Morio Higaonna

Quick Facts

Date of Birth12/25/1938

Country of OriginJapan

OccupationSchoolteacher

Biography

Morio Higaonna is an Okinawan Goju-ryu karate master and the founder of the International Okinawan Goju-ryu Karate-do Federation (IOGKF). He was born on 25 December 1938, according to Wikipedia in Naha.

He began karate at the age of fourteen with his father, a police officer, who taught him Shorin-ryu. On the recommendation of his friend Tsunetaka Shimabukuro, according to the IOGKF he began Goju-ryu in 1955 in the garden dojo of the late Chojun Miyagi under An'ichi Miyagi. He trained up to five hours a day, from 1957 in the Jundokan, and in 1960 he obtained 3rd dan. He then studied at Takushoku University in Tokyo and taught at the dojo in Yoyogi.

He founded the IOGKF in July 1979, according to its Berlin website in Poole, England, with the support of senior students of Chojun Miyagi. In 1985 he published the three-volume book Traditional Karate-do: Okinawa Goju Ryu and later The History of Karate: Okinawan Goju Ryu. In 1987, according to Wikipedia, he founded the IOGKF main dojo in San Marcos, California, and in 1988 he led an expedition to Fujian province in the footsteps of the Goju-ryu lineage.

In July 2012 he took on an advisory role and named Tetsuji Nakamura as his successor at the head of the IOGKF. In 2013 Okinawa Prefecture designated him a bearer of intangible cultural property in the field of karate. In 2022 he left the IOGKF and founded the Traditional Okinawan Goju-ryu Karate-do Federation (TOGKF).

Early life

Morio Higaonna was born on 25 December 1938, Wikipedia gives Naha. He began karate at the age of fourteen, and according to the IOGKF Shorin-ryu was taught to him by his father, who according to the Israeli branch of the IOGKF was a police officer. Tsunetaka Shimabukuro, also a Shorin-ryu practitioner, was his friend and training partner and recommended Goju-ryu to him. At secondary school he taught karate in a club. He went to Tokyo to study at Takushoku University, according to the Israeli branch in 1960, according to the Berlin branch in 1957.

Training and teachers

In 1955, at the age of sixteen, according to the IOGKF he began Goju-ryu in the garden dojo of the late Chojun Miyagi under An'ichi Miyagi, while Wikipedia gives 1954. He trained up to five hours a day and from 1957 in the new Jundokan building. According to the Israeli branch, Eiichi Miyazato awarded him the black belt in 1957. In 1960, at the first official examination on Okinawa, he obtained 3rd dan.

According to Wikipedia, he obtained 5th dan in April 1966 and 8th and 9th dan on 29 May 1984, and we have not found these dates in the IOGKF sources. The Israeli branch gives 10th dan. In Tokyo he taught at the dojo in Yoyogi, where Ogawa and Terauchi were among his students.

Contribution and innovations

He founded the IOGKF in July 1979 with the support of Ken Miyagi, An'ichi Miyagi and other senior students of Chojun Miyagi. The aim of the federation was to preserve traditional Okinawan Goju-ryu as Chojun Miyagi had handed it down. According to the Berlin IOGKF website it was founded in Poole, England. In 1972 he gave a demonstration at the karate world championship in Paris.

In 1985 he published in Tokyo the three-volume book Traditional Karate-do: Okinawa Goju Ryu on basic techniques, kata and their applications. According to the Israeli branch, the book The History of Karate: Okinawan Goju Ryu summarizes thirty years of research, and Wikipedia gives the year 1996. In 1982 he opened a dojo in his house in Naha, and in September 1987 the IOGKF main dojo in San Marcos, California.

Philosophy and principles

The official aim of the IOGKF, which he founded, is to protect and preserve traditional Okinawan Goju-ryu as Chojun Miyagi handed it down. We have not found a documented statement by Higaonna himself with a book or date. From the emphasis on unchanged transmission we infer that he understands tradition as a commitment to fidelity to the kata and methods of his teachers.

Legends and documented facts

A statement is often cited that Higaonna is the most dangerous man in Japan in real combat. The IOGKF website attributes it to Donn Draeger from letters cited in John Jarvis's book, so it is not Higaonna's own statement. Wikipedia states that in 1995 he taught the Russian Kremlin guard and police, but it gives no source and we have not found it elsewhere.

The sources name his first teacher differently: the IOGKF names his father, other websites Joken Shima or a neighbour. The year of his departure to Tokyo also differs, 1957 or 1960, as does the place of his teaching in Japan.

Legacy

In July 2012 he took on an advisory role in the IOGKF and named Tetsuji Nakamura as his successor, and the main dojo of the federation is today in Burlington, Ontario. In 2013 Okinawa Prefecture designated him a bearer of intangible cultural property in the field of karate and kobudo.

In 2022 he left the IOGKF, and on 29 October 2022 he led the first meeting of the new Traditional Okinawan Goju-ryu Karate-do Federation (TOGKF). Wikipedia, citing an IOGKF magazine, states that attempts at reconciliation failed.

Teachers, students and family

Associated Martial Arts

Organisations

• IOGKInternational Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate-do Federation (IOGKF)Founder · 1979–2022
• TOGKTraditional Okinawan Goju Ryu Karate-do Federation (TOGKF)Founder · 2022