History to Yuzenkai Gojuryu ..勇善会剛柔流への道...last up date Nov.20, 2022　HOME
Goju-ryu has several folklores on its root. Strangely, the correctly name of Higaonna's Chinese master is not unknown. It is said that the name was "Ryu-Ruko" or“Tou-Ruko". But they are quite different in meaning though their pronunciation seems alike.  “Ryu-Ryu” is the nickname of  Higaonna when he was in China. The "Ryo" of Kanryo is pronounced "Ru" in Chinese. It is presumed that his nickname "Ryu-Ryu" was made from "Ryo" simply spoken two times. Historical actual existence can be confirmed to Tou-Ruko. Tou-Ruko is the Chinese martial artist "Jeng Lai-Gung" .He was the expert of "Bai He-Quan".It might be certain that he was one of the originators of GoJu-ryu. But he was not the founder itself.
It is presumed that the following six requirements complete Gojo-Ryu and/or Okinawan Karate. ① Martial arts which existed in Kume Village in Okinawa from 1392.  ② Martial arts of “Wai Shinzan” who came from China in the 19th Century. ③ Martial arts of “Tou Ruko"who was Higaonna's teacher at China duaring 19th century ④ Martial arts which Miyagi learned in China 90years before. ⑤ Martial arts originally developed by Miyagi. ⑥ Martial arts Miyagi learned from “Motobu Choyo” in the 20th century
①Many scholars and professional skill person's groups came from China to Okinawa by the Chinese emperor's instruction in 1392. They came from Fuzhou in Fujian in China. And, they settled down in the kume village in Naha ,the maximum trading port town. They were called "the 36 families in kume-village(久米三十六姓)". By the way, the word "36" is a metaphor of "so many". Each family was a professional ability group to hand down the high expertise such as study, art, diplomacy, literature, engineering works, the building to. The special ability of each family is business of the transmission from father to son.Do you think that they share their special ability to an outsider? Karate is also one of such special abilities. Of Karate is secretiveness inherently. Gojuryu certainly has the technique and the theory based on the philosophy and the medicine of the deep Orient more than the imagination. Afterwards, their descendant was the leader layer of diplomatic and of trade between China and Okinawa for 500 years. In the Goju-Ryu DOJO that values the tradition of Okinawa,the martial arts god "Kyu-Ten-Fu- Ka- In- DenTo-Gensui" (九天風火院田都元帥)is enshrined. It is the god of the folk customs belief (taoism) imported from China by them. 1933 Okinawa,sanchin
②Who are “Wai Shinzan” and ③"Tou Ruko?” “Wai Shinzan” was Chinese martial artist and teacher of Arakaki Sesyo (teacher of Higaonna Kanryo).  His real name was Wang Daxing (王打興：1793?~1894?). He came to Okinawa twice, once in 1838 and once in 1866 as the military arts executive accompanying representatives of the Chinese government.  The pronunciation “Wai Shinzan” originates from “Wang Shijiang：王師匠” (meaning; Wang sensei).  Wai Shinzan had kept close relations with old karate masters in Okinawa.   In the famous martial arts book “Bubishi”( it is sometimes called the Bible of Gojo-Ryu), mainly handed down to Gojo-Ryu, Wai Shinzan's philosophy was recorded .In this book,he was written by his pen name"Wang Yuedeng王登岳.” Now he is regarded as one of the founders of Gojo-Ryu.  Matsumura Sokon was his student too. So Wai Shinzan's influences is also seen in Syuri-De. For example, “Wankan”, “Wansyu”, and “Unsu” originate in the alias named Wang Shijiang.  “Wankan” is the shortened form of “Wan-Bukan王武官”.  The Bukan means the“martial bureaucrat.”  “Wansyo” is the shortened form of “Wang Shijiang” (meaning Wang sensei).  Unsu is the one that is the shortened form of “Wang Shijiang”.  Incidentally, he was a famous martial artist in the Chinese “White Crane Kung Fu”.  As a result, Karate was influenced from this type of Kung Fu. Note:  Wai Shinzan = Wang Shijian = Wang Daxing = Wang Yuedang
“Tou Ruko” is presumed to be Higaonna Kanryo’s teacher.  And he is well known as one of the important founder of Gojuryu as famous as Wai Shinzan.His name's pronunciation is in Okinawan language.  So there are various opinions about “Tou Ruko.”  Who was “Tou Ruko”?  It is presumed that he was Ton Lee-Kun"鄭礼公", a Chinese expert of “Fujian White Crane.”  More specifics about Ton Lee Kung will be presented later.
The pioneer of Gojuryu Karatedo
Kanryou Higaonna (1853 – 1916)
Kanryo Higaonna had three famous students - Juhatsu Kyodo, Chojun Miyagi, and Seiko Higa.  Higaonna handed down four katas: Sanchin, Sesan, Sanseru, and Bettyurin. Bettyurin is assumed to be an alias of Suparinpei. There is the proven documentation that these kata had existed in Okinawa before Higaonna. It has been believed Higaonna stayed in China for 10-30 years and learned Kung-Fu from the master named Ryu Ruko (Tou Ruko). Recently, however, there is a new theory that his length-of-stay in China was about three years, and his purpose was business. My old master said there is no proof on Ryu Ruko. Sometime,I heard that Higaonna certainly went to China.And he helped a child from big flood. So he came to learn Kung-Fu from the child’s father, but there is no proof that the father’s name was Ryu(Tou) Ruko.In old China, a young man was called his name's last character repeated twice.  In that case, Higaonna Kanryo would be called Ryo-Ryo or Ru-Ru.  So it is said that the name "Ru-Ruko" is not the name of Higaonna’s master but the Higaonna's Chinese name. In a word, Chinese name of Higaonna may have been misidentified with his master’s name.  Nowaday some Karateka come to China to look for the evidence of Ru(Tou)-Ruko. And,of course, the master Ru-Ruko had not been discovered. What they are really arguing about is  misunderstanding when they discover a Chinese master with a name that looks likes Ru-Ruko.  But it is just a fantasy because the Kung-Fu correspond to Gojo-Ryu hadnot identified at all. By the way,the name “Tou Ruko” had been memorized by Higa Seiko.  So his reputation has not been compromised according to these facts.  Higaonna certainly revived the Naha-te that had gotten lost,and handed down it to future generations. As a result, Gojo-Ryu exists today.
Juhatsu Kyoda　(1887-1968)
He was the oldest student of Kanryo Higaonna.He founded Touon-Ryu from the difference of  opinion with Miyagi. "Touon" is Higaonna variant pronunciation.Kyoda is the successor with accurate technique of Kanryo Higaonna. He is not modifying the technique of Kanryo Higaonna at all.KATA that he passed on to future generations is as following six . "SANCHIN,SESAN,SANSERU,BETTYURIN,JION,NEPAI" He learnt JION from Kentsu Yabu(1866-1937) ,and NEPAI from Kenki Go(1886-1940). So it is guessed KATA that Kanryo Higaonna owned was only four (SANCHIN, SESAN, SANSERU, and BEECHURIN). Moreover, common KATA to both has many difference. He criticized the trend of Chojun Miyagi and Goju-Ryu at all. He might have known various secrets concerning the Gojuryu birth.When his record and KATA of Touon-ryu are analyzed, it is guessed that Miyagi added a lot of improvements and additions to Karate of Higaonna. Such Miyagi's act seemed to be unpleasant for Kyoda.
Chojun Miyagi(1888-1953)
MIYAGI Chojun(the nick name was "Machu")had a major influence on the spread of Goju-Ryu Karate to Japan.He regularly visited the Kyoto for a certain period of time in the 1930's. And he taught some university students. (Gogen Yamaguchi was one of the students at that time.) He thought that to teach the university students make the Karate's social position improve. Karate could get a credit from the nation only by becoming the school physical education subject. Syurite was alredy became the subject of the physical education in the secondary school in Okinawa from 1905."Heian(Pinan)1-5" were made by Anko Itosu as the teaching material for the students at this time. Gichin Funakoshi ,the student of Anko Itosu, migrated to Tokyo in 1922, and taught Karate to a lot of university students. "Syoto" was the town name he lived. Nahate had been greatly delayed starting compared with Syuri-Karate. Miyagi was Shihan of Naha commercial high school.He brought up a lot of students in Okinawa. Miyagi added new and original elements to Karate from Higaonna and completed Goju-Ryu Karate.  The name “Goju-Ryu” was designated by Sinsato Jinan(1901～1945) in 1929.   Miyagi was a pure Samurai,Budo-ka.He completely had no interest in his Karate expansion.And he was likely to be available person because of naive.He prohibited to his students to get money by Karate .He didn't issue any Dan,the title of Hanshi,Kyoushi and Renshi.But his students established big Dojo,big organization and run for mone.That is the cause of the confusion of today's Gojuryu sect . In later life,Miyagi was only Kancho of a small Dojo.In the sense of business, he was misfortune. But nowaday,his fame is resounding all over the world.
IAt the place (Kume town, Naha city) where Goju-Ryu was born, there is a commending stone monument dedicated Kanryo Higaonna and Chojun Miyagi.  Needless to say, they are initiators of Gojuryu. 沖縄県那覇市、剛柔流空手道発祥地に建つ東恩納寛量と宮城長順の顕彰碑 October 3, 2013.
Three important messages from Miyagi had been carved for the other side of this monument. 1　We should know that a secret of Gojuryu Karate exists in Kata. 　剛柔流空手道の極意は型の中にあると知るべし 2　We should achieve a harmony of nature inside us by Gojuryu Karate . 　剛柔流空手道は己の内に天地自然の調和を表現すべきなり 3　We should pursue a moral character by Gojuryu Karate . 　剛柔流空手道は徳の道を追求するものなり This monument had built in the birthplace of Nahate-Gojuryu. This place was called kume village in old times. The village was immigrant's　village from China in 17 century. Martial arts that they had brought from China became prototypes of Nahate-Gojuryu.
. ①②③ ①Chotoku Kyan ②Chojun Miyagi ③Juhatsu Kyoda	④Kyoda and Miyagi when they were young. They were rival at the same time as the relation like the brother it
Gekisai1, Gekisai2, and Tensyo was Miyagi created. Higaonna's Suparinpei was handed down as Suparinpei which was improved and corrected by Miyagi.  Higaonna did not teach the kata named Suparinpei.  The Bettyurin Higaonna taught is maintained in Touon-Ryu of Kyoda today. Shito-Ryu also has the Suparinpei kata. And the kata is calledas Bettyurin. That kata is, however, the same as Superinpei of Goju-Ryu. It is clearly different from the Bettyurin kata of Touon-Ryu.   Where then did Saifa, Seienchin, Shisouchin, Sepai, and Kururunfa come from? It turns out that there is documentation shows that Shisouchin existed before Higaonna.  In the opening operation, Seienchin, Sepai, and Kururunfa do not have sanchin operation.  They are, in fact, obviously different from other kata of Goju-ryu.  And these kata donot exist in Touon-Ryu of Kyoda. This means that Miyagi had had another teacher besides Higaonna. Who was he? 　It is presumed that the person who taught these kata to Miyaga is Motobu Choyu (1857-1928).Two or more testimonies exist about this.  Motobu Choyu was a member of the royal family in Okinawa.  This means he had access to many great masters of excellent studies, martial arts and arts from an early age.  Moreover, he was a great master of “Udon-di” that was handed down through the royal family. Motobu Choyu (1857-1928)formed the "Okinawa Karate Research Club" in 1923 as a joint Karate research organization.  As a result, a lot of famous Karate masters participated in the club.  It so happens that Miyagi Chojun and Mabuni Kenwa took active roles as members in the club staff.  Motobu maintained several kata that were able to be known through association with the royal family, Miyagi Chojun learned many of the kata from Motobu.  It is believed that Saifa, Sisouchin, Seienchin, Sepai, and Kururunfa came from Motobu because the kata  all share similar techniques including joint locks, chokeholds, tighten holds, grappling holds, and throws that are common elements of Udon-di.  Motobu endeavored to advance Okinawan martial arts until his death in 1928.  Motobu’s death along with divisions within the sect caused by financial difficulties resulted in the decline and eventual disappearance of the Okinawa Karate Research Club Another important person with roots in Goju-Ryu was Kenki Go(1886-1940).  Kenki Go was a naturalized person from China, and his martial arts lines are of Fujian White Crane.  Chojun Miyagi was always interested in this technique.  His strong influence can be seen in Tensyo and Suparinpei.  The “Kakufa” kata from Go Kenki is maintained in Higa Seko’s Goju-Ryu as a secret Kata.  It also appears that “Yantu” from Mas Oyama’s (Kyokushin’s) kata is along the lines of the same Fujian White Crane. Mas Oyama was from Goju-Ryu.  It is said that he learned Kata Yantu in Taiwan. Kenki's father, Kouki Go lived in Fujian, China and was a trading merchant. And he was a go-between of Karateka's study in China. Shinko Matayoshi(1888-1947) who was the founder of KimGai Ryu became a disciple of the KimGai master by his mediation.The KimGai master was a senior of Syu Shiwa who was the master of Kanbun Uechi(1877-1948) who was the founder of Uechi Ryu. By the way, Kim of KimGai means a gold, symbol of "Softness". Gai means "hard" in Chinese.Therefore,the meaning of the word KimGai is same as Goju ryu,"hard" and "soft".The relation between commonness of Gojuryu, Uechiryu ,Ryueiryu,Kimgairyu that has same category of Nahate is interesting. Seiko Higa(1898～1966) was the relative and the last student of Kanryo Higaonna. And he studied under his senior Chojun Miyagi after the death of Higaonna.  But the idea and the Kata between Miyagi and Higa was considerably different.Miyagi was a Karate teacher in secondary school and University.Higa was a policeman.Miyagi thought Gojuryu Karate as physical education in school education.   His first students in Kyoto were university students , social elite class at the time.  In contrast, Higa's Gojuryu was a martial arts and he did not go out of Okinawa.   He interacted with Shinko Matayoshi and Kenko Nakaima. They learned Gojuryu Karate from Higa, and Higa learned Matayoshi Kobudo and RyueiRyu Kobudo from them. Higa also learned Unsu from Choyu Motobu, which is different from today's famous SyotokanRyu's Unsu and is called Arakaki no Unsu. Kobudo and Unsu above are not included in Chojun Miyagi's system. Kanki Izumikawa(1908～1967), the first disciple of Seiko Higa, came to Japan in 1934 and started the first Goju-ryu dojo in mainland Japan. Izumikawa was also a disciple of Kyoda Juhatsu, so some of Izumikawa's kata have techniques that came from Kyoda. By the way, Higa was critical of the name "Goju-ryu,"' and is reported to have said, "We should have called ourselves Chinese Shaolin-ryu." In the World War II , Okinawa became a burnt ground .Many Karate experts died by War. Okinawa was occupied until 1972 by United States.It brought Karate deeply devision between Japan mainland and Okinawa.
Yuzenkai Gojuryu
Yosiaki Naganuma (1944～) Yuzenkai founder Y.Naganuma is a final generation who use Goju-Ryu Karate in the real fight. First he learned the Gojuryu from Izumikawa school , the lineage of Seiko Higa. And later, with the case of the generations change, he started his own"Yuzenkai" with his senior Isamu Kato for not JKF sports Karate but real battle Gojuryu Karate as you can see in this web site. Our Yuzenkai born in 1983. Now he has been as Hanshi 10thDAN in GOJU-RYUinternational KARATEDO-KOBUDO Union . In 2013 he transfered the position of Kancho of YUzenkai to Shihan Omoto. Now he is supreme adviser of YUZENKAI. In this way,the old type real fight Goju-Ryu was handed down to us .The name of YUZENKAI is a synthesis of their first names. By the way, Hanshi Naganuma is also the famous Shihan of the traditional Japanese instrument “syakuhachi.”
Kazunori OMOTO　尾本一則(1958～)
Kancho Omoto has been guieded Karate by Shihani Naganuma since 1973. When he acquired his Black Belt, the Karate of Japan was facing an important pivotal turning point. It was the movement of integrate of Kata by Japan Karate Federation (JKF). Omoto kancho has been high school teacher. And he has also guided in his high school Karate club.All school Karate club in Japan is under JKF.His students have made extraordinary efforts, and acquired victories and various awards in the All-Japan championships, the Tokyo area Karate championship, and various municipality district championships. . But he has strongly felt the necessity for succession of old type Goju-Ryu. So he has been teaching the fruits” of his 49 years journey of study in Gojuryu Karatedo Kobudo at outside high school ,the YUZENKAI Dojo. The word "Nahate-Gojuryu"is not a word that indicates the Ryuha (style name). This is the word that shows Yuzenkai's vision and mission. We are not trying to add a new style. We obtained the following conclusions as a result of researching Goju-Ryu for years. It is necessary to understand GojuRyu in terms of the Nahate category.The Karate that belongs to the Nahate category are GojuRyu, TouonRyu, RyueiRyu and UechiRyu.These Karate are in kinship, and their principle and combat thought are common. Especially,GojuRyu, ToonRyu, and RyueiRyu have same common founder named Tou Ryuko(Ryu-Ryuko). We are paying deep attention to this respect. (But there is a difference betweenthem concerning the legend of Ryu-Ryuko.); In these , common KATA exists. For instance,they have SESAN and SANSERU. SANCHIN exists in GojuRyu, ToonRyu, and UechiRyu. SEIENCHIN exists in GojuRyu and RyueiRyu. Of course, the same name KATA has some subtle differences. But these differences are not essential. Furthermore, the difference becomes the important hint to interpret each KATA. We thought that it was of the greatest importance to recognize GojuRyu in the Nahate category. To understand the truth of Gojuryu, We strongly believe that the same thinking in reverse, conversely, is necessary now. So we choose to re-examine GojuRyu from the Nahate category. Nahate GojuRyu is the word that indicates such the vision and the mission. YUZENKAI has devised Jiyu Kumite unlimitedly similar to the actual combat of GojuRyu for that. It can be called, so to speak, the full contact GojuRyu. YUZENKAI is the succesor of the traditional GojuRyu and pioneer of full contact GojuRyu. So that,we are devising full contact Kumite and light contact Kumite to use the technique in the GojuRyu five Categories of technique; striking techniques;joint locktechniques; throwing,constriction techniques and grappling technique. The real value of Gojuryu can be verified not by WKF method but by full contact method. Yuzenkai strive to recognize overseas international Dojo to study Karate Kobudo as our partners. At 2019,after retired from a high school vice principal ,Kancho Omoto devotes himself to an activity of Yuzenkai while he works as the special lecturer of the high school and it's Karate club.
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