Seiko Higa

Quick Facts

Date of Birth11/8/1898

Date of Death4/16/1966

Country of OriginJapan

OccupationPolice officer

Biography

Seiko Higa was born on 8 November 1898 in Naha, Okinawa, and died on 16 April 1966. He was a master of the Goju-ryu style and one of four students whom Chojun Miyagi allowed to open their own dojo during his lifetime.

From the age of thirteen he studied for four years under Kanryo Higaonna, the founder of Naha-te, until his death; alongside Juhatsu Kyoda and Chojun Miyagi, he was one of his three major students. He then continued for 38 years under Miyagi, the founder of Goju-ryu, likewise until his death. In 1919 he graduated from the Okinawan fisheries school and taught at an elementary school, and in 1920 he joined the police.

He left the police in 1931 and that same year opened a dojo in the Kumoji district of Naha. In 1932 he co-founded a Goju-ryu research institute in the Matsushita district with Masayoshi Toguchi. Between 1935 and 1937 he attempted, with his student Hiroki Izumikawa, to expand teaching to the island of Saipan, but the attempt failed. In 1940 he received the title of renshi, and in 1954 hanshi. In 1950 he founded the Shotokukan dojo in the Yogi district and taught at a secondary school in Itoman, at the University of the Ryukyus, and in a prison.

He founded the Goju-ryu Kokusai Karate Kobudo Renmei and was its first president from 1960 to 1966; Japanese sources place its founding as early as 1959. He trained instructors who spread karate abroad, among them Seikichi Toguchi, Seiichi Akamine and Kanki Izumigawa, as well as Zenshu Toyama, founder of the Shinjikan school. His legacy was continued by his son Seikichi Higa.

Teachers, students and family

Associated Martial Arts

Organisations

• GOJUGoju-ryu Kokusai Karate Kobudo RenmeiFounder · 1960–1966