The real Mr.Miyagi
Chōjun Miyagi (宮城 長順, Miyagi Chōjun, April 25, 1888 – October 8, 1953) was an Okinawan martial artist who founded the Gōjū-ryū school of karate by blending Okinawan and Chinese influences. Sensei Miyagi was born in Higashimachi, Naha, Okinawa on April 25, 1888. One of his parents was a wealthy shop owner. Chojun Miyagi began studying Okinawan martial arts under Ryuko Aragaki at age 11.[2] At age 14, Miyagi was introduced to Kanryo Higashionna (Higaonna Kanryō) by Aragaki. Under his tutelage, Miyagi underwent a very long and arduous period of training. His training with Higaonna was interrupted for a two-year period while Miyagi completed his military service, 1910–1912, in Miyakonojō, Miyazaki.[3] Miyagi trained under Higaonna for 15 years until Higaonna's death in 1916.[4] (Source: Wikipedia)
What is Gojū Ryū Karate
Goju Ryu is a traditional Okinawan style of karate with an extensive history. The term Goju Ryu means “hard-soft style”. It refers to closed-hand techniques (hard) and open-hand techniques (soft) as well as circular movements (soft) in this martial art. The basic goal in Goju Ryu karate is self-defense. It is primarily a stand-up form of martial arts that teaches how to block strikes by using angles and subdue the attackers with hand and leg strikes. This art form teaches some takedowns, which tend to set up finishing strikes. Goju Ryu is a very practical style encompassing many drills, techniques, and applications often missing in many other styles of karate. Basic techniques (kihon) are fine-tuned through repetition, performing katas (forms), and light sparring (kumite). Katas are the core of Goju Ryu, where each technique of the kata can be applied to real fighting techniques.
Seiko Higa
Seiko Higa was born in 1898. Higa initially learned Naja-Te from its founder Kanryo Higashionna starting at age 14. Seiko Higa’s father was close friends with Kanryo and asked him to accept Higa as a student. Higa would study with him for a total of three years before Kanryo passed away. After the passing of Kanryo Higashionna, Seiko Higa went with Chojun Miyagi, founder of Goju Ryu, who was his senior in the dojo in order to continue his training. Higa was the first of Miyagi’s students to begin teaching. Higa’s dojo was opened in 1931. He retired from his career as a police officer in order to teach karate. Higa’s initial dojo was just his living room. Miyagi taught in his garden. In that time formal dojos like today did not exist. It was not until much later that Higa's Shodokan dojo would be open. Seiko Higa was described as kind and gentle, but strict when teaching. He was also very dedicated to his karate training. He would practice in front of a mirror for hours in order to keep the technique accurate. Seikichi Toguchi would be one of his early students, and perhaps his most well known one. In 1935 he went to the island of Saipan to teach karate at the invitation of a friend. It is here that he met Kanki Izumikawa who would become one of his leading students. Izumikawa would later help spread Goju Ryu in Japan. Higa eventually returned to Okinawa since teaching on the island was largely unsuccessful. If Higa had gone to Tokyo to teach instead of Saipan, things might look very different today.
Our Lineage
In 1940 Higa received the title of Renshi from the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai, which is equivalent to about a 6th Dan. Higa was greatly affected by the war and lost most of his fortune. Seikichi Toguchi invited Higa to live with him and so Higa ended up moving in and living with his student. It’s important to note that in those times the relationship between teacher and student was very close, almost like family. The two of them, along with other Okinawans, would collect enough money to build a new dojo in Itoman, where Higa would continue teaching.
Higa’s Goju Ryu has some important differences from Miyagi’s, so much so that Higa intended to give it a different name. The Sanseiru Kata is different and has more in common with the Toon-ryu version. This is because Higa learned Sanseiru directly from Kanryo and Miyagi did not. There are quite a few other differences in the various kata in terms of performance and execution. Higa’s teachings also emphasize the “Ju '' (soft technique) more than some of Miyagi’s other students. However, since Higa was a student of Miyagi at the time, the name Goju Ryu got applied. Matayoshi Shimpo was a prominent figure at Higa’s Shodokan dojo. He taught kobudo here and his methods and kata were preserved by the Shodokan along with Higa’s Goju Ryu. Juei Tamaki was another prominent kobudo master teaching at the dojo. Today kobudo and Goju Ryu are both practiced and taught by the organization. Following Chojun Miyagi’s passing, Seiko Higa became the first president of the Okinawan Goju Kai. In 1966 Seiko Higa passed away as well. Some of his main students were Seikichi Higa, Choyu Kiyuna, Eiki Kurashita, Seiko Fukuchi, Tetsuhiro Hokama, Ryugo Sakai, Toyama Senshu, Kanki Izumikawa, and Seiichi Akamine. The “Shodokan” is Seiko Higa’s school of Goju Ryu. Higa also founded the Goju Ryu Kokusai Karate Kobudo Renmei which is run today by Zensei Gushiken. Some of the senior instructors of the Shodokan today are Choyu Kiyuna, Eiki Kurashita, and Gibo Seiki. Higa’s Goju Ryu is unique in the fact that Higa also trained under Kanryo Higashionna, Chojun Miyagi’s teacher in addition to Miyagi himself.