Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate is unique in the world of martial arts. Okinawan
Goju-Ryu Karate is very well defined in its history and lineage from the Chinese
Kempo master Ryu Ryu Ko to Kanryo Higashionna (1853-1915) the founder of
Naha-te, to his successor and most devoted student Chojun Miyagi (1888-1953),
the founder of Goju-Ryu Karate and to the accepted head of Goju-Ryu in the world
today, Ei'ichi Miyazato (1928-present). Because of Okinawan Goju-Ryu's 400 years
of traceable, unbroken history, in 1998 the Dai Nippon Butokukai, the society
that governs all Japanese and Okinawan martial arts in Japan, recognized Okinawa
Goju-Ryu as the ONLY form of Karate, Japanese or Okinawan, as an ancient martial
art. Putting Goju-Ryu alongside other Japanese arts like jujutsu and kenjutsu,
which have lineages of over 900 years, is a huge accomplishment. Secondly, since
Karate is Okinawan by birth, makes such an honour by Japanese society that much
more impressive.
Goju-Ryu's history is a culmination of the native "te" arts of Okinawa
which date back over 1000 years, the introduction of Chinese kempo into the
Okinawan te arts in around 1372 and the direct study by Higaonna Sensei and
Miyagi Sensei in China. Since Okinawa was an annexed tributary state of China
until the last part of the 19th century, hundreds of envoys and delegations were
sent to Okinawa. This rapidly increased the spread of Chinese arts into the
Okinawan culture. In 1477, King Sho Shin proclaimed a ban on all weapons by
peasants and nobility alike. This ban was an attempt to put down any rebellious
activities and secure his rule of Ryukyu. In addition, he ordered all members of
nobility to live within the confines of Shuri Castle where he could keep an eye
on any potential throne seekers. Except by the palace nobility, this began the
secret practice of the martial arts, both empty handed and weapons, by the
common people in Okinawa. The Satsuma Samurai Clan, after being exiled from
Japan, invaded Okinawa and stormed Shuri Castle. Okinawa became a puppet state
of the Satsuma Clan but kept a false loyalty with the Chinese Emperor. It is a
misconception that the Okinawans and the Japanese Samurai battled each other.
The Samurai depended on the Okinawans for food, labour and other goods.
Therefore, they protected the Okinawans from bandits, piracy, looting, etc. and
in return the Okinawans gave a form of devotion and loyalty.
The abolishment of the Samurai class wearing the sword and top-knot, marked by
the downfall of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the beginning of the Mejii
Restoration Era in 1868, brought Japan and Okinawa out of the age of feudalism
and in to "democracy". The Mejii Era focused on promoting education
and etiquette to increase morality, nationalism and Japaneseness. The new
society eagerly endorsed sports and recreation to advance these new virtues and
modern martial arts were born. The secret practices of Ryukyu Kempo
(toudi-jutsu) was no longer necessary and began to emerge openly as a part of the
Okinawan culture. Demonstrations for the Royalty of Okinawa and Japan helped
bring about an acceptance by the Japanese people. After the turn of this
century, Okinawan Karate began to mould in accordance with Japanese society. This
helped ensure its acceptance by the influential Japanese martial society and
secure Karate's continued practice and growth. Karate was introduced into the
school systems in Okinawa and underwent some radical innovations with the
emphasis shifting from self-defence to physical fitness. The more dangerous
moves and their applications were taken out and thus began a new tradition. This
radical change represented the end of what was once a complex and lethal form of
self-defence. Originally, the ideograms for Karate meant "China Hand",
with the first character pronounced "tou" or "kara"
representing China's Tang dynasty(618-907). This serves to show the strong ties
that Okinawa had with China. 1905 was the first time the present character for
"kara" was used. It means "empty" or "void", but
not in the sense of a weapon oless art as most intend. Here in, kara comes to
represent a deeper, spiritual embodiment of more than just the physical aspect
of martial arts training. Through diligent physical, mental and moral
development, the Karate practitioner is unlimited or "void of limits"
in their abilities to accomplish the most difficult of tasks. The same suffix
"-do", as used in judo, kendo, aikido and other arts means
"way" or "path". The new suffix replaced the old one,
"-jutsu" meaning science or art, making Karate-Do another avenue by
which the Japanese could teach and spread harmony. An attempt to organize all
Okinawan Karate styles into a single collaboration under Japanese auspices was
interrupted by WWII. Most of the Shuri-te and Tomari-te schools(Shoryn-Ryu) had
begun the transition, but Goju-Ryu had not been affected by the disintergration
and re-organization process. There are many schools of Karate in the world
today, all of which can trace their roots back to Okinawa. However, originally
there existed only three styles, each of which was named after the city or
region in which it evolved. These are Tomari-te, Shuri-te and Naha-te. The
Tomari-te and Shuri-te styles unified to become known as Shorin-Ryu, which has
splintered into scores of other styles including Shotokan, Wado-Ryu, Isshin-Ryu,
Kiyoshinkai, TaeKwonDo and TangSooDo. Naha-te has remained in its purest form
and became known as Goju-Ryu. Kata of are the backbone of Okinawan Karate. It is
through KATA that a style breathes the lives and history of its past into the
modern practitioner. The naming of Goju-Ryu came more by accident than by
intention. Shinzato Jin'an, who was Miyagi's senior student in 1930, gave a
public demonstration while in Japan. When asked what this unique style of
self-defence was called, he could not answer as there was no need to define
self-defence into styles as the Japanese had done for centuries. Upon his return
to Okinawa, he discussed with Miyagi what had transpired and Miyagi decided it
was necessary to have a name for his art in order to cooperate with other
Japanese martial arts and to identify his unique style. He was the first of the
Okinawan masters to name his art. Although he named his art Goju-Ryu, he seldom
used the name nor did he raise any signs using it. "Go" means hard and
"Ju" means soft. Though there are much deeper meanings, Goju-Ryu
literally means the "Hard and Soft School".
The history of Goju Ryu can be traced back to a man named Master Kanryo
Higashionna, approx 1840-1910, known as the "Fist Saint of Naha". Naha
city in Okinawa was thriving with martial arts activity in the 1850's. Along
with practitioners from the towns of tomari and Shuri, the Naha karatekas were
laying the groundwork for the development of modern karate-do and kobudo
(weaponry). But although Higashionna began his training here, the true seeds of
Goju were not planted in Okinawa but in China.
Kanryo Higashionna went to China and studied there under a man by the name of
Master Woo (Ruin Japanese), who was a practitioner of Chinese boxing.
Higashionna trained under Master Woo for approximately 15 to 20 years. On his
return to Okinawa he combined his native fighting system with the Chinese system
and became the father of Naha-te (Fist of Naha). It didn't take long before his
fame spread throughout the island and students started to come to him for
tuition. Among them was a student by the name of Chojun
Miyagi.
Chojun Miyagi was born in Naha as the son of a wealthy businessman on April 25,
1888. Miyagi began his study in karate at the age of nine or eleven. In his
early teens he became the student of Master Kanryo Higashionna. Under the
tutelage of his Master, Miyagi underwent a very long and arduous period of
training. After the death of Master Kanryo
Higashionna, Miyagi travelled to the
Fukien Province in China as his teacher had done before him. In China he studied
the shaolin and pa kua forms of Chinese Boxing. From the blending of these
systems, -one the hard/external form of shaolin, the other the soft
circular/internal form of pa kua and his native Naha-te a new system emerged.
However, it was not until 1929 that Chojun Miyagi named the system Goju Ryu,
meaning hard soft style. The name was inspired by the `eight precepts' of
traditional Chinese Boxing, quote: Everything in the universe breathes out
(hard) and in (soft) ... etc. After some years in China, Chojun Miyagi returned
to Naha where he opened a dojo (training hall). He taught for many years, and
even though Miyagi's reputation as a karate man was enormous, his greatest
achievements lie in the organization of karate teaching methods. He introduced
karate into schools and other fields of society. He developed Kata Sanchin - the
hard aspect of Goju, and created Kata Tensho - the soft aspect. These kata's are
considered to be the essence of the Goju style. Chojun Miyagi was a man of
extremely mild temperament and it is said that he was a very humble man. He
lived according to the principles of Martial Art's, that of none violence.
Master Miyagi died on Okinawa on October 8, 1953.
Gogen Yamaguchi was born on January 20, 1909, in Kagoshima city on southern
Kyushu. Already as a youngster he showed great interest in the Martial Arts.
During his early school days he trained kendo, (Japanese fencing) and it was
during this time that he started his karate training under the tutelage of Mr.
Maruta, a carpenter from Okinawa. Mr. Maruta who was a Goju practitioner was
drawn to the young Yamaguchi's serious attitude and his willingness to train
hard. Mr Maruta taught Yamaguchi all he knew about the Goju system.
During his college days as a law student, Yamaguchi established his first karate
club at the Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. Soon the dojo became famous
in the city, known for it's hard training and fierce breathing exercise. In
those days karate men practised only kata (formal movements) and yakusoku kumite
(prearranged sparring) and were unable to have matches between each other since
they did not hold back their techniques. It was during this period that
Yamaguchi created the first stages towards what is known as jyu kumite (free
fighting) and established rules to decide the winner of a match. Some of the
rules are still in use today in what is known as sport or competition karate.
In 1931, at the age of 22, Gogen Yamaguchi was introduced to the founder of the
Goju style, - Master Chojun Miyagi. This meeting proved to have a profound
affect upon Yamaguchi's outlook on karate. Previously he had only considered the
hard aspect of Goju but after his meeting with Master Miyagi he was determined
to train himself spiritually as well as physically. Master Miyagi thought highly
of Yamaguchi who seemed to have mastered the hard aspect of Goju so well and
gave him the nickname Gogen, meaning `Rough'. He then appointed Gogen Yamaguchi
as his successor of the Goju school in Japan.
During the years to follow Gogen Yamaguchi often spent long stays at Mount
Kurama where he subjected himself to ascetic exercises and hard training with
sanchin, meditation and fasting. Between 1938-1945 he was sent to Manchuria on
government and military assignments. On several occasions during his stay there,
he could thank his skills in karate and his mental training that he stayed
alive. During the Japanese-Russian war -45 Yamaguchi was taken prisoner of war
and sent to a prison camp in Mongolia. He was kept there under harsh conditions
for two years. Once again his strength and skill were severely put to the test.
During all these years he still continued to train and develop Goju-karate.
After his release and return to Japan, Yamaguchi became one of the most exciting
figures in karate history. Known throughout the world as the `cat' because of
his grace and speed in movement and because of his favourite fighting stance
which is called neko ashi dachi (cat stance).
Copyright © 1999 WSGKO
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