MORIO HIGAONNA – ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GOJU RYU PART 5

“It is essential for each movement to be performed with one’s whole body and spirit. The goal of martial arts is to unite the mind, spirit, and power. Performed with sufficient stamina, kata training can ultimately result in the realization of one’s true essence.” Chojun Miyagi 1888-1953 Founder of Goju Ryu Karate.

It was the tradition in Goju Ryu karate for a student to be taught Sanchin, and only one or two of the other Kaishugata by the Founder of the style, Chojun Miyagi Sensei. He, and only he would determine which kata they were taught, his decision being based on the attitude, ability, and determination of the student.

And so even his best pre-war student, Jin’an Shinzato, learned only Sesan and Tensho after Sanchin. Seiko Kina learned Seiyunchin; Yagi Meitoku Suparinpei, and Shunshin Furugen, Kururunfa.

The second world took a great toll on the Okinawan karate community. By the time peace was restored, Chotoku Kyan, Choki Motobu, Kentsu Yabu and a host of other senior karate masters were dead. Many of Miyagi Sensei’s students had been killed during the hostilities, including Jinan Shinzato. In the post-war chaos of their homeland, few young Okinawans had the inclination, the time, or the resources to practice karate.

Fearful for the future of his art, Miyagi Sensei radically changed his teaching methods. In the immediate post war years until his death in 1953, he focused his attentions on his most dedicated students, chief among them An’ichi Miyagi and Shuichi Aragaki. He taught them the whole Goju Ryu syllabus at what would have been considered, even a decade earlier, an accelerated pace. Young, fit, accustomed to hardship, and with a voracious appetite for knowledge, they trained daily and learned fast. By the time Miyagi Sensei died in October 1953, they were an important part of the future of Goju Ryu karate.

The author of this series of programs is the student of An’ichi Miyagi and trains with both Miyagi Sensei and Aragaki Sensei to this day. All three represent, technically and spiritually, the very essence of Chojun Miyagi’s Okinawan Goju Ryu karate.