Miyagi Chogun Sensei is the founder of Goju Ryu Karate Do. He was born April 28th, 1888 to a wealthy Okinawan family. He began his Karate training under Aragaki Ryuko Sensei in 1900, at the age of 12. In 1902, when Miyagi Sensei was 14 years old, Aragaki Sensei introduced him to Higashionna Kanryo Sensei, master of Naha Te. Higashionna Sensei accepted him as a student, and the two trained together until the death of Higashionna Sensei in 1915.

From here, Miyagi Sensei travelled to China to increase his knowledge of the martial arts. He studied the principles and philosophies of many Chinese styles in order to increase his knowledge and understanding. Eventually he formulated his own style of Karate which combined the hard external fighting styles with the soft internal styles into a close range, highly efficient method of self defense. The brutal efficiency of the style was designed strictly for health andself defense, and not for sport.

In 1929, Miyagi Sensei named his style Gojyu-Ryu Karate-Do, meaning hard and soft style. This name was taken from one of his favourite poems, the Kempo Hakku, or the eight laws of the fist.

“HO WA GOJYU WO TONDO SU.”

(“The way of inhaling and exhaling is both hardness and softness.”)

Miyagi Sensei died on October 8th, 1953. After his death, his teachings were carried on by Dai Sensei Meitoku Yagi and three other senior students of his.