Pre-war Chojun Miyagi's teaching methods began with hojo undo, uke harai, ude tanren, yakusoku kumite, kakie and then sanchin kata. This was the students' routine for the first three to five years and comprised eighty percent of Chojun Miyagi's teaching. After this, one or two kaishugata would be taught, the depth and applications varied according to one's level of understanding and technical ability. Jinan Shinzato learned sanchin, sesan and tensho; Seiko Kina learned sanchin and seiyunchin; Meitoku Yagi learned sanchin and suparinpei; Shunshin Furugen learned sanchin and kururunfa. However the senior students from before the war, Seiko Kina, Meitoku Yagi, Kiei Tomoyose, Shunshin Furugen, Eiko Miyazato and Eiichi Miyazato, did not train anymore as they were busy trying to make a living in these hard times.Therefore in 1948, Chojun Miyagi accepted new students and revised his teaching system, arranging the kata of Goju-Ryu into a set sequence, something that had not existed previously.
In February of that year, four
students came to his dojo. These were An'ichi Miyagi, Bise Chishin, Gima
Seikichi 
and
Tokeshi Kako. After one year of intensive training only An'ichi Miyagi
stayed. Up to 1951 he was Chojun Miyagi's sole student. A close relation
between both grew; Chojun Miyagi treated An'ichi like a son of his own.
As he became older,Chojun Miyagi taught the essence (gokui) of Goju-Ryu
to An'ichi Miyagi. From February 1948 to October 1953 Chojun Miyagi taught
An'ichi everything he knew to preserve this knowledge as a whole for future
generations.In 1951 Miyagi accepted new students. The first of them was
Shuichi Aragaki, gradually, more followed. Usually these students were
taught by An'ichi, by 1952 the number of dojo-members was growing
|
On
the 8th of October 1953 Master Chojun Miyagi died suddenly
of a heart-attack.
|
Training continued
in the garden-dojo of Chojun Miyagi's house.Mostly An'ichi taught,and
through his tuition three special students arose: Yasuo Iba, Anya Sauchi
and Saburo Higa. For the first time since World War II the Goju-Ryu garden-dojo
started to flourish and could claim many outstanding students. About this
time, Morio Higaonna joined the garden-dojo of the late Chojun Miyagi.
Before that Morio Higaonna trained in Goju-Ryu and Shorin-Ryu with Tsunetaka
Shimabukuru, Kenji Kaneshiro and Yoshishige Omine. At the intercession
of Tsunetaka 
Shimabukuru,
Morio Higaonna was introduced to the garden-dojo in March 1955. At his
first visit he met Yasuo Iba. He told the young Morio Higaonna that he
should go to An'ichi Miyagi as he was the most competent in the dojo.
After training Morio Higaonna always visited Chojun Miyagi's widow Makato
(1887-1966). Sometimes they spoke about Chojun Miyagi, some of his senior
students, and of karate. She stressed that he should learn from An'ichi
Miyagi as the latter was most close to her husband and learned from him
Goju-Ryu in great detail. In August 1957, Eiichi Miyazato built a large
dojo in the Asato district of Naha, which he named Jundokan, after the
name of Jigoro Kano's first judo-dojo. Miyazato who also after the war
was heavily occupied with judo became a judo champion around 1950 or 1951
and even left for Japan in April 1953, to attend the Japan Kodokan seminar.
Miyazato finally became an accomplished judo master and president of the
Okinawan Judo Federation as well. Because of his authority and position
as a police-officer Miyazato became official head of the dojo with Koshin
Iha as his assistant, and responsible for the fees.They rarely taught
however,leaving the daily teaching responsibilities to An'ichi Miyagi.
It was An'ichi Miyagi who for example taught Iha suparinpei kata.
In 1959 An'ichi Miyagi left Okinawa to work on an American owned oil tanker.
At this time work was very difficult to find on Okinawa and An'ichi still
had the responsibility of supporting his family. One year later, Morio
Higaonna went to Tokyo, mainland Japan, to attend Takushoku University.
While attending university he would return to Okinawa just twice a year,
each winter for about one month and each summer for about two or three
months. On these occasions he continued his training and further development
with An'ichi Miyagi.
The Okinawa Karate-do Renmei
had been formed in May of 1956, with Choshin Chibana, the founder of Shorin-Ryu,
as its first chairman. On December 30, 1960, this seminal organization
held the first all-style dan grading. Shoshin Nagamine from Matsubayashi
Shorin-Ryu was chairman at that time. The top-instructors of each style
were awarded godan; twenty-five karate-ka were graded sandan (among them
Morio Higaonna); twenty-three were awarded nidan; and forty were awarded
shodan.
Morio Higaonna spent twenty years teaching at a dojo in Yoyogi, a suburb
in Tokyo, during which time he built it up into a place which became famous
throughout the world. As a result many people from a variety of martial
arts backgrounds would come to train with, and learn from, Higaonna. In
Tokyo Higaonna also introduced his teacher An'ichi Miyagi. During these
years An'ichi Miyagi passed on the secret and highest level techniques
of Goju-Ryu to his student Morio Higaonna. In 1979 with the support of
the family of Chojun Miyagi and Ken Miyagi,the fourth son of the founder
of Goju-Ryu,and many of Chojun Miyagi's senior students, the International
Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate-Do Federation (IOGKF) was formed. This was
to keep Goju-Ryu's original techniques unchanged and to further its technical
development as well as its popularity, according to the wish of Chojun
Miyagi. An'ichi Miyagi was appointed honorary chairman; Morio Higaonna
was appointed world chief-instructor.
In 1981, Higaonna moved to
Okinawa and opened a dojo in Naha (Higaonna dojo) to do more research.
Here he was selected by the documentary makers Howard Reid and Michael
Croucher, to represent traditional karate-do in the series "The Way
of the Warrior" for the B.B.C.
In 1987 he left for the USA to promote Goju-Ryu. Since 1987 he has visited
Fuzhou on many occassions to expand his knowledge of the Chinese roots
of Goju-Ryu. From these visits a close bond between the IOGKF and the
China Fuzhou Wushu Association (CFWA) was established.
The IOGKF today has a large following, numbering tens of thousands of
students in forty-five countries all over the world. At this moment the
IOGKF Honbu Dojo is being constructed on Okinawa, the birthplace of karate.
It will be the true Goju-Ryu Budokan, with dojo, meeting rooms and upstairs
a dormitory.
(Back to KARATE HISTORY )