The Martial Art

The martial art I study is called Okinawan Goju-ryu Karate-do. It is a form of empty hand combat that originated on the island of Okinawa, now part of Japan. Goju-ryu translates as ‘hard-soft style’.

The style was founded by Chojun Miyagi (1888-1953), the son of a wealthy Okinawan merchant who insisted his son begin martial arts training at a young age. Miyagi was able to devote his life to training, both on Okinawa and even traveling to southern China to explore the roots of the Okinawan fighting arts. Throughout his life, Miyagi taught karate to students in his back garden, as well as in the Okinawan school system and Police Academy. He was an austere man who engaged in severe, almost ascetic, training, which he believed would develop both body and mind. Yet he was also calm and gentle, counseling his students to put family first, then work second, and karate third. Like most Okinawans, Miyagi endured severe hardship during the war – losing three children as well as his senior student during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. Fortunately, Miyagi had many talented senior students who carried on teaching after his death and helped make Goju-ryu one of the major styles of Okinawan karate today.

Training in Goju-ryu follows a simple progression: Students first learn to be ‘hard’ by developing powerful striking techniques from solid stances. As the student progresses, they begin to soften, releasing excess tension and relying on proper technique and circular movements to defeat attacks before launching their own powerful blows. The Goju-ryu student strives for a state of relaxed readiness that will allow them to be hard or soft as the situation demands.