Maries County Sheriff’s Office Disarmament Instructor Master Dennis Jasper earned his 8th-degree black belt (Hachi Dan) in Mushin Budo, on Sept. 1, 2025, an accomplishment he has been working toward for more than 50 years. When he isn’t working at the sheriff’s office, Jasper continues to pass on his martial arts and disarmament knowledge at his Dojo in St. James.

At the sheriff’s office, Jasper provides fellow deputies, bailiffs and jailers with knowledge to defend themselves in any situation. He has the years and knowledge to back the training.

“I started in 1970,” said Jasper, who also serves as a bailiff, K-9 officer handler, transport and retention officer for the sheriff’s office.

Jasper was first introduced to martial defense arts when his family moved from Pennsylvania to Alabama.

“I went to a school with 4,000 students and 3,600 were African American,” Jasper remembers, adding that this was during desegregation. “We had 400 white people in the school. I had to fight almost every day on the way home and on the way to school.”

It was after school one day that Jasper recalls walking by a man he described as half Korean, half American.

“One day I was coming home, and I had seen this guy out in the yard, and I didn’t know then, but he was doing what’s called forms,” Jasper noticed. “And so I just sat down, started watching him. He got done, and he walked over, and he’s like, ‘yo study martial arts?’ I said, ‘No, sir.’ He said, ‘Would you like to?’ I said, ‘Yes, sir.’”

Jasper was set to work.

“For three months, I had to wash his car, cut his grass, the whole Karate Kid story, and then after that, I was with him for six years. I didn’t do rank or nothing like that, no belts or anything,” Jasper said.

He stayed with the program from 1970-76, before moving back to his hometown in Pennsylvania. He began hosting a women’s self-defense class in 1977 in the next town over in a library.

“Sensei Neil Caldwell came in and said he could help,” Jasper remembers. “He was a black belt in Goshin Jutsu. I’ve done Goshin, and I got up to a fifth-degree black belt in Goshin in 1980. Neil is now an 8th degree black belt (Hachi Dan) in Mushin Budo.”

By 1984, Jasper had relocated to Fulton, opened his own Dojo, and was teaching self-defense classes, hosting rape prevention seminars for churches. He taped the course in 1989 and sent it to Dai-Soke Matt Durant.

After the senior members watched the video, Jasper earned his fifth-degree black belt.

However, when Grandmaster Matt Durant died in 1991, his son didn’t want to surpass his father in rank.

“He started Mushin Budo, so I started Mushin Budo with him in 1993 and have been with him ever since,” Jasper said.

Jasper earned the seventh level in Mushin Budo in 2020, and spent the next five years working to achieve his eighth level.

“It takes about five years per level,” Jasper said. “It’s not about beating the baddest guy on the floor. It’s about passing the knowledge.”

Jasper has continued to pass on his martial arts and disarmament knowledge at his Dojo in St. James, where he teaches Aikiado, Judo, Kung Fu, Ike Jutsu, American Karate, and Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. He is also the Mushin Budo director for the Midwest.

Around 2014, former Maries County Sheriff Chris Heitman entered the Dojo and requested a demonstration that resulted in Jasper’s hiring at the sheriff’s office. Heitman and his daughter, Landry Heitman, both study under Jasper.

He has served in similar roles at the Department of Corrections. The lesson plan he provided on self-defense techniques in 1986 is still in place today.

“This level of achievement is not just about rank,” Heitman said. “It represents a lifetime of training, teaching, and personal sacrifice. What makes it even more impressive is that Master Jasper continues to give back by volunteering his time and expertise to train law enforcement officers in practical defensive tactics, helping keep officers and communities safer.”

Heitman congratulated Jasper.

“We are honored to train alongside him and call him a mentor, instructor and friend,” he said. “Congratulations, Master Jasper, on a truly outstanding accomplishment. Well earned, and deeply respected.”

Jasper’s Doshin Karate Academy in St. James holds classes from 6 to 7 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays. For more information about classes, contact Jasper at 573-465-4059 or email at knapshunting@yahoo.com.