The History of Goju Ryu Karate Myths, Legends and Manipulation

Gordon Travers
The most common legend surrounding the origins of karate is that the subjugated
Okinawan "Pre-Meiji" peasant class developed both karate, and kobodu in an
effort to break free of the chains of oppression. The story goes on to detail how
that in secret and during the cover of darkness they not only established this
culture of combative principles but also succeeded in handing it down for
generations unbeknownst to local authorities.
This story clearly illustrates two very important principles in discovering the roots
of karate. The first is just because something is written down does not make it
true. Patrick McCarthy states in both his translation of the Bubishi and in an
article in Fighting Arts International," that this story is not worthy of serious
consideration." Every serious martial arts scholar I was able to read supports him
in this assertion.
The second principle is the necessity of understanding the cultural bias of both
the oral and historical information and its impact on what is perceived as the
truth. For example, in his book Okinawan Karate Mark Bishop states: "The
Okinawans during the pre-war militaristic Japanese administration years, foresaw
the role karate could play and with typical propriety, disguised its Chinese roots".
We also need to be aware of the impact of Confucianism, which dictates that
nothing derogatory should be voiced about social seniors or the dead.
To understand karate we need to look first to India. According to Bruce Haines in
his work Karates History and Traditions there are at least three bare-handed
fighting arts Nara, Vajramushti and Kalaripayat that can the traced back as far
as five thousand years.
Evidence seems to indicate that Vajramushti was the very first karate-like art.
The Kshatriya, or warrior caste commonly practised it. Vajramushti is translated
as "one whose clenched fist is a weapon".
Kalaripayat is another karate-like art that may have been influenced Vajramushti.
Kalaripayat features high kicking, foot sweeps and low stances. The movements
are made in conjunction with pranayama (controlled breathing techniques).
Pranayama, is part of the "Eight Fold Path of Discipline" in astrasnga yoga. It is
believed that Kalaripayat is the art that the mythical Indian monk Bodhidharma
brought to China.
From India our search takes us to China. China has nurtured many martial arts
forms, some developed locally while others were imported, adapted and over
time became Chinese in perception if not in fact.
As we already noted it is believed that the mythical Indian monk Bodhidharma
brought Kalaripayat the Indian art to China. Bodhidharma is an obscure figure in
history and his activities vary a great deal depending upon the source or story.
Some state that these stories are in fact legendary. However, eminent Buddhist
historians such as D.T. Suzuki feel that he was an actual person and that many
myths and legends have been added to his biography.
Tradition states that upon seeing the emaciated condition of the monks of the
Shaolin Temple, Bodhidharma instructed them in physical exercises to condition
their bodies as well as their minds. Many (if not most) works on chuan fa and
Okinawa karate draw the conclusion that their art has its roots in Bodhidharmas
Shaolin exercises, or the "Eighteen Hands of Lohan".
Many years after the death of Bodhidharm Chueh Yuan Shang-jen verified the
existence of the "Eighteen Hands of Lohan" and combined these movements
with numerous forms of his own style increasing the 18 to 72 hand and foot
positions. Later Chueh Yuan travelled to Shensi Province where he meet with Li-
shao. Together they expanded the 72 movements to 173 with names such as
dragon, tiger snake and crane. Most modern forms of chuan fa are descendants
of these 173 hand foot positions.
Our focus finally turns to Okinawa where according to Mark Bishop in Okinawan
Karate the first recorded advent of karate, or tode as it was known then,
appeared in the later part of the 18
th
century. A Chinese man by the name of
Kusanku displayed his Chinese boxing and grappling skills to a delighted
audience.
There are a number of theories about the introduction of karate to Okinawa.
There is no doubt, however that over the past 180 years several Chinese boxing
styles have been introduced into Okinawa, modified and taught as karate.
Perhaps the best text to explain the relationship between Chinese gongfu and
karate is the Bubishi bu means "military", bi, means "to provide or prepare, shi,
means record. Together Bubishi means "a manual of military preparation".
A significant portion of Ginchin Funakoshis Karate-do Kyohan is taken directly
from the Bubishi. Higashionna Kanryo revered it, and his principle student
Miyagai Chojun selected the name Goju-Ryu from the text and considered it
the bible of civil fighting arts. The Bubishi had such a profound effect upon
Yamaguchi Gogen that he referred to it as his most treasured text.
Patrick McCarthy in his translation of the Bubishi details no less than ten legends
surrounding the transmission of the text from China to Okinawa. We will focus on
the theory that relates to Goju-ryu karate. This theory concerns the famous
gongfu masters Xie Zhongxiang and Wai Xinxian and their "student"
Higashionna Kanryo.
Kanryo was first introduced to fighting methods by Aragki Chikudoun Pechin
Seisho, but longed to go to China where he could study gongfu at its source and
left for Fuzhou in 1868. History would have us believe that he was a live in
disciple of a prominent master, however this is not the case. Kanryo was just a
foreign boy, barely 15 years old who could neither speak, read or write Chinese.
The Chinese rarely if ever accepted outsiders let alone foreigners. However after
an introduction by a well know family in Fuzhou, Kanryo is believed to have
become a training partner of a young man named Ryuru Ko.
In Fighting Arts International Number 85 Patrick McCarthy traces Xie
Zhongxiangs history and shows that he in fact was Ryuru Ko. He studied White
Crane gongfu and combined this with his own concepts to develop a hybrid art
called Whooping Crane (or Crying Crane). Whooping Crane advocates leg
manoeuvres and body movement to avoid a direct assault. Fighters of this style
specialise in striking the 36 vital points with forceful finger thrusts and palm
techniques. Rather than the use of direct hard force, fighters make extensive use
of qi, or in Japanese ki, energy to achieve the same results.
Well many books name Ryuru Ko as Higashionnas master, the name Ryuru Ko
can be traced to the relationship between Ryuru and Kanryo. Xie Zhongxiang did
in fact teach Higashionna Kanryo. He was older than Kanryo and as such he
would have most likely been refered to as a big brother Ryuru which means to
proceed and Ko means brother. Thus we get the name Ryuru Ko.
As a result of the relationship between Xie Zhongxiang and Higashionna Kanryo
we have the most likely source of the Bubishis first appearance in Okinawa.
However as noted earlier there are nine other possible legends to explain the
transition of the Bubishi to Okinawa.
The kata that Kanryo Sensei learned and taught when he returned from Fozhou
were Sanchin, Seyonchin, Shisounchin, Sanseiru, Sesan, Kururunfa and
Suparinpe. Crane boxing has Sanchin, Sanseiru, Sesan. Dragon Boxing uses
Suparinpe, Sesan, Sanchin and Tiger Boxing has Sanchin, Sanseiru. This
explains Chojun Miyagis statement in his 1934 book "Outline of Karate-do" - "the
only detail that we can be sure of is that a style from Fozhou was introduced to
Okinawa in 1828 and served as the basis from which GoJu-ryu karate kempo
unfolded.
Practice at Higashionna Kanryos dojo was tedious with the first three to four
years being spent doing only Sanchin, and although to those who persisted
Kanryo Sensei taught much, many students dropped out from boredom.
According to most sources Higashionna called his style Shorei-ryu (Enlightened
Spirit Style), however it became commonly know as Naha-te, to distinguish it
from the karate taught at Tomari and Shuri.
While both Richard Kim in The Weaponless Warrior and Gogen Yamaguchi in
Karate GoJu-Ryu By The Cat state that Chojun Miyagi created Sanchin, we now
know this is not the case. Saamchin as it is called in China dates back to the
ancient Taoists. It was adapted by various gongfu styles as we noted and
Higashionna Kanryo brought it to Okinawa.
Sammchin was developed to build, contain and release ones power (qi or ki) and
emphasises regulating the flow of air and synchronising it with expansion and
contraction of muscle activity. This fits in very well with Whooping Crane, which
makes extensive use of qi or ki, energy to achieve power.
What is also important to note is that the Bubishi systematically describes how to
extinguish human life in very specific terms, by seizing, pressing, squeezing or
traumatising specific vital points. If we combine this with the essence of
Whooping Crane which consisted of striking the 36 vital points with energy
developed from Saamchin we have a style that was extremely violent since the
sole purpose of the practitioners was to maim or kill.
Higashionna Kanryo had three notable students Chojun Miyagi, Koki Shiroma
and Juhatsu. For our purposes the key is Chojun Miyagi, born to reasonably
wealthy parents in Naha in 1888. He became a student of Kanryo Sensei at the
age of 14 and studied Naha-te for 13 years. In 1915 Miyagi and a friend,
Gokenki, went to Fuchou in search of Higashionna teacher. They spent a year
visiting several masters after finding Higashionnas old dojo closed. We should
note however that it was Gokenki who seems to have had a significant impact on
Miyagi. Gokenki was Chinese by birth and taught a form of White Crane boxing.
Shortly after returning from Fuchou Kanryo Sensei died and Miyagi started to
take on students. While Miyagi Senseis received a teaching certificate in Naha-
te his teaching was not based solely on what he learned from Higashionna
Kanryo. Miyagis tradition was based on the sum total of the diverse research he
conducted. History tells us that when asked the name of his style be responded
Goju-ryu. The name was taken from the Bubishi, "Article 13:The Precepts of
Quanfa: inhaling represents softness while exhaling characterises hardness".
The development of Goju-ryu from Naha-te can perhaps best be demonstrated
by the fact that Miyagi Sensei introduced a number of new forms to the style.
Initially he added Tensho, which he adapted, from White Crane and Saifu based
on the hand and leg movements of White Crane.
Miyagi Sensei believed that karate should be practised for self-development and
should not be treated as a show to entertain other people. Miyagi felt zanshin a
high level of awareness was appropriate for karate masters. To demonstrate this
principle Meitoku Ygi states that Miyagi liked open-handed techniques because
the speed of response from an unguarded position was the difference between
winning and loosing. Despite his dedication to the art Graham Noble in "Master
Chojum Miyagi and the development of Goju-ryu karate" tells us he had a very
down-to-earth nature. This sense of perspective is illustrated by the advice he
gave to his students - they should put their family first, their work second, and
karate third.
To get a sense of Miyagi Senseis overall philosophy we can look to his
comments during a lecture before the Dai Nippon Butkukai in 1936 Miyagi states
that training in karate consists of five elements.
1. Preparatory exercises to strengthen and stretch the body to
prepare for the study of kata
2. Kihon kata or basic kata which meant sanchin and tensho
3. Supplementary exercises or movement taken from the kata for
practice
4. Kaishu kata or open-handed kata: Saifi, Seisan, Sanseiru,
Shisochin, Seipai, Kurunfa and Suparinpai
5. Prearranged kumite.
Master Miyagi was an enormously creative man, but he was torn between
expounding the value of karate-jitsu as the deadly Chinese method of self-
defence, or developing it as a cultural recreation, like kendo and judo for its
acceptance in Japan. Karate-jitsu had no standard teaching curricula or
evaluation format, it lacked a standard training uniform or competitive format. To
reach acceptance in Japan karate-jitsu required dramatic change. History shows
us that the direction Miyagi Sensei chose was the Japanisation of karate-jitsu.
In 1936 he was part of a meeting of karate masters sponsored by the Okinawan
newspaper Ryukyu Shimpo Sha. The result of this meeting was the review of the
character used to write the word "karate". It was changed to eliminate any
association with China, and the same form of writing karate remains unchanged
to the present day.
Earlier we discussed the katas Miyagi Sensei added that were based on White
Crane. Later he developed and introduced Gekisai Ichi and Gekisai Ni katas for
teaching to young school age children.
All these actions were taken to gain the acceptance of the Dai Nippon Butokukai.
This resulted in the fundamental change of Higashionna Kanryos Naha-te. A
style that was extremely violent whose sole purpose was to maim or kill became
a sport where the meaning of kata was lost and the focus turned to tournaments,
which emphasised aesthetics.
While the original meaning of karate-jitsu was lost this choice had benefits.
Karate-do was accepted by the Japanese and was later embraced by the world
as a method of physical fitness, personal development and recreation.