What Is Karate-dō Gōjū-ryū (剛柔流)

The Introduction

From the centuries of martial art history, Karate started in the 19th century is considered young compared to the other martial arts. Through the history of martial arts in the ancient China, the root of karate can be found in Chinese Kung Fu (武術). To start with what is Karate (空手) where “kara (空)” means empty, and “te(手)” means hand. the literal translation of karate is [the technique of] empty hand. When Karate is combined to the “dō (道)” in Karate-dō (空手道) bears the meaning of “the way of the empty hands”. In the old time, it was written as “Chinese hand” (唐手) and then changed into “empty hand” (空手). In the argument of no writing ever recorded on the claim saying that karate is a Chinese martial art, Gichin Funakoshi (船越 義珍) who lived between 1868 to 1957, as one of the founding fathers of Karate argued the statement of “Chinese hand” is more to the preference used by the people in Ryūkyū (琉球) due to their fondness on everything Chinese. Formerly, Ryūkyū island as part of Okinawa was not a territory of Japan.

Today, Karate is well known and involved millions of practitioners around the world. Several Karate affiliations are established to help spreading Karate and nurturing its students. Tournaments of any scale from local to international level are hosted every year, both affiliation sanctioned and unsanctioned. Movies where karate is promoted inspire the young generation to join dojos everywhere.

From all kinds of martial art, Karate was one of the first that introduced the belt ranking system along with Judo and Tae Kwon Do that came a bit later.

The History

The origin of Karate gave birth to the earliest styles like Gōjū-ryū (剛柔流), Shōtōkan (松濤館流), Wadō-ryū (和道流), and Shitō-ryū (糸東流). In the Karate world where various styles and methods were born and modified today, Gōju-ryū (剛柔流) is amongst the first style developed in the early years of Karate. Influenced by the White Crane style (白鶴拳) techniques from the Southern Chinese martial art originated from Fujian (福建) province in China, Chōjun Miyagi (宮城 長順) (1888-1953) introduced the Gō 剛 (Rigid/Hard) and Jū 柔 (Soft) methodology as the foundation of all techniques in Karate-dō Gōjū-ryū.

Gōjū (剛柔) philosophy also relates to Ying Yang (陰陽) principles, the balance between negative and positive, between passive and active, and other elements or forms in life.

From three main sources of origin of Karate and also happen the name of places: Naha-te (那覇手), Shuri-te (首里手) and Tomari-te (泊手), Chojun Miyagi was from Naha (那覇) and trained under Kanryō Higaonna or Kanryo Higashionna (東恩納 寛量) (1853-1916), the founder of Naha-te. That fact explains Gōjū-ryū (剛柔流) is based on the Naha-te. Due to its origin from Okinawa, Karate-dō Gōjū-ryū is often recognized as the Okinawan Karate.

The Style

There are two mainstreams in the Karate practice, sport Karate and traditional Karate. Where sport Karate dominates the Karate world today, attract millions of participants around the world. The sport Karate is more simplified and polished in form. The traditional Karate is more into function and practicality, it might not be beautifully polished in, for instance, Kata (型) performance but the implementation is deadly.

In spite of the fact that Karate has competitions yet Karate was not part of the Olympic games until recently adopted as one sport branch in the 2021 Olympic games, competed amongst the other martial arts like Judo, Tae Kwon Do, Wrestling, Boxing, Fencing. There are so many styles in Karate and there was without consensus is likely the reason Karate was not part of the Olympic games. Tae Kwon Do (태권도) was already in the Olympic long before Karate, started as a demonstration sport in 1988.

As mentioned earlier that Gōjū-ryū (剛柔流) comes from Naha, as Naha-te (那覇手) relies more on circular movements rather than straight movements therefore the techniques used in the practice use more dynamic than linearly. Gōjū-ryū shares some principles with Taichi ch’üan (太極拳) in Chinese Kung Fu (武術) where all movements are circular and flowing. The energy derived from the ground and transformed by the move of the hips. Gōjū-ryū (剛柔流) is referring to the breathing technique during the practice, hard and soft. It obviously demonstrated through two essential Kata in Gōjū-ryū, Sanchin (三戦) represents Gō, and Tensho (転掌) represents Jū. In these two katas, Gōjū-ryū is well translated. As Sanchin Kata is also practiced in another styles of Karate beside Gōjū-ryū.

Karate-dō Gōjū-ryū (剛柔流) is a close quarter combat system. The original kicks, punches and strikes are meant for close quarter fight. Over a period of time, the practice in Gōjū-ryū dojos adapt other styles of Karate and beyond. This happens perhaps due to the modern progress and the spread of Karate in the world, and one of good influences is through tournaments.

When looking back to the original method of training and the trainings that are still happening in Japan, it is hard to faithfully train the true traditional Gōjū-ryū (剛柔流) practices in North America due to many restrictions and the threats of a liability lawsuit over the rigorous training method known to Gōjū-ryū that involves injuries.

The Uniqueness

Gōjū-ryū (剛柔流) is more in the traditional practice than the other styles in Karate. Nowadays Gōjū-ryū practitioners adapt the modern approaches of fighting in Kumite (組手) and Kata (型) training to be well suited to the tournament requirements, because Gōjū-ryū (剛柔流) style of Kumite, the Jiyū Kumite (自由組み手) or free sparring is not a compatible practice for sport tournaments since the point system is not applied and Jiyu Kumite (自由組み手) is more to combat than sport. Nonetheless, to adjust to the need of progress and for the competition sake Gōjū-ryū (剛柔流) practitioners must adopt the competition or Shiai (試合) Kumite practices. Following the other styles of karate, Gōjū-ryū dōjōs (道場) train Shiai Kumite (試合組手) yet they keep training in the unique style of Jiyū Kumite.

Jiyū Kumite (自由組み手) is a full body contact sparring and it has certain forbidden moves that are not allowed in any Kumite tournament. Just like the Kyokushinkai (極真會) karate which is developed by Masutatsu Oyama (大山倍達) (1922-1994), with one significant difference where in Kyokushinkai Kumite kicking, punching and throwing are allowed yet punching to the face is not. In Gōjū-ryū Jiyū Kumite everything goes. It is brutal, yes. After I have been in the training for decades, countless broken bones, bleeding nose and lips, muscle sprains, inner injuries are experienced and common. Despite those injuries are common, fatality in Gōjū-ryū trainings close to none.

Having said about the close quarter combat system, Gōjū-ryū (剛柔流) skill is very effective in confined spaces. Considering this close range approach of fighting, think about the original Wing Chun (詠春) style. Both Gōjū-ryū and Wing Chun share similarities maybe not in the form but in the fighting philosophy and objectives.

The Organizations

One of the Miyagi’s students, Gōgen Yamaguchi (山口剛玄) (1909-1989) who later introduced Gōjū-kai (剛柔會), in 1965, founded IKGA – International Karate-dō Gōjū-kai International (国際空手道剛柔会) post JKF – Japan Karate Federation (日本空手連盟) circa 1964. While IKGA exclusively shelters only Gōjū-kai dojos around the world, JKF provide umbrella more diverse karate styles like Gōjūkai (剛柔會), Shitokai (空手道), Rengokai, Rembukai, Wadōkai (和道流), Shōtōkan (松濤館流), Kyokunshin-kaikan (極真).

The word of Gōjū-kai (剛柔會) is not widely spoken in the United States, the dojos that practice Gōjū-kai use another word to replace the word “Gōjū-kai” for some reasons.

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