Musashi Miyamoto – Kinsei, and Sensei Clifford “Chick” Moody

I first encountered the writing of Musashi when I was eighteen years old.

A friend of mine knew that I wanted to become a “super-hero,” and on the I went to a dojo at the intersection of Selby Avenue and Chatsworth in Saint Paul: the Inner Truth School of Self Defense.

I introduced myself to the Sensei, Clifford “Chick” Moody, a white haired gnarly old man, and he asked me what I was doing there.

“I am following the advice of my friend,” I told him, “I want to learn strategy and self-defense.”

My words came out a bit formal and canned (which they were, Mark suggested that I use those words), they sounded a bit theatrical and grandiose, but it worked on the ancient and grizzly, tough looking Sensei Moody.

His demeanor visibly changed; I think in that moment he decided he could take me seriously (I don’t know how long that lasted).

While the rest of his students continued with their warm-up, he had two of his black belts come to the place where I sat; he instructed them to work through a series of blocks and strikes and falls, to give me an idea of what I could expect the course of training would be…if I were to begin my studies at the way place.

At the end of the demonstration Sensei gave me a piece of free advice; he told me to read two books from two authors, On War, by Carl von Clausewitz; and The Go Rin No Sho (Book of Five Rings) by Musashi Miyamoto.

For the next three years I trained at the dojo: three hours a day, five days a week, with one-on-one training after regular sessions ended on Sundays, where I practiced knife and hatchet throwing, blow-gun and other projectiles.

Sensei Moody was a sixth dan. He held black belts and weapons proficiencies in dozens of styles. He taught his own system, which he called Muashi, Way of the Wind, but its roots were in Okinawan Karate, the hard forms of Goju Ru and Goju Kiyokai, and he taught Ninjitsu.

Sensei Moody’s teachers were among those men who brought Japanese martial arts to the United States: Ron Duncan Jr. and Peter Irving, they were children of American servicemen who grew up in Japan after World War II and learned the deep knowledge straight from the source.

There were days when Sensei would have us sit in sanchin while he read from Musashi. It was then that I discovered the greatest practitioner of martial discipline and combat strategy the world has ever known…

…Musashi Miyamoto, Kinsei (Saint of the Sword).

Musashi, Self Portrait c. 1640 ce