Below you can find some writing by Mark Raugas (opens in a new tab) on Kashima-shinden Jikishinkage-ryū kenjutsu and related arts:
Books
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The Truth of the Calm Spirit (opens in a new tab). Inner Dharma, 2025. 368 pages. An examination of the practice of Jikishinkage-ryū kenjutsu through the lens of internal martial arts.
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From the Kōbusho to the Butokukai: Swordsmanship in Transition (opens in a new tab). Inner Dharma, 2026. 360 pages. The late Edo period Kōbusho, the martial academy of the Tokugawa, its swordsmen and their styles, and the institutions that followed it into the modern era.
Articles
- Yamada Ippūsai Mitsunori (opens in a new tab): 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. innerdharma.org, July 2026
- Comparing the Heihō Zakki (1708) to the Mokuroku Kudensho (1764) (opens in a new tab): Summarizing Karukome’s analysis of the content of two Edo period Jikishinkage-ryū transmission documents. innerdharma.org, July 2026
- Analysis of Jikishinkage-ryū Densho Commentary (opens in a new tab): 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. innerdharma.org, July 2026
- Evolution of Jikishinkage-ryū Densho (opens in a new tab): Summarizing Karukome’s research into the composition of written densho of Jikishinkage-ryū, especially where Kashima-centric claims enter the art. innerdharma.org, June 2026
- Memorial Steles of Jikishinkage-ryū (opens in a new tab): A survey of Jikishinkage-ryū memorial steles across Kashima Jingū and Chiba — their texts, and the succession dispute they record. innerdharma.org, June 2026
- Denkei (Formal Lineage) of Jikishinkage-ryū: Examining factions of Jikishinkage-ryū and their practice in different areas of Japan. June 2026
- Fixed measurement and the three accordances (opens in a new tab): 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. innerdharma.org, June 2026
- Eight Phases and Eight Extremes (opens in a new tab): 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. innerdharma.org, June 2026
- Kodachi: The ura of Hōjō (opens in a new tab): 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. innerdharma.org, May 2026
- Late Ming Chinese Influence on Ogasawara Genshinsai (opens in a new tab): 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. innerdharma.org, May 2026
- A-Un, Gogyō, Godai and Beyond (opens in a new tab): 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. innerdharma.org, May 2026
- On Researching Gokui (opens in a new tab): Reflections on researching and writing about inner principles of Japanese swordsmanship and relating those back to philosophical topics. innerdharma.org, April 2026
- Sente, Kuzushi and Marobashi (opens in a new tab): Reading the kata of Jikishinkage-ryū through kuzushi — from the hidden order of initiative in tō-no-kata, through the turning point at its capstone, to the close-quarter application of kodachi — framed by the triad of heaven, earth, and man. innerdharma.org, June 2025
- Hōjō ken Kokoro-e sho (opens in a new tab): 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. innerdharma.org, December 2024
