Karate Do Goju Ryu

Higaonna Kanryo

Higaonna Kanryo (Born in NAHA in March 10, 1853 – October 1915), was well known in Naha for being very flexible, skillful, and fast. Master Kanryo Higaonna (or Higashionna), from a young age showed a great interest in martial arts, traveled to China to learn Kung-fu/Wu-shu, according to bibliographic accounts that he was a sailor and that on one of his commercial trips to China decides to study martial arts in FUKIEN.

He learned different styles of martial arts and was recognized as one of the first students of Fujian White Crane Kung Fu masters, namely Ryu Ryu Ko in the Fuzhou region of China. He then returned with those skills to Okinawa. Upon returning to Okinawa he taught Chinese boxing and after some time Higaonna Sensei's art was called "Naha Te", the hand of Naha. Today he is recognized as the founder of this style of Okinawan Karate.

Chojun Miyagui

Goju Ryu is a style of Karate Do founded in Okinawa by Master Chojun Miyagui who was a direct and advanced student of Master Kanryo Higaonna. The literal translation is Go ('hard'), Ju ('soft') and Ryu ('style/school/source'), so the meaning is translated as the style of hard and soft, since it is a combination of these concepts.
Master Chojun Miyagui dedicated himself to delving into the Naha-Te, concentrating on the combination of the hard - soft and external - internal systems. Soft (internal) styles are based on circular movements and the development of Ki; the external ones are hard principles concentrated on physical force. For example in the Miyagi style a defense or block can be a soft move followed by a hard counter attack. Master Miyagi believed that it was important to organize and unify Okinawan karate in order to preserve it and
pass it on to future generations. In 1926 he founded the Karate Research Club together with Sensei Chomo Hanashiro, of the Shorin Ryu style, Sensei Choyu Motobu, and Sensei Kenwa Mabuni, creator of the Shito Ryu style. These masters taught students alternately and emphasized repeated practice. of the Sanchin kata, helping to develop not only physical strength, but also mental and spiritual fortitude. This association was dissolved in 1929.
Master Miyagui worked on the consolidation of the style, while developing a formal training and learning methodology for his karate. In 1930 he officially founded his school. That same year a national convention on martial arts was held in Kyoto. Sensei Miyagi sent one of his advanced disciples, Jinan Shinzato, as a representative of Okinawan styles. When Jinan Shinzato was asked for the name of his style, he was unable to answer, since at that time there was no need to have a name for each form of karate. However he improvised and said "Hanko-Ryu", which means "half-hard style". Upon his return to Okinawa, he told Master Miyagui what had happened. The master thought about it for a while and then decided to call his art "Goju-Ryu", which means "hard and soft style". This name is inspired by the 8 precepts found in the Chinese manual of martial arts called Bubishi, where it reads: 宇宙のすべてが激しく呼吸し、柔らかく呼吸します   "Ho was goju o tondo su" (Everything in the Universe breathes hard and soft). In 1933 Miyagui Sensei's art was formally registered as "Goju-Ryu" style karate with the Butokukai (the National Association of Japanese Martial Arts). Goju-Ryu became a formative style of karate, or Karate-Do that could be taught in schools. The creation of new basic kata made the art more understandable to the public.
In 1940 Sensei Miyagi and Sensei Nagamine (of the Matsubayashi-Ryu Shorin Ryu style) together created their own forms or "Kata" (called Gekisai-Dai-Ichi).