Goju-Ryu Karate-Do Kyokai Canada

History

When one discusses the history of Goju Ryu (or as a general matter the history of karate) it is important to remember that there exists no accurate or verifiable historical records that would either prove or disprove that history which has been handed down in the karate community largely through the word of mouth during karate's short 150 year history.

All attempts that have been made by various karateka and/or historians to discern the history of karate are based more on faith than hard historical facts. That is not to say however, that no hard facts exist. They do. We thankfully do know certain fundamental historical events but we lack much knowledge for the periods in between them. Thus, large gaps exist that are often filled with inference (weak and strong), speculation and sometimes conjecture. The best we can do is to stay with the facts we do know and draw the best inference we can. An excellent source of historical information can be found in Goju-Ryu Karate-Do, Fundamentals for Traditional Practitioners, Volumes I authored by Motoo Yamakura Saiko Shihan.

There are a great many web sites that explain Goju-Ryu History, it is recommended that you obtain Goju-Ryu History from the GKK International web site (www.goju.com) or from the books that are published by the GKK. If you have any questions please contact us, and we will answer you quickly and promptly.

Lineage

• Miyagi
• Tada
• Yamakura
• Pirrone

The Naming of Goju-Ryu (剛柔流)

Goju-Ryu is a Japanese word that generally translates into "hard-soft style," it is one of the main classical styles of karate. Go, which may translate to 'hard', often refers to closed hand techniques or straight linear attacks; Ju, which may translate to 'soft', often refers to open hand techniques and circular movements. Goju-Ryu incorporates both circular and linear movements into its curriculum, combining hard striking attacks such as kicks and close hand punches with softer open hand circular techniques for attacking, blocking, and controlling the opponent, including locks, grappling, takedowns and throws.

It was said that the naming of Goju- came about more by accident than design. In 1930, one of Chojun Miyagi's top students, Jin'an Shinzato, was attending a Martial Arts convention in Tokyo. He was asked by numerous martial arts masters what school of martial arts he practiced. As Naha-te had no formal name he could not answer this question.

Feeling his art would be looked down upon and given amateur status, he quickly picked Hanko-ryu, which means the Way of Half Hard. On his return to Okinawa he reported this incident to Chojun Miyagi. He liked Shinzato's idea and took it one step further. After much consideration, Chojun Miyagi decided on the name 'Goju-Ryu' (hard and soft school) as a name for his style. He took this name from a line in the Bubishi (a classical Chinese text on martial arts and other subjects). This line, which appears in a poem describing the eight precepts of the martial arts, reads "Ho Goju Donto" (the way of inhaling and exhaling is hardness and softness).