Akshay Kumar in Goju Ryu

GOJU RYU

Goju Ryu is one of the traditional Okinawan styles of karate, featuring a combination of hard and soft techniques. Goju, Japanese for “hard/soft” and is the essence of the art, which blends hard and soft techniques together to develop mental awareness and spirituality as well as self-defense skills. Go which means hard, refers to closed hand techniques or straight linear attacks. Ju which means soft, refers to open hand techniques and circular movements.

Goju Ryu practices methods that include body strengthening and conditioning. Its basic approach to fighting (distance, stickiness, power generation, etc.), and partner drills. Gōjū ryū utilizes both circular and linear movements into its curriculum. It further combines hard striking attacks such as kicks and close hand punches with softer open hand circular techniques for attacking, blocking, and controlling the opponent, including locks, grappling, takedowns, and throws.

In the late 1800's, a Okinawan boy named Kanryo Higaonna lost his father in a fight. Vowing revenge, he set out to learn the fighting arts. He later developed his own style, which he called Naha Te, a name based on the city of Naha and the word “te”, meaning hand. His reputation as a master spread quickly and he began taking students, including the founder of Goju Ryu, Chojun Miyagi.

Miyagi studied with him until the Higaonna's death and further developed the style by incorporating soft movements, such as breathing katas, and hard movements, including dynamic tension exercises. Miyagi based the name for this new style on a poem stating, “The way of inhaling and exhaling is both hardness and softness.”

In 1933, Goju Ryu was officially recognized as a budo in Japan by Dai Nippon Butoku Kai as a modern martial art, or gendai budo. In 1998, the Dai Nippon Butoku kai recognized Goju Ryu Karatedo as an ancient form of martial art and as a bujutsu. This recognition as a koryu bujutsu demonstrated an evolution in how Japanese society views the relationships between Japan, Okinawa, and China. Until 1998, only martial arts practiced in mainland Japan by samurai had been accepted as koryu bujutsu.