with Sensei Clifford “Chick” Moody
I first encountered the writing of Shinmen Takezo Musashi when I was
eighteen years old. A friend of mine knew that I wanted to become a
“super-hero,” and on his advise I went to a dojo at the intersection of Selby
Avenue and Chatsworth in Saint Paul to begin my training: the Inner Truth
School of Self Defense.
I introduced myself to the Sensei, a white-haired-old-man named Clifford “Chick” Moody, and he asked me what I was doing there…it was test.
“A friend of mine told me to come here,” I said. My response sounded too formal and canned, which tit was. I used a phrase my friend had suggested to me, saying: “I want to learn strategy and self-defense.” It sounded theatrical, even grandiose, but it worked on the gnarly-old-sensei…his demeanor changed; I think in that moment he decided to take me seriously, I don’t know how long that lasted, but I had made it through the door.
While a small group of students (3-4) continued with their stretching and warm-up, Sensei had two of his black belts come to the place where I sat and instructed them to work through a series of blocks, strikes and falls, this gave me an idea of what I should expect to be doing in the course of my training…if I were to begin my studies at the way-place known as Inner Truth.
At the end of the demonstration Sensei gave me a piece of free advice; he told me to read two books, On War, by Carl von Clausewitz; and Go Rin No Sho (The Book of Five Rings) by Musashi.
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, the Way of the Wind, with its roots in the hard forms of Okinawan Karate, Goju Ru and Goju Kiyokai…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, the children of American servicemen who grew up in Japan after World War II and learned the deep knowledge of martial disciple 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 direct wisdom of greatest practitioner of combat strategy the world has ever known…
