RYU-RYU KO to KANRYO HIGAONNA. by Shihan Harry De Spa

CHOJUN MIYAGI'S GOJU-RYU KARATE.DO by Shihan Harry De Spa

AN'ICHI MIYAGI to MORIO HIGAONNA by Shihan Harry De Spa

FURTHER HISTORY OF GOJU-RYU by Shihan George Picard

LIFE & TIMES of CHOJUN MIYAGI by Sensei John Porta

INTRODUCTION

Describing the history and developement of Goju-Ryu Karate.do has always been a precarious matter. Previously, no-one seemed engaged in it.To research the subject,(Ed).one referred to Kanryo Higaonna, the Okinawan who learned Chinese Martial Arts in Fouzhou, the capital city of Fujian province in China in the second half of the 19th Century.
However, in 1996 an important change took place. A book solely dedicated to the history of Goju-Ryu Karate.Do was written by Sensei Morio Higaonna, the Worlds leading authority on traditional Okinawan Goju-Ryu. In writing history there's alway's the temptation to lean heavily on the work of previous writers and ones own becomes but a digest of theirs, replete with the mistakes and prejudices of the earlier historians. Sensei Higaonna has avoided this predicament by using only primary scources of information: the family,students and friends of the founders of Goju-Ryu karate, Kanryo Higaonna and Chojun Miyagi. To the evidence he has collected from the interviews conducted over the past thirty-odd years, he has added the fruits of his extensive research in Okinawa, Japan and China during those years. Not surprisingly the book that has resulted from this gargantuan effort is now recognised as the definitive work on Okinawan Goju-Ryu.

RYU RYU KO to KANRYO HIGAONNA.

THE CHINESE ROOTS

It was the Okinawan, Kanryo Higaonna (1853-1915) who, through his intensive studies between 1867-1881 in Fuzhou, China, was to lay the foundation of what wouild later become known as Goju-Ryu Karate.Do. He set sail for Fuzhou in the Autumn of 1867, at the age of 15 to the Ryukyu Kan an area comprising a microcosm of Okinawan life in China. Kanpu Tanmei the manager of his boarding house, the Uchinayaru, learned about Kanryo's eagerness to study the Chinese Martial Arts, and introduced him to the Chinese Master Ryu Ryu Ko.
There is no consensus of opinion about Ryu Ryu Ko's exact identity, or the Martial Art style which he taught, however, it is widely believed his family had originally been aristocrats, in those times only they studied Martial Arts. He studied at the southern Shaolin Temple in the mountains of Fujian Province. Due to the internal strife that threatened the fuedal system therefore Chinese aristocracy, the family was forced to conceal their status in order to survive. Ryu Ryu Ko worked as a bricklayer and builder, then later, made a living by making furniture, baskets etc. from bamboo. This was the trade he was following when Kanryo Higaonna became his pupil. In the area where Kanryo lived White Crane Kung-Fu teachers were living and probably Ryu Ryu Ko was one of them. White Crane(Bai He) geneology of Fujian goes back to Fang Jiniang the daughter of Fang Shiyu, who is said to have learned Monk Fist (Louhan Quan) during his stay at the the Buddhist Shaolin Temple. Fang Jiniang had also studied the defence-attack movements of the White Crane and became the founder of the first generation White Crane Masters. The second generation Yongchun White Crane Boxing grandmaster was Zeng Cishu, who was also a Black Tiger Boxing Master.
The White Crane tradition of 17th Century Fujian became strongly influenced by Monk Fist and Tiger Boxing and is probably the foundation on which Ryu Ryu Ko taught Kanryo Higaonna. Such was his devotion, he eventually became Ryu Ryu Ko's uchi-deshi i.e. he recieved the inner teachings, thus learning the whole system, as well as the study of weapons and raditional Chinese medicine. It isn't clear which year Kanryo Higaonna began teaching Martial Arts in Okinawa, but it was not until a few years after returning to Okinawa from China.He first began teaching Martial Arts in his home in Nishishin-machi but later tauaght at Naha High School in September 1905. He had many noteable students and, eventaully, his favourite student Chojun Miyagi succeeded him as the leading master of Naha-te. Later to be named Goju-Ryu.

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