Hurricane martial arts instructor named member of centuries-old Japanese ninja clan

HURRICANE — A Hurricane martial arts instructor has received the honor of being the first person outside of Japan to be named a member of the Musashi Ninshi (or Ninja) Clan, a prestigious samurai order that dates back more than four centuries.

Promotional flyer for Raven Self Defense Academy in Hurricane, highlighting its recent designation as “Utaka-Ha Honbu Dojo” by the Musashi Clan. | Image courtesy of Raven Cain, St. George News

Raven Cain, who owns and operates Raven Self Defense Academy in Hurricane, said he has received official permission to use the Musashi name in the title of his dojo.

“To have a direct tie to an ancient shinobi samurai clan is pretty unique,” Cain told St. George News. “It’s pretty neat, because this is probably one of the biggest things you could achieve as a martial artist. I didn’t really achieve it; it is more like an honor to be a part of it.”

Cain said the Musashi clan was part of the Tokugawa Shogunate that originated in 1582. 

The shinobi samurai were the instructors who trained and taught the samurai to be proficient in various skills, Cain noted.

Nowadays, the shinobi samurai within the Musashi Clan continue to provide specialized training in a wide variety of disciplines, he added.

“It’s not just martial arts and weapons training,” Cain said. “They do a lot of intelligence gathering. There are also people who specialize in horses, falconry and oriental medicine.”

The samurai didn’t just learn to be warriors, he added, noting that many of them were also proficient gardeners, musicians, chefs and artists.

Raven Cain at Raven Self Defense Academy, Hurricane, Utah, April 6, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News

“They always had that other side,” he said. “It’s never been about just war and fighting. It’s always been about betterment of yourself, and following these different things that help you grow as an individual.”

Along those same lines, Cain says the skills he teaches at his dojo can be applied to a variety of life situations.

“You may never get into a fight, but martial arts can help you in all the different aspects of your life,” he said. “That’s what I’m really good at: showing you how to apply these combat skills to not only just how to defend yourself, but also if you have a business, how do you use that strategy? Or, if you want to improve your relationship with your spouse, how do you use that if you want to have better communication skills with them, or with other people around you? How do you use it if you want to get a promotion?”

Another aspect that martial arts teaches, Cain said, is exerting control over one’s own body.

“Personally, I once fell off a waterfall that almost killed me,” he said. “But because of my martial arts, I landed on a boulder and was able to avoid getting seriously injured, rolled back into the water, and then I fell off another waterfall. Still, I survived. I got out of the water and I was fine. I was banged and bruised up, but I didn’t have anything broken and I wasn’t dead. Most people who took the fall that I took would have died.”

“Martial arts is knowing how to relax and how to be calm under pressure,” he said. “It’s knowing how to maneuver your body and knowing how to fall properly.”

Martial arts principles can also be readily applied to team sports, Cain added.

“Ultimately, it’s you against you, whether it be football, baseball or ice skating,” he said. “It’s always going to be you against you … you becoming better, and yes, the team. But the team supports the collective. So if each of the individuals are getting better, the whole team gets better.”

Raven Cain at Raven Self Defense Academy, Hurricane, Utah, April 6, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News

Cain spoke of his love for the Japanese culture as he proudly showed off the new certificate that hangs in the entryway of his business, dated March 21, 2022, proclaiming the “Utaka-Ha Honbu Dojo” (RavenHawk Official Martial Arts Place) as a member of the Musashi Ninshi Clan. Cain was also given the honorary title “O-sensei,” meaning master teacher.

“I’ve always been very fascinated with Japanese culture ever since I was a little kid,” he said.  “At five years old, when I got exposed to judo and jujitsu, and the beauty of the culture and the respect and the discipline.”

“It’s just fascinated me my whole entire life,” he said, adding that it even brought him into becoming a follower of Buddhism. 

“So to get a direct connection to an ancient Japanese shinobi samurai clan is unbelievable,” he said. “It is the biggest honor of my whole entire life. I can’t stress the importance of it, because being the only American official representative … the only one that is able to say, you are representing the Musashi Clan, is an unbelievable honor.”

“It’s just like being nominated President of the United States, for me,” he added. “It’s that important to me. It’s that big of a deal.”

“And now what’s cool about it is, I’ll be able to show people the authentic Japanese way of doing the martial arts but in a modern American kind of perspective. So keep the reality, the realistic nature of our culture, but apply the beauty and the philosophy and the authenticity of the Japanese culture, right here in Southern Utah.”

To learn more about the Musashi Ninshi (Ninja) Clan, click here to watch an introductory five-minute video on YouTube.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!