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Goju-ryu

Hard and soft.

An Okinawan karate style founded by Chojun Miyagi: "hard-soft", mixing powerful close-range strikes with circular blocks, breathing and the Sanchin kata.

Fact file

Country
Japan
Founder / origin
Chojun Miyagi (from Kanryo Higaonna)
Year / period
early 20th century
Type
Striking
Style of
Karate
Main federation
International Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karatedo Federation — IOGKF
Sources: International Okinawan Goju-ryu Karate-do Federation · Encyclopaedia Britannica

History

Goju-ryu, the "hard-soft style", comes from Naha in Okinawa. Kanryo Higaonna studied Chinese boxing in Fuzhou and taught it in Okinawa; his student Chojun Miyagi organised the style and gave it its name around 1930.

Goju-ryu combines hard, straight attacks with soft, circular blocks, close-range fighting and deep breathing. Gogen Yamaguchi, nicknamed "the Cat", spread a Japanese branch of the style.