The origins of Gōjū-ryū (剛柔流) date back to Okinawa Island, at a time when there was only three styles of karate: Shuri-te, Tomari-te, and Naha-te. Over time, Shuri-te and Tomari-te would combine to form a single style of karate, known today as Shōrin-ryū (少林流), whereas Naha-te would go on to form the modern Gōjū-ryū style.
Naha-te was founded by Kanryō Higaonna (March 10th, 1853 – October, 1915). Originally studying Shuri-te, Higaonna ventured to Fuzhou, China, where he learnt Chinese martial arts for 13 years before returning to Okinawa in 1881. His style then became known as Naha-te.
In 1902, Higaonna began teaching Chōjun Miyagi (April 25th, 1888 – October 8th, 1953), who was 14 at the time. Miyagi studied Naha-te as Higaonna’s top student until his master’s death in 1915.
Miyagi continued to teach Higaonna’s Naha-te throughout Okinawa and mainland Japan, visiting China to train as his master once had. He eventually structured the style into a discipline which was easier to teach. In 1930, Miyagi’s top disciple at the time, Jin’an Shinzato (February 5th, 1901 – March 31st, 1945), attended the All Japan Martial Arts Meet in Tokyo on behalf of his master. Here, he was asked for the name of the style he practiced; however, Miyagi had not yet named it, as schools and styles did not exist in Okinawan karate. Instead, Shinzato improvised the name Hankō-ryū (半硬流), meaning “half-hard style”.
Upon return to Okinawa, Shinzato discussed the incident with Miyagi, who decided on the name Gōjū-ryū. The inspiration for this name comes from the third line of the “Eight Important Precepts of Kempo” (拳法之大要八句= Kenpo no taiyoku hakku): a poem from The Bubishi (a comprehensive ancient Chinese martial arts manual). The line states: “Ho wa goju wo tondo su”, meaning “The way of inhaling and exhaling is both hard and soft”. Thus, Gōjū-ryū means “hard-soft style”. Gō, which means “hard”, refers to closed hand techniques or straight linear attacks, and Jū, which means “soft”, refers to open hand techniques and circular movements.
In his 40s and 50s, Miyagi worked hard to promote Gōjū-ryū throughout mainland Japan, and in Hawaii. His efforts to spread Gōjū-ryū were so successful that, in 1937, the Dai Nippon Butokukai recognised his style as an official martial art, and he as its official master, honouring him with the Kyoshi title. Finally, in 1998, the Nippon Kobudo Kyokai (Japan Traditional Martial Arts Association) recognised Gōjū-ryū as an ancient form of traditional martial art.
Chōjun Miyagi passed away on October 8, 1953, at the age of 65. His noteworthy students include Jin’an Shinzato, Meitoku Yagi, Seiko Higa, Seikichi Toguchi, and Ei’ichi Miyazato – the founder of the Jundokan.
Miyagi believed that the ultimate aim of karate was to build one’s character, conquer human misery, and to find spiritual freedom. He is noted for having said: “人に打たれず、人を打たず、事なきを基とするなり” , which means: “Hit not. Be not hit. Avoiding conflict is the fundamental principle”.
Gōjū-ryū has 12 core kata which are the essence and foundation of all training. Kata are the prescribed forms or patterns that we learn and practice step by step, and later analyse the techniques for practical defence. The kata of Gōjū-ryū can be categorised into one of three headings:
Sanchin – “3 Battles” or “3 Conflicts”
Emphasises the coordination of the body and mind through the control of muscle tension combined with controlled breathing.
Gekisai Dai-Ichi – “to destroy” or “attack and destroy”
Chojun Miyagi Sensei made this kata of basic techniques in 1940 to enable the average person to become stronger.
Gekisai Dai-Ni – “to destroy” or “attack and destroy”
This kata is basically the same as gekisai dai-ichi but it introduces open hand techniques and neko ashi movement.
Saifa – to destroy and defeat
Saifa kata is made up mostly of circularly applied striking techniques with the use of whip like motions along with some escape techniques.
Seiyunchin – Attack, Conquer and suppress also referred to as “to control and pull into battle”
This kata develops the strength of the hips and legs in combination of with a variety of hand techniques.
Shisochin – “to destroy in four directions” or “fight in four directions”
This kata emphasises open hand techniques coordinated with controlled hip movements.
Sanseru – 36 Hands
This kata develops the use of low kicks and double hand techniques.
Sepai – 18 Hands
Sepai kata is made up of a variety of unusual hand, foot and body movement techniques.
Kururunfa – holding on long and striking suddenly
This kata also develops the use of open hand techniques and specially hip/hand coordination.
Seisan – 13 Hands
This is an asthetic kata epitomising the ideal of Goju-Ryu by using a number of hard and soft techniques.
Suparunpei – 108 Hands
This kata, Goju-Ryu’s longest, utilises a large number of techniques along with breath control and contains the greatest variety of application and depth of meaning.
The foundation of all kata is Sanchin: a breathing kata which aims to unify the mind, body and spirit. Sanchin is performed slowly with tension to develop movement, breathing, stance and posture, internal strength, and stability of both the mind and body. Similarly, Tensho combines dynamic breathing with soft, flowing hand movements. Both Sanchin and Tensho kata contain distinctly different breathing patterns, and are thus considered to be the essence of the “gō” (hard) and “jū” (soft) of Gōjū-ryū. The majority of the kata practiced in Gōjū-ryū today were brought back from China by Kanryō Higaonna. This includes Sanchin kata, which was originally preformed with open hands but was later changed to closed hands by Higaonna. Chōjun Miyagi developed Tensho kata in 1921 to further complete his style. He also developed the Gekisai kata in 1940 as a simple form of physical exercise for high school students, and to help popularise Gōjū-ryū throughout Okinawa.
Gojuryu was founded by Chojun Miyagi Sensei. Chojun Sensei was born in the Higashi Machi district of Naha City on April 4, 1888. At the age of 14, he began to train directly under the supervision of Naha Te founder Kanryo Higaonna Sensei. At that time Kanryo Sensei had already travelled to Fuzhou and studied Chinese Kenpo and was teaching the young men of Naha. When he was 20 years old (1908), Chojun Sensei joined the 6th infantry division. He served for 2 years leaving the military in 1910. Around 1914 he took an ailing Kanryo Sensei into his house until his death the following year. In the same year Chojun Sensei travelled to Fuzhou, China where he observed the world of Chinese Kenpo.
In 1918 Chojun Sensei began instructing at the schools beginning with the Naha Jinjou Higher Elementary School and expanded his Karate teaching role to include the Teacher’s College, Naha Commercial HIgh School, and the Police Training Academy. In 1927, he held a Karate Seminar at the University of Kyoto and followed this up with seminars to spread Karate at Kansai University, Ritsumeikan University, and Hawaii.
When one of his top students, Jinan Shinzato Sensei took part in the All Japan Budo Commemorative Demonstration, he was asked what style he practised. Based on the hard and soft breathing in the style he named the style Gojuryu. With that the first karate style in Japan was born. Following the death of Chojun Sensei in 1953, many students have continued to spread and develop Gojuryu throughout Japan and the rest of the world.