Mountain, Sword, and Mind Vol I and II

22 September 2026

Mountain, Sword, and Mind is a project on the influence of mountain religion on medieval Japanese martial arts that began on Inner Dharma and grew into two volumes, spanning almost nine hundred pages.

1. The first volume is a survey of the influence of Shugendō on Muromachi and early Edo martial traditions, which details some of the religious figures and rites associated to that religion.
2. The second volume is centered around Yagyū Shinkage-ryū and its primary sources, related traditions, and modern scholarship on the art, with an emphasis on descriptions of Buddhist influence on its early practitioners and their writing.

Their release wound up being timed with the Autumn Equinox, which is fitting given their emphasis on the cultivation of skill as part of the natural world. I hope you find one or both volumes to be of interest, regardless of whether you practice an older Japanese martial art or are simply interested in Japanese military and religious history.¹

NOTE: An amateur work of this scale would not have been possible without the use of AI – some information on research methods and conventions is available, including the use of automated tools for optical character recognition, translation, search, and proofreading.

If you are interested in these topics, please consider purchasing a copy in order to help support this site.

Volume I: Shugendō and Heihō

(opens in a new tab)

Shugendō and Heihō: Sacred Space and Martial Practice, Mountain, Sword, and Mind, Volume I (opens in a new tab). Inner Dharma, 2026. 397 pages.

Contents Include: Two parts. Inspiration opens with thin places, the peak-entry and the ten realms, on tengu and gongen, En no Gyōja and Rigen Daishi (Shōbō), and an inventory of the Shugen and tengu material in the Bujutsu Sōsho. It then works through the sacred sites and the traditions attached to them, drawing from the Honchō Bugei Shōden (本朝武藝小傳) and Bujutsu Ryūso-roku (武術流祖錄) and other sources: Kuramadera, Atago Dai Gongen, Kashima, Katori, Dewa Sanzan, Kumano Sanzan, Udo Dai Gongen, and Hikosan. Practice turns to the canon’s own pantheon: Kūkai’s Secret Key to the Heart Sūtra, the endonkai precepts and Monju Bosatsu. It then discusses deities in three groups: the Esoteric Ground (Fudō Myōō, the Five Wisdom Kings, the delusion-cutting sword), the Mountain’s Protectors (Zaō Gongen, Sanbō Kōjin, Māra) and the War Company (Marishiten, Daikoku, Bishamonten). The works closes with a discussion on military Shugendō including the kuji (nine syllables), goshinhō (protective rites), and the Diamond Body.

Volume II: Mikkyō, Zen, and Daoist Sources in Shinkage-ryū

(opens in a new tab)

Mikkyō, Zen, and Daoist Sources in Shinkage-ryū: Reading the Heihō Kadensho, Tsuki no Shō, Honshiki Sanmondō, and Shinpishō, Mountain, Sword, and Mind, Volume II (opens in a new tab). Inner Dharma, 2026. 493 pages.

Contents Include: Six parts. Introduction and the Heihō Kadensho of Yagyū Munenori in its three scrolls — the death-dealing sword, the life-giving sword and the no-sword scroll — read from Fukui’s 1937 edition. A reading of the Tsuki no Shō of Yagyū Mitsuyoshi, works by Takuan — the Taiaki, the Fudōchi Shinmyōroku, and a kirigami verse recovered from the Takuan Zenshū. The Later Tradition — Owari Shinkage Yagyū-ryū, Seikōsui in the Honshiki Sanmondō of Kimura Kyūho, Unchū-ryū, the Edo Yagyū-ryū Shinpishō of Sano Yojizaemon, naming and concealment in the catalogue, Kyushu densho, the Shinkage-ryū Sotomono of Nabeshima Naotomo (1705), and Shinkage-ryū in the Gekiken Sōdan of Mikami Genryū (1790), as well as notes on related topics in Kashima-shinden Jikishinkage-ryū, jūjutsu related to Shinkage-ryū, and Ōshima-ryū.

End Notes