Go-ju Karate

By combining hard liner movements and strikes with soft circular movements, Goju Karate epitomizes the concept of Yin-Yang. In order to defeat our opponents, we meet hard linear attacks with soft, circular counters, and soft, circular attacks with hard, linear strikes.

Japanese for "Hard-soft style", Goju is one of several major styles of karate. It is commonly believed that the concept of combining the two extremes originated in a Chinese martial arts doctrine known as wu pei chih. Of the various styles of karate, Goju Ryu has received the greatest amount of Chinese influence. The development of Goju Ryu goes back to Kanryo Higashionna, (1850-1915), a native of Naha, Okinawa. As a teenager he trained with an Okinawan master named Aragaki Seisho. It is believed that he studied chi chi, or Chinese boxing, probably the hung style of shao lin chuan, under the kung fu master Liu Liu Ko, who is said to have been a shoemaker. He returned to Okinawa during the middle of the Meiji Era (1868-1911) and continued in the family business of selling firewood, while teaching a new school of martial arts, distinguished by its integration of go-no (hard) and ju-no (soft) kempo in one system. The word karate (empty hand) was not in common use at that time, and Higashionna's style was known as Naha-te.

Higashionna's most prominent student was Miyagi Chojun (1888-1953) who began training under Higashionna at the age of 12. After Higashionna's death Miyagi sailed to China and studied there for several years, returning to Naha in 1918. Many of Higashionna's students continued to train with him, including Higa Seiko (1898-1966) who inadvertently gave the style its name. After a demonstration one day, Higa was asked what the style was called. Recalling a favorite saying of Miyagi's, Higa said it was called "Goju-ryu." The name stuck. The line he was thinking of was "Successful methods require both give and take (go and ju)" which is from an anonymous poem called the Ha Po ("Eight Sayings") from a Chinese manual called Wu Pei Chih ("Handbook of Military Arts and Science") well-known in Okinawa, where its title is pronounced "Bubishi". 'Go' means hardness or external force, 'ju' means softness or internal force. Goju-ryu combines hard striking attacks like kicks and punches with softer circular techniques for blocking and controlling the opponent. Goju-ryu's specialty over the other karate styles is in-fighting or close-quarter combat. Major emphasis is given to breathing correctly.

Fukien White Crane

The history of karate itself is one of cultural and social exchanges with China going back to the Tang dynasty - hence the name "Tang Soo" or "Chinese hands". Before the development of Modern Karate under Gichin Funakoshi, Okinawan karate style generally took after the names of the town they came from, thus "Naha-te" and "Tomari-te" were karate styles that came from the towns of Naha and Tomari respectively. The late 19th century saw the great karate masters going back to China for a "martial-arts pilgimage" of sorts. The great Chinese pugilist Liu Liu Ko ("Ryu ryu ko" in Japanese) in Southern China taught a handful of these Japanese students who went on to be karate legends. The use of "tensho" or "soft" techniques in Goju-ryu reveals an obvious influence from the Fukien White Crane style (known as "Fujian Bai He" in Chinese). These are normally taught at the Brown belt to Sempai level of training.

Kata Bunkai

One contentious aspect of karate in the martial arts world is the training of kata (pre-arranged sets). Although it is widely believed kata was developed from a real fight, detractors say that these kata are useless in a real fighting situation. The katas taught in Goju-Ryu are rather traditional and are emphasized more than actual kumite (or free sparring). Gichin Funakoshi wrote in his "Bubishi" that karate is a cultivating art; karate begins and end in courtesy ("rei" in Japanese or "Li" in Chinese) Kata is to be understood as a "living textbook" in which karate proper - its techniques and philosophy - is passed down. The practice of kata itself provides the practitioner a sense of structure and possibilites to use in a real fight. Techniques-within-techniques are revealed through constant practice of kata. It is not unlike how a classical cellist or violinist can go back to J.S. Bach's Cello Suites or Violin partitas and still find new insights, even after years of practising the same pieces of music.

Traditional Goju Kata

Taikokyu kata - Taikokyu is usually first taught in jukyu to ikkyu levels (white belt to brown belt). The Taikokyu katas teach basic block and attack pattern, and how to move in four directions.

Gekisai kata - The Gekisai kata are usually first taught at hachikyu or rokukyu levels (yellow to green belt). Gekisai kata integrates kicking with blocks, strikes, and punches. It introduces the use of tensho technique, how to move in 8 directions, side-stepping, back-stepping, and the use of the cat stance. It comes close to the idea of irimi nage, or "entering" techniques, used in Aikido. It should be noted that there are two versions of this Kata, Gekisai Dai Itchi, and Gekisai Dai Ni. Gekisai Dai Ni incorporates slightly "softer" techniques, although it follows a similar pattern to that of Gekisai Dai Itchi.

Saifa kata - Saifa kata is usually first taught at gokyu to sankyu levels (green to brown belt). The first 3 moves are the signature of the kata - a wrist-grab-throw technique that is very similar to Aikido's iriminage technique. Saifa teaches, among other things, how to counter being grabbed by one or two opponents. The centrepiece of the kata is the crane kick movement. The layout of the footwork is similar to taikokyu kata.

Seiyunchin kata - Seiyunchin kata is typically taught at sankyu to ikkyu levels (brown belt). Seiyunchin translates to "control, suppress, and pull," and is most appropriate, as the kata demonstrates the use of techniques to unbalance, throw and grapple. Seiyunchin contains close-quartered striking, sweeps, take-downs and throws. Though the kata itself is devoid of kicks, many practitioners make the grave mistake by missing the opportunity to apply any leg technique. Though almost invisible to the untrained eye, the subtleness of "ashi barai" and "suri ashi" can represent footsweeps, parries and traps. The centrepiece of seiyunchin kata is a stance taken directly from the White Crane style.

Shisochin kata - Shisochin ephasizes the power of goju-ryu, the hard and the soft, and integrates it in one. It is a switch between long distance combat (Shotei zuki-palm punch ) and close quarter combat (Nukite-or knife hand-and armlocks). Miyagi Chojun called shisochin his favorite kata, as he believed it to be best suited to his body type.

Sanseiru kata - Sanseiru, meaning thirty-six movements, is taught at higher black belt levels. The number thirty six is based on Buddhist mythology. The kata teaches complex punching combinations. This technique was passed down from China.

Sepai, Kururunfa, Seisan, and Suparinpei - Sepai, or "eighteen hands", is one of four (Sepai, Kururunfa, Seisan, and Suparinpei) that are more subtle and contain more hidden moves. The true meaning of a kata becomes clear only when one learns the application of it (Bunkai ). In sepai, and the three that follow, the applications are not immediately clear. Techniques were deliberately masked within these kata so that bystanders were not able fully comprehend the depth of the applications being practiced. Sepai kata incorporates both the four directional movements and 45° angular attacks and, as in Shisochin, implements techniques for both long distance and close quarter combat.

Sanchin kata - Sanchin kata has the simplest techniques, and yet is arguably the most difficult to master of all Goju kata. Sanchin is often taught as a black belt kata, yet it is simple enough to teach at the white belt level. This is often done in order to prepare the student for this kata by the time he or she reaches black belt. Only one stance is used - the sanchin (meaning "3 battles") stance. Sanchin dachi is a practical stance, and yet is the most difficult stance to master. The legs protect the body from sweep kicks, the thighs are to trap low kicks. According to a taichi manual ("Zhuangzi 13 postures"), the punch draws its power from the earth through the legs - the flip of the hips enables the strength of the whole body to be channeled and focused into one punch. Properly employed, Sanchin kata follows the "hard" style of karate - all the muscles are to be flexed and tensed throughout the kata - actually making it the most strenuous kata. This type of strength training, taught for thousands of years, is only recently understood in western science and is known as "iso-metric training" in body building. In Chinese training, Sanchin kata also introduces the student to the use of "chi" (Japanese "ki") for training and fighting applications. It can be understood to be a form of "qigong" as employed in Chinese Wushu. Tensho kata Tensho was created by Chojun Miyagi. It means "revolving hands". It is a combination of hard dynamic tension with deep breathing and soft flowing hand movements, and is very characteristic of the Goju Ryu style.