Gassankan: Moon Mountain Hall

Updated:

月山館

The name of my continued practice is 月山館, which is read as Gassankan in Japanese and Yueshan Guan in Mandarin. The name translates as Moon Mountain School and is named after the Gassan Dai-jinja shrine of Dewa Sanzan, which is an important area in shugendō. It was while on retreat there that I decided to shift from practicing modern goshin-jutsu to classical and traditional martial arts. I include its characters in my dōjō name as a reminder of that important time in my life.