"The Cat"

Yamaguchi was the legendary and colorful early 20th century karate master who founded Japanese Goju-Ryu - - one of Japan's largest and most successful karate organizations. Among the many famous martial artists who were influenced by his teachings was Mas Oyama, who went on to form his own organization, Kyokyushin karate. Such organizations as Seido Juku karate, founded by Tadashi Nakamura, one of Oyama's top students, still practice many goju-ryu kata. One of Yamaguchi's American students, Peter Urban, helped introduce goju-ryu into the United States, but later broke away to found his own American Goju -Ryu Association. After that, Miyagi continued studying and reorganized both Chinese kempo and Okinawa-te's merits and added his own ideas. Thi s is how Goju-ryu was born. Goju-ryu's name was extracted from the Bubishi, a Chinese documentary record. One of eight Kyo phrases (precepts of Chinese martial arts) in the Bubishi (the once secret White Crane and Monk Fist Boxing text owned by many Okinawan karate masters) is called "Hogoju." Because it means "the method of absorbing and releasing hard [go] and soft [ju]," the style was named Goju-ryu. Miyagi taught karate at an Okinawan police training school, a Naha public business school, an Okinawan teachers' school, and an Okinawan health centre. In Showa 4 [1929], Miyagi was invited by a karate club at Kyoto University and by Kansai University, with honor, to become an advising teacher. He was then invited to teach permanently by Ritsumeikan University. Over time, Miyagi spread his methods throughout Japan and took the initiative of Goju-ryu. By that time, the author of this book was recognized by Miyagi Shihan and was left the responsibility of spreading Miyagi's method of guidance, creating a family of Goju -ryu, and organizing the All-Japan Karate-do Goju Association. Moreover, Miyagi Shihan was invited to Hawaii by a newspaper company, where he taught karate for one year and contributed to Goju-ryu karate-do in and outside of Japan. After World War II, Miyagi went back to Okinawa and quietly worked for the civil administration as a physical education coach. In October of Showa 28 [1953], he passed away. Fundamental Idea of Goju-Ryu Karate-Do Goju-ryu karate-do is composed of Yo [Yang], which is positive; and In [Yin], which is negative, as the ideographs [kanji] "Go" and "Ju" indicate. This is why the fundamental idea is so unique and has beauty. The eternal life of the universe develops with positive and negative working together. This is the same for the lives of humans. Life has Yo and In, or Go and Ju, both sides for all our lives, sometimes connected by becoming the will and harmony. The ancients who chose karate as a means of fighting endured their strict and rough practice to protect themselves and to win. You can see that Goju -ryu is still keeping a primitive form for actual fighting when you practice the Sanchin and Tensho kata, which represent Go and Ju. In Sanchin, you make the whole body, all the nerves, etc. extremely tense and do not let your guard down even for a moment. On the other hand, in Tensho, you do not show a gush of fighting spirit, you keep it inside your body and wait for a chance to use it. As a result, Tensho draws a gentle curve and flows. The techniques of Goju-ryu use its own unique method of breathing, which i s called ikibuki. The technique can be changed from Go to Ju or Ju to Go; and while you move without distraction, you still go along with the movements of the opponent. If the opponent comes by Go, you respond with Ju and restrain him. If the opponent comes by Ju, you use Go and temper him. Ikibuki is the way of breathing that controls conscious breathing from ordinary unconscious breathing. You go with the movement and breathing of the opponent and lead your physical condition to most advantageous situation. It is useful for concentrating your muscles and mind. Goju-ryu has many postures that use the names of anima ls, like the cat, dog, crane, tiger, and dragon. In ikibuki, you imagine that a lion is roaring. When animals stand ready to fight, they are on their guard and a ll their power is concentrated for fighting. That form does not have anxiety or fear. They are just thinking about defeating the enemy. There is no desire of self-gratification and no dishonesty. You can say that they are desperate. The reason that the color of the old budo is very strong in modern budo is that we see the importance in the forms and the ikibuki of these animals. These aspects are the original aspects of Go, however, it is not perfect to emphasize the aspect of Go, in other words, the height of the form. If a strife of Go is one side, there has to be Ju on the other that avoids strife. That is how character building can be accomplished by Goju -ryu.