Goju Ryu Karate

The founder of Goju Ryu Karate-Do is Chojun Miyagi. He was born in Naha Okinawa on April 25th, 1888 to a noble family. At the age of 14 Miyagi began training under the foremost Naha-te grand master, Kanryo Higaonna. He was his Sensei’s disciple for 13 years.

In 1915, after Higaonna died, Miyagi went to China to study other Martial Arts and Zen. He learned different styles of Gung Fu. In Fuzhou, Fujian Province, Miyagi studied Shao Lin Chuan (hard fist – external style of chi chi) and also Ba Gwa Chang (eight diagram palm — soft fist style). In his return to Okinawa, using his knowledge of Chinese Kempo he adapted Naha-te to more fully reflect the hard and soft aspects of the original art — the give and take required to be successful.

Literally translated words Goju Ryu mean hard and soft style. Go is the Japanese word for hardness and Ju is the word for softness. Ryu means style or tradition. The system is based on the Oriental concept that all hardness and stiffness is not good, and at the same time all softness and too much gentleness is not good. Goju Ryu reflects the concept of Yin and Yang — that these two opposites should complement each other. It is this complement of hard and soft which gives Goju Ryu its beautiful, disciplined movements, filled with grace, flowing forms, and strength. Actions are sometimes extremely fast and other times slow and majestic. Goju Ryu utilizes an assertive style of defence with an emphasis on delivering blows hard but with easy effort and in rapid succession, maneuvering not only forwards but also from side to side. However an essential aspect to Karate-Do is the emphasis on the use of physical force only as an absolute final option and of course only for defensive purposes.

Picured here is our main dojo logo for goju budo.  It is that of the half open and half closed fist of Chojun Miyagi representing the necessity of balance in the martial arts and life.  The three colours (black, white, red) symbolize the three major stages of training; white for beginners, black for instructors, and red for mastery.  CMAC is of course the organization we belong to and “goju budo” means “hard soft martial ways”.  This symbol perfectly represents what we want for our students.