Chōjun Miyagi
| Chōjun Miyagi 宮城 長順 |
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|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
April 25, 1888 Naha, Okinawa |
| Died | October 8, 1953 (aged 65) Okinawa |
| Style | Goju-ryu |
| Teacher(s) | Kanryo Higashionna, Ryuko Aragaki |
| Rank | Sōke, Founder of Goju-ryu |
| Notable students | Gogen Yamaguchi, Seiko Higa, Seikichi Toguchi, Tatsuo Shimabuku,Ei'ichi Miyazato, Meitoku Yagi, Seigo Tada |
Chōjun Miyagi (宮城 長順 Miyagi Chōjun?, April 25, 1888—October 8, 1953) was an Okinawan martial artist who founded the Goju-ryu school of karate by blending Okinawan and Chinese influences.
Miyagi was born in Higashimachi, Naha, Okinawa on April 25, 1888. Miyagi began his study in Karate-do at the age of nine (or fourteen). He first learned martial arts from Ryuko Aragaki, who then introduced him to Kanryo Higashionna (Higaonna Kanryō) when Miyagi was 14. Under his tutelage, Miyagi underwent a very long and arduous period of training. His training with Higaonna was interrupted for a two-year period while Miyagi completed his military service, 1910–1912, in Miyakonojo, Miyazaki.
In May 1915, before the death of Higaonna, Miyagi travelled to Fujian Province. In China he visited the grave of Higaonna's teacher, Ryu Ryu Ko. In this first trip he travelled with Eisho Nakamoto. After Kanryo Higaonna's death ( in Oct, 1915) he made a second trip to Foochow with Gokenki. In this second trip he studied some local Chinese martial arts. (Some sources claim he studied Shaolin Kung Fu in Fuzhou, although historical records indicate that Southern Shaolin was razed to the ground by Qing government forces more than 300 years prior to his visit, and the modern day Fuzhou Shaolin Temple is a recent reconstruction based on a popular movie). It was in this second trip that he observed the Rokkishu (a set of hand exercises rather than a formal kata, which emphasizes the rotation of the forearms and wrists to execute offensive and defensive techniques), which he then adapted into the Tensho Kata. From the blending of these systems, and his native Naha-Te, a new system emerged. However, it was not until 1929 that Chojun Miyagi named the system Goju-ryu, meaning "hard soft style".
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