| 100 years of Goju Kai Karate .....(a brief history)..... |
| Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands,Japan was a hive for martial arts way back in the mid 1800's. From here one of the fathers of karate, Master Higashionna, travelled to China and trained in Chinese boxing under the famous martial artist Master Woo(Ru) for many years. On his return to Japan he decided to take the techniques from karate and the Chinese boxing that he had studied and develop Nana-te,the predecessor of Goju-ryu. |
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| One of Master Higashionna's pupils was a young man, Chojun Miyagi. Chojun Miyagi devoted his life to the study and development of karate travelling to China twice as his Master had. On his return to Okinawa he developed karate as Master Higashionna had, forming the Goju-Ryu style |
| Master Chojun Miyagi |
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| Grand Master Gogen Yamaguchi |
| Gogen Yamaguchi was born in Kagoshima City and took up martial arts from a young age under the teachings of Mr Maruta a Goju teacher. After many years training in the hard form of Goju, Gogen Yamaguchi was introduced to Master Miyagi. From his meetings with Master Miyagi, he was determined to train spiritually as well as physically,he was also given the nickname Gogen meaning 'Rough' Recognized for the development of jyu kumite (free fighting),and his fighting style in neko ashi dachi. He will be remembered for uniting all karate in Japan, contributing to the spread of karate in the western world and his dedication to the development to Goju Karate. |
| Note- This information came from various sources on the web,also taken from Ingo De Jong Shihan's book "GojuKaiKarateDo-1 I would welcome any comments/corrections.....email me any other details you feel need including. In time I will expand on this area but I will need help with details and pictures... Thanks Chris.... |
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