What is Goju Karate?

“Softness triumphs over hardness, feebleness over strength.  What is more malleable is always superior over that which is immovable.  This is the principle of controlling things by going along with them, of mastery through adaptation.”

Lao-Tzu

     The phrase, Go, is the Japanese word for hardness and Ju is the word for ‘softness’ or ‘gentleness’. The phrase, Ryu, means way of.  The proper translation of Goju-Ryu means the way of the hard and soft.  The system is based on an Oriental concept that all hardness and stiffness are not good. At the same time, all softness and too much gentleness is not good.  The two should complement each other.  Combining the two gives Goju-Ryu karate beautiful movement, filled with grace, flowing forms and strength.  Actions are sometimes extremely fast and other times slow and majestic. The existence of both hard and soft techniques in this system is characteristic of Goju-Ryu karate.

            As mentioned in the last section, the word ‘Ju’ means ‘gentleness’ or ‘giving way’.   To understand what is meant by ‘giving way’, let us say that a person before you have a strength of ten, and your strength is about six.  If this person pushes you, you can be sure to be pushed back or knocked down if you resist with all of your might.  This is opposing strength with strength.  But if instead of opposing your attacker, you give way to the extent he/she has pushed, withdrawing your body (or redirecting his/her attack), your opponent will lose his/her balance.  Weakened by his/her awkward position, his/her strength is no longer at ten.  It would have fallen to three while you still have your strength at six.  This is an example of how you can defeat an opponent using ‘Ju’.

            If you can easily defeat someone using ‘ju’, what is the purpose of ‘go’?  How can a person use ‘go’ to defeat a stronger person?  The ‘go’ elements refer to the external principles of structure, movement, and breathing of the goju style.  It is the physical part of our system that involves proper body movement, alignment and balance to enable one to minimize an opponent’s strength.  This art also teaches students to absorb blows given by an adversary so that they can respond to an attack.  With proper ‘go’ principles that involve body shifting, and proper execution of blocks or strikes, one will be able to incorporate the ‘ju’ principles of this art to overcome an adversary.

            The system of Goju has distinct characteristics.  It is entirely based on the principles of a system called Naha-te.  The chart below gives a brief description of how the Naha-te system differs from the other styles of Shur-te and Tomari-te.  The following information was gathered from Bruce D. Clayton’s book, Shotokan’s Secret.

Naha-te                                                                      Shuri-te/Tomari-te

Rooted in muscular strength and grappling                                        Rooted on speed to generate momentum for impact

Used to subdue opponent                                                                  Used to destroy opponent quickly, no submission

Teaches you to fight in dark                                                                Assumes you can see the enemy

Came from ‘grimy waterfront’                                                              Came from ‘sparkling palace’, used to protect royalty

Emphasis on Sanchin Kata/trains body to absorb strikes                   Abandoned Sanchin completely/trains to finish opponent quickly

Circular karate/soft style/concerned with opponents well being       Linear karate/hard style/ruthless in attack

Founder was Kanryu Higaonna: wood cutter                                     Founder was Bushi Matsumura: royal military officer

Designed for Buddist monks/Southern Chinese style                       based on certain styles of China and Japan refined in Okinawa

Eventually renamed Goju-Ryu under Chojun Miyagi                         Eventually renamed Shotokan under Gichin Funakoshi

In summary, USA Goju Karate is a system of training, which utilizes close-contact techniques to subdue an attacker. Known for its use of kicks to the opponent's legs, circular (non-linear) blocking, grabbing (manipulative), leg sweeps, and powerful striking techniques, USA Goju is a splendid form of self-defense. Prominent style markers are the use of controlled abdominal breathing, the cat stance, the mawashi uke (wheel block), and simultaneous multiple attacks to the legs, arms, torso, neck and head. A 24-kata regimen, ippon kumite (semi-free one blow sparring), jiu kumite (controlled free-style sparring), and repetitious practice of extrapolated Kata techniques typically make up a Goju training session. Always evident is an emphasis on spirit building, a "never-give-up-attitude," the practical (utilitarian) application of extrapolated Kata movements, a penchant for continuous personal improvement, the safety of all participants, and the efficient use of technique.