Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

248 Karate, Okinawan
returned to Okinawa and reported the incident to Miyagi. After careful consideration,
Miyagi named the style Gôjû (hard-soft), using as a reference a
passage from the eight Kenpô Haku (Poems of the Fists) contained in the Bubishi:
Hô gôjû donto (The Way is to breathe both hard and soft, a “master
text” of Okinawan karate). In 1933, karate-dô (empty-hand way) was recognized
as a ryûha (official martial art) and admitted into the Dainippon Butokukai.
It was at that time that Miyagi submitted the name Gôjû-ryû Karate
(Toudi, or Tôte) to be registered with the organization. Miyagi, however,
never referred to the style as Gôjû, but rather as bu (martial arts) or te.
The Karate Kenkyûkai (Karate Research Club) was formed at Ritsumeikan
Daigaku (University) in 1935. Miyagi Chôjun was listed as
meiyô shihan (honorary master teacher), with Yogi Jitsuei and Yamaguchi
“Gôgen” Yoshimi as shihan-dai (assistant instructors) in the prospectus for
the club, submitted in 1936. Yamaguchi would eventually lead the Gôjûryû
movement in Japan and form the Gôjû-kai. In his later years, Yamaguchi
created the Gôjû-Shintô style.
Realizing a need to foster the spread of karate, Miyagi began to develop
forms that could be used both for physical development and to transmit
basic karate principles without requiring years of intensive study.
Miyagi created the kata Gekesai dai ichi and Gekesai dai ni in 1940 to
achieve this goal. Due to Miyagi’s death in 1953, Gekesai dai san was unfinished
until Toguchi Seikichi completed the form. After Miyagi’s death,
Yagi Meitoku formed the Meibukan, Miyazato Eiichi formed the
Jundôkan, and Toguchi Seikichi formed the Shôreikan.
Miyagi Chôjun never awarded dan ranks. He believed that character
was more important than rank, and that classification only led to division.
The belt system was adopted in Japan, and later in Okinawa. Miyagi
taught Sanchin kata and then assigned tokuigata. The twelve kata of the
Gôjû-ryû (Gekesai dai ichi, Gekesai dai ni, Sanchin, Tenshô, Saifa,
Seiyunchin, Seisan, Sanseiryû, Shisôchin, Seipai, Kururunfa, and Sûpaarinpei)
were passed from Miyagi to Miyagi Anichi. Yagi, Miyazato, Toguchi,
Kina, Higa, and the remainder of Miyagi’s former students learned the entire
repertoire of Gôjû kata from each other. Okinawan Gôjû-ryû Karate
Bujutsu, under the leadership of Higashionna Morio, was officially recognized
as a Kobudô (Ancient Martial Art) by the Nihon Kobudô Kyôkai
(Japanese Ancient Martial Arts Association) in 1997.
Ron Mottern
See also Form/Xing/Kata/Pattern Practice; Japanese Martial Arts, Chinese
Influences on; Kenpô; Kobudô, Okinawan; Okinawa
References
Bishop, Mark. 1999. Okinawan Karate: Teachers, Styles and Secret
Techniques. Boston: Tuttle.