內法
[ home | arts | classes | essays | refs ]
Inner Dharma began in 2005 as a blog providing periodic essays on traditional martial arts and culture. I want to thank its readers for their interest and feedback. I no longer maintain a blog but over time I have combined and expanded some of my writing into longer form. Some of these revised essays can be found below:
- 30 March 2025
essay: Kiai is Not a Sound – Reviving Shin-no-Shinkage heihō
Discussing my study of Japanese swordsmanship in the context of internal martial arts principles and esoteric Buddhist practice.
- 15 February 2025
essay: Enren – Continued Circles
Analysis (kuzushi) of the final section of Jikishinkage-ryū to-no-kata.
- 09 September 2024
essay: Divergence and Unification in Shinkage-ryū
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.
- 16 February 2023
essay: General Qi Jiguans’s Jixiao Xinshu and Reflections on Claims of Martial Virtue
An essay published at Kogen Budo, where I look at some older writings from Japanese koryu that reference classical Chinese military treatises, and then examine how practices described in those works may be represented in arts surviving today.
- 14 May 2020
essay: Gogyō Exegesis
An essay describing my experience, thinking, and choices regarding attempting to practice multiple koryū and then deciding not to.
- 23 February 2017
essay: Aiki and Internal Training
Collected thoughts on the historical influence of Chinese martial arts on Japanese jujutsu and how they relate to the topic of aiki in Aikido and Daito-ryu. What interested me about internal martial arts and how I have related that experience to my practice of Japanese budō.
- 17 June 2013
essay: NAMT Night of Budo 2013 – an analysis
A brief reflection on a demonstration of Araki-ryū and Tenshin Buko-ryū at the NAMT 2013 Night of Budo.