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All over the world today -
particularly in Australia and Japan - there are many practitioners of
Goju-Ryu Karate. When I came to Australia in 1977 I found that Goju-Ryu
was already very popular, and Mr Gogen Yamaguchi’s style had spread
Australia wide in preference to many other Goju-Ryu style practised in
Japan and Okinawa.
Historically there were seven major disciples from the founder of
Goju-Ryu, Mr Chojun Miyagi in Okinawa. They are Mr Higa, Mr Yagi, Mr
Yogi, Mr Miyazato, Mr Iha, Mr Shinzato, and Mr Uehara. These disciples
received Bubushi from Mr Miyagi after having mastered Goju-Ryu Karate,
and have been faithful to their master.
The origin of Shubu-Kai and Gojukensha Goju-Ryu came from one of these
disciples, Mr Higa.
A tradition of Bubishi degree still exists among the traditional
Goju-Ryu masters, In my case , for example, I am a fifth generation
Goju-Ryu Bubishi holder. From the founder Miyagi to Higa , to Izumikawa,
to Ichikawa, to Sudo and then to me, Watanabe, The first three masters
have passed away, so our headmaster is Mr Ichikawa, who now lives in
Tokyo.1
Through my observation in the past, I see most Goju-Ryu instructors in
Australia and overseas, still practise the hard style of Goju-Ryu,
perhaps because they are young and strong, or simply because they just
don’t practise the soft style. Actually, the hard style of Goju-ryu is
much easier than the soft style. Usually a soft Goju-Ryu comes after
some 10 years or so of training hard-style Goju-Ryu.
I would like to give some advice about the Goju-Ryu
to every Karate practitioner: Techniques with hard hardness, or weak
softness, are no good. Tenacious hardness and firm softness is the
principle of good Goju-Ryu techniques.
For example: Use the sharp offensive and tenacious defensive techniques
like a Japanese sword, spring, whip, tentacles, manta ray, and
cottonwool. To classify soft Goju-Ryu are "whip" (called Muchi-te or
whipping). "tentacle" (toko-te or adherence). "manta ray" (hobaku-te or
envelope) and "cottonwool" (watano-te or yielding).
When you use these Goju-Ryu Techniques, add these elements:
Your mind must be fully concentrated (called Mu) on
the opponent and void (called ku) to yourself. Your body and limbs are
filled by a spirit (Ki).Read and opponent’s mind and intention.Move your
body and limbs as a unit (ittai).When the technique is applied, these
elements must work as one.As you are aware, proper timing (ma) and
distance (maai) between opponents is also very vital.
These soft techniques are very
effective with infighting but, unfortunately, are not really suitable
for tournament style sparring.
To master a soft Goju-Ryu, you need at least 20 years
of constant training...
According to Bubishi, every technique is a combination of the hard and
the soft. or inhalation and exhalation. The founder, Chojun Miyagi,
found the above phrase from the Bubishi, then he named his Karate as
Goju-Ryu. This was in 1936.
Goju-Ryu is only 48 years old from the founder, and still needs to be
practised and refined by the real practitioners from generation to
generation.
I would like to pursue the way of Goju-Ryu for the rest of my life in
Australia and look forward to someone following the tradition of
Goju-ryu Karate, When the day comes, I would like to give him or her a
Bubishi Degree, to prove that they are traditional Goju-Ryu
practitioners. One of the
Goju-Ryu strategies from the Bubishi tells-
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you will win
every battle; If you know yourself but not the enemy, you only have a 50
precent chance of winning; If you don’t know the enemy and don’t know
yourself, you will lose every battle.
Therefore, knowing yourself is the key point in our Goju-Ryu. You have
to find yourself through your daily life and your training of Karate-do.
When you have experienced 10 years of training, you will see your
opponents clearly. After 20 years of training you will understand all
kinds of people.
So, afterwards you are able to live in a peaceful environment. However
this is not our main aim, as neither is the victory. The most important
aim in our Goju-Ryu Karate is the sacrifice. You will eventually
understand this when you become a master of Karate-do.
In addition, Goju-Ryu Karate to me is like a flower, or love. This is
the happiness I would like to share with all the people in the world.
Written by K. H. Watanabe in 1984
Notes:
1. Mr Ichikawa passed away in March 2005
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