•     History

Of Goju Ryu, Karatedo and the JKF, How they evolved and their involvement in the Butokukai.

•     Lineage

Semi Detailed, Goju Ryu has a traceable lineage of 2000 years. The Chart in the section  is roughly from the 1800's till today.

Goju Ryu karate is said to display the oldest martial arts traditions.  With a history that can be traced back almost 2000 years.  Keeping the primitive traditional forms of martial arts yet full of fighting spirit.  The system is based on a concept that hard and stiff is not good, however all soft and gentle can be equally harmful. The two should complement each other. This combination of the two gives Goju Ryu its beauty, disciplined movements, grace and flowing form. But lest anyone believe that Goju is merely a beautiful style of the dance with little of the art of defense, he need only watch two Goju players square off in Kumite against one another. Goju Ryu has received the most Chinese influence of all of the Japanese styles of karate followed closely by Shorin Ryu and Shito Ryu.  With the ‘Go’ (hard or positive) and the ‘Ju’ (soft or negative) in consistent harmony, one equalizing the other as with the rest of the universe.  Through Goju Ryu training a simple act like blocking or striking will eventually occur naturally, a side effect of a pure of thought and mind and repetition.  There are many primary characteristics of Japanese Goju Ryu:

[One being of course being Go and Ju as explained above.

[Another is Ibuki (YO & IN), the famous breathing techniques which have been developed in a way to place the mind and body in harmony, uniting them for a more efficient person, and stimulating the bodies internal organs bringing you to a total state of awareness.  

[Jiyu-Kumite (free fighting) developed for close range fighting utilizing Neko Ashi Dachi (cat stance or cat leg stance) to quickly and easily move to and from other body positions for a more effective fighter.

[Buji which means the absence of conflict or peace, another way of saying this is although harmonized Goju Ryu is at all times seeking a better way, not saying there is something wrong with the way that anything is done however the possibilities are limitless!

Goju Ryu shares its roots with other styles of karate developed over the centuries from the fighting arts of China and rooted through Okinawa. Many of the school's movements are very soft, as in Chinese Kempo. The Okinawan brand of karate was originally imported from China more than 400 years ago, but had developed into a hard style during its years on the island by the influence of the Okinawan native arts. When these arts came to Okinawa, where they underwent changes and were combined with Okinawan Te. Many approaches to self-defense came into existence.  Naha Te named after the city it was practiced in (Naha) over time developed in combination of other Te to become Goju Ryu. Kanryo Higaonna  was known as the highest authority of Naha Te. He as well as his successor Chojun Miyagi (1888-1953) made several treks to Mainland China to absorb more skill and to hone their art. Miyagi for the most part undertook invented and standardized the training and modernization of the techniques, and created the first named style of karate (other than that named after the city it was founded). He later (1928) introduced Goju Ryu to the Japanese mainland.  There Gogen ("the Cat") Yamaguchi Hanshi, his successor on the mainland trained in Goju Ryu, and was entrusted by Kaiso Chojun Miyagi with the task of furthering the development Goju Ryu The Japan Karate Do GojuKai Association (JKGA) was established In 1950 by Shihan Gogen Yamaguchi, and followed by the establishment of the International Karate GojuKai Association (IKGA) in 1965. Upon Shihan Yamaguchi’s death in 1989, his son H. Goshi Yamaguchi has been appointed to the helm of the association, strengthening international ties in his travels through out the world teaching and training others in his fathers and his fathers teachers style of Karate Do

Disciplining the body and mind in combination have always been part of Japanese culture and is clearly expressed in Karate-do and many other martial arts whose origins can be found in Japan including Goju Ryu.  Oddly, much of the system can and has been based on geometric and mathematical formulas.  Much of this based on the function in dimension, space versus time, kind of relative to chronosynclasticinfindibulum - i.e.:  The theory of the universe being curved and how all matter, time and space is intertwined and connected with one-another and can be proven so via mathematics calculation.