner principles of Japanese swordsmanship and relating those back to my internal martial arts practice.
January 2026
I have collected my notes on Jikishinkage-ryū kenjutsu into a single volume and expanded them with research into Japanese language historical documents and publications on that art. The result is now available as a small book.
December 2025
Reflecting on twenty years of writing on martial arts, the integration of internal principles into classical swordsmanship, and a concluding pilgrimage to Japan.
July 2025
On 26 July 2025, the world lost one of its most knowledgeable teachers and scholars of classical Japanese martial culture.
June 2025
Examining the role of kodachi kata in the progression of skill in Jikishinkage-ryū kenjutsu, with a description of application to close quarter armed grappling.
June 2025
Examining the relationship between combative posture and initiative in a portion of Jikishinkage-ryū. What is first observed may be quite different from hidden layers of meaning and practice.
May 2025
The title is a pun on a famous saying associated to Shintō-ryū, the art of war is the art of peace. Old traditions are small traditions — it is the content that matters.
February 2025
An example of the deconstruction of kata. Kuzushi is the name for the activity of pulling apart and analyzing kata in Shinkage-ryū, making connections between different parts of its curriculum. It also at times can refer to sudden, spontaneous, change.
December 2024
Text 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.
September 2024
Link to an essay on kata, heiho and shugyo, where I compare and contrast different surviving lines of Shinkage-ryū and reflect on my own practice.
June 2024
Tōsha Dōjō is a small training activity that meets weekly as part of Lonin League in Seattle and is focused on traditional kata practice and free sparring with armor and shinai.
February 2023
An essay published at Kogen Budo, where I look at some older writings from Japanese koryū that reference classical Chinese military treatises, and then examine how practices described in those works may be represented in arts surviving today.
September 2021
I provide some information on the organization, goals, and overal training context of my efforts at preserving a practice of Jikishinkage-ryū kenjutsu (heihō) and related arts as part of the Gassankan.
February 2020
A description of some of my efforts to keep my practice of kenjutsu intact after moving to the Pacific Northwest. After moving, I decided to focus solely on Shinkage-ryū and pause my study of Shintō-ryū. I trained initially alone and over time tested my skills in unscripted environments. This is some of what transpired.
August 2019
An essay describing my experience, thinking, and choices regarding attempting to practice multiple koryū and then deciding not to.
September 2018
A discussion of what consititutes proper training intensity in traditional martial arts.
September 2017
I have been spending time at solo practice, consulting with colleagues, and free sparring. I remain inspired by what I see some of the local HEMA community doing with their arts and have benefited from being able to witness some of their skill first hand.
May 2017
There are many challenges that benefit from critical thinking: deciding on an art to practice, finding a good teacher, deciding if a group is no longer the right one, discerning the right training path based one's personal capabilities and interests. These are but some of the decision points a martial artist faces in their career.
March 2017
From 2005 to 2015 I actively trained in an unofficial line of Katori Shintō-ryū and decided not to attempt to resume that practice, even though I now live in a nexus of the art taught in a traditional manner.
November 2014
I am, over time, attempting to focus my kenjutsu practice. I have studied under two schools of Japanese swordsmanship that may once have been related in the distant echoes of time, but now are quite divergent. It is interesting to explore the benefits each provide to a practitioner, and how they relate to my continued focus on internal martial arts.
June 2013
A brief reflection on a demonstration of Araki-ryū and Tenshin Bukō-ryū at the NAMT 2013 Night of Budo by Ellis Amdur a reknowned kobujutsu, Aikidō and internal martial arts researcher and practitioner, demonstrating two arts he has mastered.