Brief History of USA Goju

Author - Renshi Kevin Suggs, circa 2000

Goju Ryu karate had its origins in the Fukien Providence, of China. In the late 1800's, Master Kanryu Higashionna (1853-1917), brought the art (known as Shorin Ryu), to the island of Okinawa. After training for a time in Chinese Boxing, Master Higashionna developed a self defense system called Naha-Ta; a combination of Naha (an Okinawan city), and Te (a bare-handed fighting technique). One of the master's famous students, Chogun Miyagi, studied with the Master while on Okinawa, and later on, traveled back to Fukien Providence for additional study. Miyagi returned to Okinawa in 1917 (about the time of Master Higashionna's death) Miyagi then further modified the art, adding katas, and formalizing the system. Realizing that the theory of a "One Strike Kill" would not be well accepted in the educational programs of the day, Sensei Miyagi began developing an art that combined soft movements (breathing katas) with dynamic tension exercises (hard movement). In this manner, karate was used not only for spiritual enlightenment, but for exercise, and for self defense.

Around 1930, Master Miyagi also gave the style the name, Goju, (meaning 'hard-soft style'). This is one of the first systems possessing the name not denoting it's place of origin. Master Miyagi died in 1953. Among Master Miyagi's better known students are: Seiko Higa; Seikichi Toguchi; Meitoko Yagi; and Gogen Yamaguchi. Sensei Yamaguchi went on to become the Headmaster of the Japanese Goju System. Meitoku Yagi became the recognized leader of the Mei Buken school of Okinawan Goju. 1953 was also the year a young sailor was introduced to karate, in Yokohama Japan. His name was Peter Urban. After training for one year with Richard Kim, Peter Urban traveled to Tokyo and was introduced to Gogen Yamaguchi, where he was accepted as a student.

In 1957, Peter Urban opened a small Dojo in Tokyo, and competed in the all-Japan College Championships that same year. In 1959, Urban moved to America, and opened his first American Dojo, in Union City, N.J. The following year, he opened another school on 17th street in Manhattan. Peter Urban was reportedly one of the men responsible for establishing structured tournaments in America, one of the first of those being the North American Karate Championships in 1962, held at Madison Square Garden. Three years later, at the age of 31, Urban's first book; The Karate Dojo, was published. Urban opened his famous Chinatown Dojo in 1967, making Japanese karate open to the public.

In the early 1970's, Urban returned to Japan to ask of Gogen Yamaguchi 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 Realizing this, Urban prepared to follow samurai custom, to cut off his pinky finger in apology. He was stopped by Yamaguchi's oldest son. However, the damage was done. Urban returned to America, and incorporated himself as the founder of American Goju.

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