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Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate
The Hard-Soft School:
The name Goju is quoted from a line in the
Chinese Eight Poems written in the Bubishi, "Ho go ju donto", the way of
inhaling and exhaling is hardness and softness. Goju-Ryu refers to the dual
nature of the style, the "hard" (Go) aspect of Goju is the power and speed of
the techniques, the "soft" (Ju) aspect refers to the relaxation of the body
and the smooth flow of movement, the philosophy of Goju Karate is having a
balance of the two. The Goju-Ryu style believes that the opposites are
complementary. If one is attacked fiercely (Go), then one defends with Ju and
vice versa.
Brief History:
Goju-Ryu has its orgins in Okinawa where
Master Higaonna Kanryo Sensei (1853-1915) who traveled to China to study Kempo
and then returned to Okinawa to integrate it into the Okinawan art of Naha-te.
Miyagi Chojun (1888-1953) was Kanryo Sensei's top student and sucessor to
Okinawan Naha-te, until 1933 when he formally registered the name "Goju-Ryu"
at the Butoku-Kai (the Japanese Martial Arts Association), although Sensei
Miyagi named his system in 1931 from a line from a poem in the book "Bubishi".
Around 1931 Miyagi Chojun, while living in Tokyo, met Gogen "The Cat"
Yamaguchi and together they developed their understanding of karate. When
Sensei Miyagi Chojun died in 1953 Sensei Gogen Yamaguchi became the head of
Goju karate in Japan.
Today karate is highly fractionalized. Some groups identify with the Goju-Kai
organization in Japan, others with Okinawan Goju-Ryu, from its Grandmaster
Kanryo Higaonna, to his deciple Grandmaster Chojun Miyagi, to his uchi deshi
Sensei Miyaga An'ichi to his uchi deshi Sensei Morio Higaonna who today is
head of the International Goju-Ryu Karate-Do Federation (IOGKF).
Story of Okinawa:
Okinawa is the largest of the Ryukyu islands in the West Pacific. During the
14th century the middle part of Okinawa (Chuzan), enered into a subordinate
relationship with China, this relationship included paying tribute to the
Chinese Emperor. The Chuzan Kingdom began to send many people to China
(emissaries, students, businessmen, traders etc.), likewise many Chinese
traveled to Okinawa. As a result of this many Chinese customs and traditions
where adopted to Okinawa, this included an exposure to the Chinese fighting
arts, this began the spread of kempo throughtout Okinawa.
In 1470 the new Sho Dynasity (Reign of King Sho Shin) banned all carrying of
weapons, all weapons were confiscated. This spurred the birth of two main
schools of combat. The first was known simply as 'te'. "Te" refers to hand or
"tode" (China Hand). This was developed and practiced largely by members of
the nobility. The second school of combat was known as Ryukyu kobudo.
Ryukyu kobudo was the study of weapons largely practiced by farmers and
fisherman. It focused on the study of simple farm implements and fishing tools
as weapons. Practice in both methods of combat took place in private and
mostly by night.
The invasion by Japan of Okinawa by the Satsuma clan in 1609 (Reign of King
Sho Nei) continued the ban on weapons which further fueled the growth of the
underground fighting arts. Okinawa had become a puppet state of Japan and the
Shogun Leyasu maintained the weapons ban and forced Okinawa to continue a
facade of loyalty to China.
After the Meiji restoration in Japan, the Ryukyu Dynasty was declared a
territory of Japan. In 1879 under the Meiji government, the Ryukyu Dynasty was
made into Japanese magistrate.
Grandmaster Higaonna
Kanryo-1853-1915
Grandmaster Miyagi Chojun-1888-1953
Grandmaster Gogen "Cat"
Yamaguchi-1909-1989
Master Miyaga An'Ichi- Chairman & Advisor
to the IOGKF
Master Morio Higaonna- Chief Instructor &
Chairman of the IOGKF
Some excerpts are from
"Traditional Okinawa Goju-Ryu Karatedo- Book 1" by Morio Higaonna and
"Classical Kata of Okinawan Karate" by Pat McCarthy
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