Shinkage Heihō (新陰兵法) names the broad grouping of swordsmanship deriving from or influenced by Kamiizumi Ise-no-kami Nobutsuna — Yagyū Shinkage-ryū, Hikita-kage-ryū, the Kyūshū lines, Katōda, and the arts that grew out of them.
For Jikishinkage-ryū — Kashima-shinden, one of the oldest surviving lines — see its own hub, which collects the lineage research, densho analysis and my book The Truth of the Calm Spirit.
Research Articles
July 2026
Attestation, source context, and Biyan lu Case 42 for the Chan gōan phrase carried as a gokui in both Yagyū and Jiki Shinkage-ryū densho.
July 2026
Analysis of the concept Shin-hen Bankyō (心遍萬境; the mind pervades all realms) found in a Kyūshū Shinkage-ryū densho.
June 2026
A brief discourse on the jūjutsu associated or affiliated with different branches of Shinkage-ryū.
June 2026
We discuss details surrounding the martial arts and competitive practices of Matsuzaki Namishirō, master of Katōda Shinkage-ryū kenjutsu.
June 2026
Details on the Kyushu Shinkage-ryū densho depictions of Tengu-shō.
June 2026
Extensive documents from Kyushu in 1766 and how they relate to the Edo area Yagyū and Jikishinkage-ryū densho contents. We find independent corroboration of common Shinkage-ryū influence in these arts at the same time of the writings of Naganuma Kunisato in 1768. Specifically, the gokui section of Jikishinkage-ryū mokuroku overlap substantially with the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū Okugi, suggesting a majority of those concepts were preserved in Jikishinkage-ryū.
May 2026
Some details on the Shugendō of Udo in Kyushu and how it might relate to the founding of Aisu Kage-ryū and the later influence of Shugendō on Shinkage-ryū.
May 2026
Tracing the threads from the legendary Kyō Hachi Ryū and Kiichi Hōgen at Kurama, through the tengu pantheon of Mt. Atago, Kōyasan and Kotohira, to the eight cipher-names Sekishūsai used to hide the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū Tengushō kata in his picture catalog.
May 2026
Examining some evidence for the genesis of upper-level Shinkage-ryū teachings based on information available about Aisu Ikōsai's founding vision of Sarutahiko, Kamiizumi's early training in Kashima, and the arrangement of Shinkage-ryū kata over time.
May 2026
A poem by Fu Dashi (497-569).
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.
