Recommended Schools

Below are links to recommended training opportuntiies in arts whose practitioners and teachers I know and respect.

Internal Martial Arts

☵ Yin Cheng Gong Fa North America (YCGF) is the Chinese internal martial arts organization led by Zhang Yun laoshi, lineal disciple of the late Grandmaster Wang Peisheng. Zhang Yun and his senior students are excellent sources of instruction in Baguazhang, Taijiquan, Xingyiquan, and Tongbeiquan:

• YCGF Group List
• YCGF Pittsburgh
• Impact Martial Arts of Cascadia

I am a formal lineal student of Zhang Yun; my sponsors were Paul Cote and Clayton Shiu. I consider Bagua, Xingyi, and Taiji as taught in North American YCGF to be my primary martial arts practice.

Koryu

The Nippon Kobudo Kyokai website has links to many important koryu in Japan. In the United States, I would like to list several groups I am familiar with.

☵ Araki-ryū Torite Kogusoku is a fierce martial tradition maintained by Ellis Amdur. He also a shihan of the classical naginata school Tenshin Buko-ryū, and maintains a blog called Kogen Budo. Ellis introduced me to my first Bagua instructor in Maryland after I visited a koryu demonstration he participated in at the St Louis Botanical Garden in 2003.

☵ The Shinyokai is an organization led by Toby Threadgill, preserving the Takamura-ha Shindo Yoshin-ryū (TSYR), a late Edo-period style of bujutsu encompassing both armed and unarmed combat in a refreshingly integrated manner. The Shinkyokai website has a comprehensive listing of current branch dojo. I am personally familiar with:

• Murakumo Dojo, a branch dojo located in Portland, Oregon. Its dojo-cho is Doug Walker, who holds a Chuden Menkyo.
• Yoshin Kage Dojo, a branch dojo located in Washington, DC. Its dojo-cho is Michael Heiler, who holds a Shoden Kirigami Mokuroku.

☵ The Hōbyōkan led by David Hall at the National Institute of Health, maintains practices of Shindo Muso-ryu jo, Yagyu Shinkage-ryu heihō, and Jiki Shinkage-ryu kenjutsu. I studied Kashima-shinden Jiki Shinkage-ryū at the Hōbyōkan between 2008 and 2016; receiving a Hōbyōkan chuden menjo in 2018. Two of my students lead a small Jiki Shinkage-ryu practice in Seattle. Training is by invitation only; interested parties can make an appointment to observe a class and discuss what is required to begin training.

Aikido & Aiki-jujutsu

☵ Capital Aikikai is a traditional Aikido dojo in Silver Spring, Maryland, led by Clyde Takeguchi, and hosts a Katori Shinto-ryu dojo I trained with between 2005 and 2015, reaching the level of mokuroku.

☵ The Yushinkan. The Yushinkan is a Daito-ryū Kobukan and Takumakai shibu (branch) in NYC which teaches a traditional form of aiki-jujutsu as passed down by students of Takuma Hisa. The Seattle Aiki Club led by Kenneth Freeman is a related school in the Northwest.

☵ The Ryūzukan (龍頭館) is a Daito-ryū dojo led by Chris Covington and Brian Wagner in Baltimore under the permission of Kondo Katsuyuki. Chris and Brian are my sempai in Jiki Shinkage-ryū.