Anyone ever hear of Goju?

[Marshall Hart]

I believe there have only been 4 or 5 masters (called head hanchis). A man named John Touchton used to have a studio around my area.

 

If you know about this art, please tell me more about it.

[Shorin Ryuu]

Actually, Goju Ryu has a pretty strong presence on this board. It's origins were with Higashionna Kanryo who trained on Okinawa in the latter half of the 1800s and later went on to train in China. The mixture of his Okinawan and Chinese background gave birth to Goju Ryu, which his student Miyagi Chojun named and really popularized. It is one of the main branches of Nahate and combines hard and soft techniques.

 

The interplay between Goju Ryu and Shorin Ryu is interesting, as there have been masters who trained in both.

 

Like many of the Okinawan styles, Goju Ryu is a well-balanced style that teaches fighting at all ranges and especially close range fighting, incorporating a mixture of grappling and striking. A great style if you want to learn how to fight.

 

I'll let the Goju Ryu people answer more on this one (Don't want to steal their thunder ).

[italian_guy]

Yes, Shorin Ryuu is perfectly right... So I just add on top of it. This style enphasize breathing exercises and ci kung practice. It has two katas (forms) mostly devoted to this Sanchin and Tensho.

 

It is great fun to learn if you find a good schools with good instructors. We do a variety of exercise from basic body conditioning, flexibility training, kihon (basics), kata (pre-arranged forms), bunkai (application of forms) kumite (sparring), grappling and ground fighting drills, self-defence, breating exercise (as I previously mention), and some school (my does not) offers also kobudo( weapon training). So it is FUN with tons of things to learn.

[koryu]

Goju-Ryu is definately one of the most well rounded styles in existance. It is very important, though, that you make sure that you have an instructor that has all the proper credentials to be able to teach. You should have a meating with the Sensei and find out more about him. Find out his background, how many years he's been studying, who his teacher is. These are things that he should gladly tell you. Try to get a feel for him, if it seems like he's hiding something, then he probably is. Although I do not have my own school, I gladly discuss my credentials and training background with anyone who wishes to train under me, and my Sensei does as well.

 

There are several "Black Belt Factories" out there who are just "Teaching" to make money. You want to avoid any place like that. Visit a black belt class and watch the workout. Talk to some of them afterwards. Find out how long they've been training. There isn't anyone in my opinion that should receive a black belt before having 4 or 5 years of solid training, and this is fairly standard in the Goju system.

[swdw]

This is probably the least biased article on Goju history you'll find. It appeared in Journal of Asian Martial Arts (Vol. 3, No. 3, 1994). This is the authors site and he gives an edited version.

 

http://www.portaskarate.org/gojuhist.html

[Marshall Hart]

Wow...I'd no idea it was this renowned. Thank you all so much.

[ShotokanKid]

Goju-Ryu is similar to Shotokan. We often have tournaments with Goju people

[swdw]

Goju-Ryu is similar to Shotokan. We often have tournaments with Goju people

 

This is only a superficial similarity. How do I know?

 

Training in Goju since 1986. Studied Shotokan 3 years before that. Work out with friends in shotokan (usually sandans or higher)

 

You will not see the huge differences in a tournament, especially in sparring because of the rules. Certain Goju kata are rarely done in a tournament because they don't score well as ther are too many soft techniques.

[italian_guy]

Goju-Ryu is similar to Shotokan. We often have tournaments with Goju people

 

I agree with swdw, similarities are relatively few, their katas are different from our katas and their stances are lower (I have my son who practice Shotokan and I wached some of his lessons, and I have friends at my goju dojo with previous Shotokan experience). Even their Zenkutsu dachi is much wider then ours. During sparring those differences are hard to see but if you watch their kamae stance is usually lower then ours.

[kschilke]

I have been practicing GoJu for almost 2 years, so yes I have heard of GoJu. The Sensei's in my DoJo trained under John Touchton (before his retirement).