History of Miyagi Chojun Sensei

Grandmaster Chojun Miyagi (See banner as above) was born on April 25, 1888. He began training in karate under Kanryo Higaonna at the age of 14, in 1902. Miyagi Sensei possessed an incredible natural talent and strong determination compared even to the most talented students under Kanryo Higaonna. Miyagi Sensei studied under his master for 14 years before Kanryo Higaonna's death in 1915. Throughout his training Miyagi Sensei journeyed to China, the very root of where his master's training began, in 1915 he journeyed to Fuzhou in China where Kanryo Higaonna had began his studies.

Higaonna Kanryo Sensei was born in the city of Naha in 1853. It is to be rembered that Kanryo Higaonna will always be honoured as the father of Goju Ryu Karate-do and handing down his knowledge and wisdom to the Founder of Goju Ryu, Miyagi Sensei. Chojun Miyagi was the one who founded and raised the popularity of Goju Ryu karate, his whole life was dedicated to this remarkable art, both Kanryo Higaonna and Chojun Miyagi Sensei will be forever remembered as the masters we should all respect and be thankful for.

Dedicating his whole life to the development and spreading of Karate Miyagi Sensei worked hard to develop Karate into a systemised discipline which could be taught in and to any society which he named 'Goju Ryu' the realistaion of this discipline also allowed children to begin studying the art and resulted in a huge increase in Goju Ryu's popularity and continued to grow with more students joining regularly. The naming of Goju-Ryu came about more by accident than design. In 1930, Chojun Miyagi's top student, Jin'an Shinzato, while in Tokyo was asked by numerous martial arts masters as to what school of martial arts he practiced. As Naha-te te (Karate) had no formal name he could not answer this question. On his return to Okinawa he reported this incident to Chojun Miyagi. After much consideration Chojun Miyagi decided on the name Goju-Ryu (hard & soft) as a name for his style. This name he took from a line in the Bubishi (A chinese text on martial arts and various other subjects ranging from herbal remedies to pressure points, etc).

Chojun Miyagi has not only left us with a legacy of technique, he has left us with a philosophy, a philosophy to help us achieve virtue and honesty in our lives and to always seek the correct path, to help our fellow students and show kindness and respect to all living things. Chojun Miyagi Sensei will always be remembered as the master and will always be in our heart and soul.

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This page is dedicated to the founder of Goju Ryu Karate-do Chojun Miyagi Sensei who was born on April 25th 1888 and passed away on October 8th 1953 leaving a great legacy behind him.