Writing
The Truth of the Calm Spirit
For more information on Kashima-shinden Jikishinkage-ryū in English, please see:
- M. Raugas, The Truth of the Calm Spirit: The practice of Shinkage-ryū Heihō as Taoist Internal Alchemy (opens in a new tab), Inner Dharma, 2025.
This is a collected set of works that stem from martial arts essays centered around Shinkage-ryū, which were first hosted online at Inner Dharma (opens in a new tab) – that blog contains some of my personal training narrative.
- From the Kōbusho to the Butokukai: Japanese Swordsmanship in Transition (opens in a new tab), Inner Dharma, 2026.
A survey of the late-Edo and early-modern institutions around Japanese kenjutsu — the Kōbusho, gekken-kōgyō, the Battōtai, the Keishichō police schools, the Dai Nippon Butokukai and the Busen — together with a register of the schools and teachers who carried the arts through their modern transformation.
Primary sources
Classical manuscripts and archival documents, with archive and shelfmark where held.
“Jikishinkage-ryū Hisho Ichi (直心影流秘書一).” n.d. Suzuka-ke monjo (鈴鹿家文書), All Japan Kendo Federation (全日本剣道連盟蔵). institutional holding. The seven kata categories including sayanouchi.
Yamada Mitsunori. n.d. “Heihō Zakki (兵法雑記).” Tōkyō Naganuma Shōbee-ke (東京長沼正兵衛家蔵). family holding. Held by the Tōkyō Naganuma Shōbee house.
Takahashi Shigeharu. 1686. “Keiko Hōjō Jo narabini Riuta (稽古法定序幷理歌).” Tōkyō Naganuma Shōbee-ke (東京長沼正兵衛家蔵). family holding. Held by the Tōkyō Naganuma Shōbee house.
“Jikishinkage-ryū mokuroku (直心影流目録), Meiwa 5 (1768).” 1768. Waseda University, Kotenseki Sōgō Database. ケ05 01032 0001 · public scan; downloadable. Primary MS; the 1768 Meiwa-5 mokuroku of the same Waseda series. Yoshida Katsunori autograph addressed to Isaki Masaki, with verso transmission endorsements (Tenpō 14 / 1843).
“Jikishinkage-ryū mokuroku (直心影流兵法目録添状), Meiwa 5 (1768).” 1768. Waseda University, Kotenseki Sōgō Database. http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/ke05/ke05_01032/ke05_01032_0002/. ケ05 01032 0002 · public scan; downloadable. Primary MS; the 1768 Meiwa-5 mokuroku of the same Waseda series. Yoshida Katsunori autograph addressed to Isaki Masaki, with verso transmission endorsements (Tenpō 14 / 1843).
“Ōga Ikken (大禾一件).” 1773. Tōkyō Naganuma Shōbee-ke (東京長沼正兵衛家蔵). family holding. Held by the Tōkyō Naganuma Shōbee house.
Kawasaki Tōnojō Yoshioi. 1789. “Sayanouchi Hidensho (鞘之内秘伝書).” Suzuka-ke monjo (鈴鹿家文書), All Japan Kendo Federation. institutional holding. The 54-form sayanouchi figure; license from Naganuma Tadasato, 1789.
“Jikishinkage-ryū Hōjō (直心影流法定) — Naganuma Tadasato; copied by Ogawa Yashichi.” 1800. Waseda University, Kotenseki Sōgō Database (早稲田大学古典籍総合データベース). ケ05 01032 0003 · public scan; downloadable. Primary MS; stable identifier. The 1800 Hōjō colophon (Naganuma Shōbee = Tadasato; copyist Ogawa Yashichi; Edo Mizaka). Part of the series ケ05 01032 0001/0002/0003 (the 1768 Meiwa-5 mokuroku; the 1768 leaf; the 1800 Hōjō).
Takeda-ryū gungaku zensho (武田流軍学全書). 1935. Takeda-ryū Gungaku Zensho Kankōkai
(武田流軍学全書刊行会).
Secondary scholarship
Modern scholarship, reference works and tabulations.
Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū Hyakuren-kai —
"Kashima Jingū no kanren shisetsu"
(鹿島神宮の関連施設). n.d. Hyakuren-kai (百錬会), https://100ren.jimdoweb.com/. Transcription and photographs of the 1968 founder’s stele
and the four Kashima Jingū monuments. The site asserts
copyright over its images; obtain permission or use your
own photographs for publication. Tradition-internal
source.
Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū — Issei-kai
(鹿島神傳直心影流 一誠会). n.d. Issei-kai homepage and "Rekidai Dōtōsha"
(歴代道統者) page, https://www.isseikaiweb.com/. The hakkō ichiu preamble and the lineage list.
Tradition-internal; not independent of the line.
Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū — lineage
tabulations. n.d. Nihon Kobudō Kyōkai (日本古武道協会) entry;
Issei-kai (一誠会) "Rekidai Dōtōsha" (歴代道統者)
List. Source of the formal dōtō styles. Tradition-internal
house tabulations — corroborative of formal names, not
independent of the line.
Naganuma Kunisato (長沼国郷). n.d. Kōdansha, Nihon Jinmei Daijiten+Plus
(講談社『日本人名大辞典+Plus』), via Kotobank. Dates: 1688–1767.
Jikishinkage-ryū (直心影流). n.d. Heibonsha, Kaitei-shinpan Sekai Daihyakka Jiten
(平凡社『改訂新版 世界大百科事典』), entry
By Nakabayashi Shinji (中林信二), via Kotobank. The Naganuma family as hereditary Numata instructors.
Hakkō ichiu (八紘一宇). n.d. Japanese Wikipedia. Orientation on the slogan’s 1903 coinage by Tanaka Chigaku
and its wartime adoption; corroborate against print
scholarship before citing in print.
Jikishinkage-ryū kenjutsu (直心影流剣術). n.d. Japanese Wikipedia. General lineage; the 称郷 terminus and the Kanō /
Wasato note — a pointer, not a source of record.
Hobsbawm, Eric, and Terence Ranger. 1983. The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge University Press. Especially Hobsbawm’s "Introduction: Inventing Traditions"
— frame for the invented-tradition reading.
Hardacre, Helen. 1989. Shinto and the State, 1868–1988. Princeton University Press. Standard scholarly account of the formation and contested
boundaries of "State Shinto."
Tominaga Kengo. 1996. Kendō Gohyaku-nen Shi (剣道五百年史). Shimazu Shobō (島津書房). Tsunasato and the 正兵衛家.
Numata-shi Shi, Shiryō-hen 2: Kinsei (沼田市史
資料編2 近世). 1997. Numata City (沼田市). p. 967 — the approx. 3,000-student figure and Numata-han
context.
Nagao Susumu. 1999. “A Study on the Process of Change in Quality of the
Japanese-Swordplay in the Eighteenth Century : Mainly in
the Analysis of Gekken-Sodan.” Memoirs of Institute of Humanities, Meiji University 45 (March): 121–33.
Cited in: The Naganuma-ha Jikishinkage-ryū
Nakamura Tamio. 1999. “Bakumatsu Kantō kenjutsu ryūha denpa keitai no kenkyū
(2) (幕末関東剣術流派伝播形態の研究(2)).” Fukushima Daigaku Kyōiku Gakubu Ronshū: Shakai Kagaku
Bumon (福島大学教育学部論集 社会科学部門) 66: 65–72. The genealogy underlying Karukome’s two-house account.
Iwasa Masaru. 2005. Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū
(鹿島神伝直心影流). Budō Shinkōkai (武道振興会). Lineage chart, p. 18 — source of the 宗家長沼派 /
別家長沼派 labels.
Hall, David A. 2013. Encyclopedia of Japanese Martial Arts. Kodansha USA. Firmest English-language reference for the Hyakuren-kai,
Seitō-ha and modern Odani-ha lines (Namiki–Itō). Hall
is himself a practitioner in this line (studied under
Namiki and Itō), so on the line’s own succession claims
this is participant testimony, not independent
corroboration.
Karukome Katsutaka. 2013. “Jikishinkage-ryū no bunpa ni tsuite no ichikōsatsu
(直心影流の分派についての一考察).” Budōgaku Kenkyū (武道学研究) 46 (1). The Naganuma / Fujikawa / Odani branch taxonomy.
Karukome Katsutaka. 2013. “Jikishinkage-ryū ni kansuru kenkyū
(直心影流に関する研究).” PhD thesis, University of Tsukuba (筑波大学). Decisive source for the two-house split
(四郎左衛門家 / 正兵衛家): Tadasato as second
head of the 別家, the generational dates, the Edo Mizaka
locus and the sayanouchi material.
Karukome Katsutaka. 2015. “Jikishinkage-ryū no seiritsu to sono denkei oyobi denshō
ni kansuru ichikōsatsu
(直心影流の成立とその伝系及び伝承に関する一考察).” Budōgaku Kenkyū (武道学研究) 47 (3): 119–38. Formation and transmission lines.
Karukome Katsutaka. 2020. Jikishinkage-ryū no kenkyū (直心影流の研究). Kokusho Kankōkai (国書刊行会). Monograph build-out of the dissertation.