Japanese Swordsmanship
Gassan Kenpō
I studied several approaches to classical Japanese swordsmanship before moving to Seattle in 2016. Chief among them was an unofficial line of Kashima-shinden Jiki Shinkage-ryū maintained at the Hōbyōkan following the teachings of Namiki Yasushi and Itō Masayuki. I received a Hōbyōkan chuden menjo from Dr. David Hall in 2018.
Since that time, I have continued traditional katageiko, conducted analyses of kata in a process called kuzushi and performed combative pressure testing called tameshi-ai. In doing this, my practice has become increasingly influenced by my continued study of internal martial arts.
Gassankan is the Japanese reading of Yuèshān Guǎn,
which is the ongoing
training activity I maintain in
traditional Chinese martial arts. Kenpō is read as jianfa
in Mandarin — Gassan Kenpō [
Where To Train
From 2018 to 2025 I worked with a small number of people at Lonin League in Seattle on traditional Jiki Shinkage-ryū kata and free practice called jigeiko — for those interested, some video is available online.
Besides the Hōbyōkan where I learned, related study groups include:
- The Ryūzukan is led by two of my Hōbyōkan sempai: Brian Wagner and Chris Covington; they are senior pracititioners of Daito-ryū aiki-jujutsu in the line of Tokimune Takeda and Kondo Katsuyuki.
- >David Sims, another of my Hōbyōkan sempai, is now a formal member of Kashima-shinden Jikishinkage-ryū Naganuma-ha holding the rank of reikenden. He lives in North Carolina.
- Tōsha Dōjō
[
闘者道場 ] is the practice I began at Lonin League now led by my senior students Jake Harlin and Nicky Sayah Sina under at Lonin League in Seattle. They focus on hōjō, tō-no-kata, and jigeiko. - Yōshin Kage Dōjō is a training activity in jujutsu and kenjutsu led by Michael Heiler in Washington, DC.
There are a number of formal lines of Jikishinkage-ryū surviving in Japan. I have collected video clips of Jikishinkage-ryū practice from Japan.