USA Goju History
USA Goju Lineage
Goju Ryu karate had its origins in the Fukien Providence of China. In the late 1800s the famous Martial artist Master Kanryo Higashionna (1853-1917) brought the art known as Shorin Ryu to the island of Okinawa. While training for a time in Chinese Boxing, Master Higashionna developed the self-defense system that is a combination of Naha and Te. The result is a bare-handed system of fighting techniques called Naha-Te.
A famous student of the Master's, Chogun Miyagi, studied with the Master during his time on Okinawa. He also did research while traveling back to Fukien Providence for additional studies. Miyagi returned to Okinawa in 1917 at about the time of Master Higashionna's death. After the death of Master Higashionna, Sensei Miyagi further modified the art by adding katas. He then worked on formalizing the system.
Realizing that the old theory of a "One Strike Kill" would not be well accepted in the educational programs of the period, Sensei Miyagi began developing a martial art that combined soft movements and breathing katas with dynamic tension exercises and hard movement. Karate was used not only for spiritual enlightenment, but also for exercise and self-defense.
During the 1930s Master Miyagi also gave the style the name of Goju, (meaning hard-soft style). This is one of the first systems possessing the name not denoting its place of origin. Master Miyagi died in 1953. Master Miyagi had several well-known students, Seiko Higa; Seikichi Toguchi; Meitoko Yagi; and Gogen Yamaguchi. Sensei Yamaguchi became the Headmaster of the Japanese Goju System in Japan. Meitoku Yagi became the recognized leader of the Mei Buken School of Okinawan Goju.
In 1953 Peter Urban was a young sailor when he was introduced to karate in Yokohama, Japan. After training for one year with Sensei Richard Kim, Peter Urban traveled to Tokyo and was introduced to Gogen Yamaguchi. He was accepted as a student of Gogen Yamaguchi. In 1957, Peter Urban opened a small Dojo in Tokyo, Japan, and he competed in the all-Japan College Championships that same year. In 1959, Sensei Urban moved to America, and opened his first American Dojo in Union City, New Jersey. The following year, he opened another school on 17th Street in Manhattan.
Sensei Urban was reportedly one of the men responsible for establishing structured tournaments in America, with one of the first being the North American Karate Championships in 1962 held at Madison Square Garden. In 1967 Sensei Urban published his first book; The Karate Dojo, this made him the first karate-ka to author a nationally recognized book on martial arts with the first paperback edition in 1991. His second book, The Karate Sensei was published in 1984. These books are still available today. Sensei Urban opened his famous Chinatown Dojo in 1967, the Little Tokyo Dojo on Wooster Street in New York City. This made the Japanese art of karate open to the American public.
In the early 1970s, Sensei Urban returned to Japan to ask Gogen Yamaguchi for permission to establish in America a karate system separate from Japan's. Yamaguchi refused, saying the rules of Bushido stated that no white man could achieve Nirvana. Urban, dissatisfied with the decision, retorted that these same rules stated that Japan could never lose a war. This statement offended the Sensei Yamaguchi. Realizing this and not meaning any disrespect, Sensei Urban prepared to follow samurai custom and cut off his pinky finger in apology to his sensei. Yamaguchi's oldest son stopped him from doing this; however, the damage was done. Seeing this as a turning point, Urban returned to America and incorporated himself as the founder of American Goju.
USA GoJu is eclectic synthesis of the education, training, and experience of Sensei Peter Urban, the traditions of Yamaguchi GoJu, the fighting spirit of Oyama and the philosophy of Sensei Richard Kim, combined with the personality of the founder of USA GoJu, Peter Urban, to give us what we have today. There are three primary influences of our style. Chogun Miyagi, the Founder of Goju-Ryu Karate. He was born in Okinawa in 1888 and started training at the age of nine. In 1937 he received the first doctorate degree ever awarded in Karate. Gogen Yamaguchi - the Founder of the first GoJu Karate School in Japan. He was one of Sensei Miyagi's senior students in Japan. In 1951 he was promoted to Grand Master and the rank of 10th Dan. Peter Urban - founder of the USA GoJu Karate System. He is a student of the following martial arts Masters Gogen Yamaguchi, Richard Kim, and Mas Oyama. Although his style of USA GoJu/Urban GoJu is closely related to that of Yamaguchi's Japanese GoJu Ryu, Sensei Urban infused several styles of Karate together to form USA GoJu Karate. He is the Grand Patriarch of all USA GoJu systems.
