Myths, Masters and Mayhem

Stories of the Martial Arts

4 - The Founders of Modern Karate - Chojun Miyagi

Chojun Miyagi was born in Naha (the capital of Okinawa) in 1888 and is usually cited as a practitioner of the Naha-te school of Okinawan karate. However, it is a bit more complicated than that as he also studied in China and learned a number of Chinese boxing styles (kung fu) including Shaolin and Pa Kua. Shaolin style is a hard/external martial art and Pa Kua is a soft/internal style. As he combined elements of what he learnt in China with his knowledge of Naha-te Goju ryu evolved.

In fact he did not have a name for his style of karate until 1929 when a student returned from Japan and told him that he was often asked what style he practiced for which he had no answer. Miyagi never permanently taught in Japan himself and it was left to some of his students to establish dojos on the mainland.

As I have mentioned in previous articles a lot of the katas we learn in Seido are derived from Goju ryu. Sensei Miyagi either developed these katas himself or in the case of Sanchin kata changed it into the form we know today. In fact he saw Sanchin as the core part of his karate. I would like to quote something he told his student Genkai Nakaima when discussing Sanchin kata.

"If you practice only Sanchin all your life, you do not have to practice any other Kata. Sanchin is so essential and important."

One day I [Genkai] asked him, "How many times do you practice Sanchin to think that you performed well?" He replied, "I think I performed Sanchin well only once out of 30 times practiced." At that time he was young, 34 or 35 years old. His words are still impressive to me.

Source: the monthly magazine "Aoi Umi" No. 70 February 1978 issue (pages 99-100) published by Aoi Umi Shuppansha.

We teach Sanchin at blue belt, but I think that this quote clearly demonstrates just how difficult a kata it really is to do properly.

Sensei Miyagi passed way in 1953 leaving no clear successor and as a result there are a profusion of Goju styles and Goju related styles.

One of his more famous students was Gogen Yamaguchi (known as the cat) who taught in Japan and named his style Goju-kai.

It is through Sensei Yamgauchi that Seido traces its Goju heritage. Kancho Oyama, Kaicho's teacher, was taught Goju karate by Nei-Chu So, one of Sensei Yamgauchi's students