Goju-ryu
剛柔流An Okinawan karate style founded by Chojun Miyagi. He took the name “hard-soft” from a verse of the Chinese text Bubishi, and its hallmark is the breathing kata Sanchin.
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About Goju-ryu
Goju-ryu was founded on Okinawa by Chojun Miyagi (1888–1953), a student of Kanryo Higaonna. The name means “hard-soft style” and Miyagi took it from a verse about the hardness and softness of breath in the Chinese text Bubishi. The sources do not give the year of origin uniformly. According to the story of the naming, the name was spoken around 1929, when Miyagi’s student Shinzato Jin’an did not know at a martial arts demonstration what to call the style. The Dai Nippon Butoku Kai recognised Goju-ryu in 1933.
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Higaonna learned in Fuzhou in the Chinese province of Fujian and Miyagi travelled there himself in 1915 and 1917. Around 1918 he adapted from the Fujian white crane style the kata Tensho, the soft counterpart of the kata Sanchin. Sanchin (“three battles”) is a slow kata performed under tension, with audible breathing. The teacher tests in it the stance and the tensing of the body (shime), from strikes to slow pressures and pulls. Breathing is emphasised in all kata of the style. There are twelve main kata, from the beginner Gekisai to Suparinpei, which the sources describe as the most advanced. Training includes hojo undo, exercises with stone weights and jars, and kakie, a paired exercise of sensitivity in pressure and pull. The Japan Karate Federation counts Goju-ryu among the four main styles alongside Shotokan, Shito-ryu and Wado-ryu. The style is divided into a number of organisations, among them the Okinawan Jundokan and Meibukan, the IOGKF, which Morio Higaonna founded in 1979, and the Japanese Goju-kai. Each of them awards grades separately.
History
Goju-ryu derives from Naha-te, the prewar name of the Okinawan art from around the city of Naha. Kanryo Higaonna sailed to Fuzhou in China's Fujian province in March 1873 (1870 in the account passed down through Miyagi) and studied under a master called Ryu Ryu Ko, whose name was not written. He brought back the kata Sanchin, Seisan, Sanseru and Bechurin. He died in 1915 or 1916, sources differ. Chojun Miyagi (1888–1953) studied under Higaonna from the age of 14 for about 15 years. He went to Fuzhou himself in 1915 and again in 1917, and around 1918 he introduced the kata Tensho. According to JKF Gojukai and IOGKF, he chose the name Goju-ryu in 1930, when his student Jin’an Shinzato, at a martial arts demonstration, improvised the name hanko-ryu, half-hard style, when asked the name of the art. In 1933 the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai recognized Goju-ryu as a modern budo (gendai budo).
How it differs
Goju-ryu grew out of Naha-te and, according to the Japanese federation JKF Gojukai, combines the Okinawan arts with the Chinese nanpa shorin-ken from Fujian. According to Gojukai, hardness (go) is linked with attack and softness (ju) with defense. Breathing is distinctive. The core of the method is abdominal breathing kisoku no donto, and ibuki breathing has two forms, the audible yo ibuki for training and the quiet in ibuki for fighting. Circular movement creates a sticky resistance on contact called muchimi. The basic kata Sanchin serves, according to JKF Gojukai, to practice correct breathing and stance. Miyagi modified it to move only in a straight line forward and back. Its counterpart is Tensho, which Miyagi created from kata Rokkishu learned in Fuzhou. According to an IOGKF magazine article, Sanchin is hard outside and soft inside, and Tensho the reverse. This distinguishes Goju-ryu, for example, from Wado-ryu, which derives from jujutsu and uses evasions from the line of attack instead of forceful blocks.
Technique
Go means the closed hand and linear techniques, ju the open hand and circular ones. Breathing is emphasised in all kata, above all in Sanchin and Tensho. Sanchin (“three battles”) exists in two versions. Higaonna’s was taught with open hands, Juhatsu Kyoda modified it to closed fists and Miyagi adopted the modification. In shime the teacher checks the stance and the tensing of the body, from hard strikes to slow pressures and pulls. Tensho (“rotating hands”) is the soft counterpart of Sanchin, adapted from the Rokkishu of the Fujian white crane. There are twelve main kata: Sanchin, Tensho, Gekisai Dai Ichi and Dai Ni, Saifa, Seiunchin, Shisochin, Sanseru, Seipai, Kururunfa, Seisan and Suparinpei, which the sources describe as the most advanced. Gekisai arose around 1940 for beginners. Sanseru emphasises kicks to the joints (kansetsu geri), Seiunchin balancing, throws and grips.
Training
For the first 6–12 months Miyagi gave beginners work such as carrying stones instead of technique, and his students often trained for 3–5 years before they learned Sanchin. IOGKF describes the training of Sanchin as the steps of the kata, resistance in sanchin dachi against straps pulled by two helpers, and shime. According to IOGKF, Morio Higaonna instructs to practise Sanchin daily. Almost all kata have bunkai oyo, an agreed exercise with a partner. According to Eiichi Miyazato (1978), kakie is a paired exercise in which two people stand with the same foot forward in neko ashi dachi or sanchin dachi, hook the wrists and push alternately. The aim is sensitivity in pulling and pressure, according to Miyazato it is not a contest of strength. Free kumite (jiyu kumite) was introduced in 1934 by Gogen Yamaguchi in Goju-kai, which also created five beginner kata of its own, Taikyoku. We have not found the structure of an ordinary lesson or the share of kumite.
Ranks and progression
Grades are awarded by each organisation separately. JKF Gojukai has dan 1–10 with a physical examination up to 8th dan, it added student kyu 5–1 in 2014, and 1st kyu is a condition for the examination for 1st dan. Morio Higaonna received 3rd dan in December 1960, 5th dan in April 1966, menkyo kaiden in January 1967 and 8th and 9th dan in May 1984 from Yuchoku Higa, and he also holds 10th dan. We have not been able to document the examination regulations of IOGKF, Jundokan and Goju-kai, that is belts, minimum times and required kata.
Competition
In Japan Goju-ryu competes under the Japan Karate Federation, where the style is represented by the member organisation JKF Gojukai. The designated kata (shitei) of Goju-ryu for JKF tournaments are Saifa, Seipai, Kururunfa and Seisan, from which competitors choose in the 1st and 2nd round. The rules of JKF Gojukai differ from the WKF rules, and we have not found the specific differences in kumite. The WKF list of 102 kata from January 2026 does not mark styles. We have not found which kata of Goju-ryu were performed at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020.
Gear
We have not found any special clothing or belts for Goju-ryu. The style’s own equipment is the hojo undo implements: chi ishi, a stone weight on a pole, ishi sashi, tetsu geta, nigiri game, jars of sand held by the rim, makiwara and kongoken, which Miyagi took over into hojo undo. IOGKF lists nigiri game, kata with chi ishi and tetsu sashi in the training of Sanchin. We have not found whether the implements are bought by the student or the club has them.
Philosophy
Miyagi took the name from a stanza of Hakku Kenpo (拳之大要八句) in the Chinese text Bubishi, from the verse 法剛柔呑吐, according to which inhaling and exhaling are hardness and softness. Miyagi’s aim was to build character and spiritual freedom. He emphasised the principles no first strike and developing reason before strength. In March 1934 he wrote the text Karate-do Gaisetsu, one of his few written works.
Today
The succession after Miyagi’s death in 1953 is disputed. A committee in February 1954 almost unanimously elected Eiichi Miyazato, according to other sources Miyagi did not name a successor publicly. Already in 1952 Seiko Higa and others founded the Goju-ryu Shinkokai. On Okinawa the Meibukan of Meitoku Yagi (first dojo 1952) and the Jundokan of Eiichi Miyazato (1956 or 1957) arose. On the mainland the Goju-kai of Gogen Yamaguchi arose officially in 1935, and it later split into JKF Gojukai and JKGA. Morio Higaonna founded the IOGKF in July 1979 in Poole in England and, after leaving it in 2022, the TOGKF. The Japan Karate Federation recognises four styles, Goju-ryu, Shito-ryu, Shotokan and Wado-ryu. The Nippon Kobudo Kyokai recognised Goju-ryu in 1998 as koryu bujutsu, as the first style of karate, with Morio Higaonna as representative. In February 2024 this role passed to the TOGKF.
Did you know
Kanryo Higaonna returned from Fuzhou to Okinawa in 1891 and from 1905 taught at the commercial secondary school in Naha. Miyagi demonstrated Naha-te in 1921 to Prince Hirohito and in 1925 to Prince Chichibu. In 1926 he founded the Karate Kenkyu Club with other Okinawan masters, and in 1936 he spent two months in Shanghai studying Chinese martial arts. According to the IOGKF, he was the first founder of a karate school to formally name his art. Many of Miyagi's students were police officers. Quite a few of them died in the Battle of Okinawa, which also destroyed much of Naha, including Miyagi's notes on Higaonna's teacher. According to JKF Gojukai, Miyagi's preparatory exercises junbi undo and the equipment exercises hojo undo are still practiced unchanged today. According to the Gojukai organization, the stance sanchin-dachi arose from the ability to stand firmly on an unstable boat.
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Frequently asked questions
What is goju-ryu?
Goju-ryu is an Okinawan style of karate that grew out of Naha-te and, according to the Japanese federation JKF Gojukai, combines Okinawan arts with Chinese martial art from Fujian province. It is one of the four main styles recognized by the Japan Karate Federation.
What does goju-ryu mean?
Goju-ryu means hard and soft style. Miyagi Chojun took the words go ju from a verse of the Chinese text Bubishi, according to which the way of inhaling and exhaling is hardness and softness.
Who founded goju-ryu?
Goju-ryu was founded by Miyagi Chojun (1888–1953), who studied from the age of 14 under Higaonny Kanryo, a master of Naha-te. He named the style in 1930 and Dai Nippon Butokukai recognized it in 1933.
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