3. Miyagi and Kyoda (G)

[emattson]

Table of Contents
Previous chapter

By Graham Noble

Miyagi inherited Kanryo Higaonna’s Te, but he himself had to teach in a different, more open world of budo and so he had to develop a more modern and organised system of instruction. To that end he introduced a set of preparatory exercises, (warm up and strengthening/flexibility exercises) and quite probably he formalised the use of the supplementary training equipment, such as the chishi and sashi, too. He taught a good range of kata and then he also added three new forms: Tensho, a series of open handed defensive movements which was regarded as a kind of “soft” counterpart to Sanchin, and the two Gekisai kata, which he developed around 1940 as basic block-punch-kick training forms.

Over time, he developed a distinctive, handsome style of karate that emphasized punching, kicks targeted to the lower body, (front kicks and low thrusting kicks), the use of elbows at close quarters, firm stances, and blocking techniques using both the open hand and forearm. Although Goju is known for its circular movements the blocks and defensive movements are actually quite compact and curved rather than made in big circles. This gives the style a distinctive feel, rather different from the Shuri-te Itosu-lineage styles. I recall once watching a class of senior Wado Ryu karateka trying to learn Goju’s Sepai kata, and being struck by the problems they had adjusting to those curving movements and the smooth flow from one technique to another. It’s reasonable to assume that this finished style of movement came from Miyagi himself.

In the 1936 meeting of experts brought together to agree on the naming of karate, the subject came up of the old classification of kata into two schools, Shorin or Shorei. Miyagi didn’t agree with that split, but he took the opportunity to talk a little about the way karate teaching was organised. He said that, if karate styles could be split into two schools, then the divison actually lay in methods of teaching and training. One school, he explained, did not even differentiate between haishu (fundamental) and kasihu kata, and its teaching method was unsystematic and not taught in a clearly defined way. The other school, however, did differentiate clearly between haishu and kaishu forms, and it was taught according to a clearly established method. It sounds like Miyagi was giving himself a pat on the back since, no doubt, he considered himself a leader in that latter school of systematised and organised instruction.

Miyagi described the teaching structure of his style in “Karate Do Gaisetsu”, but he had pretty much set this out previously in his short hand-written essay “Goju Ryu Kempo” of 1932, which means that he had established his teaching method by that date, and probably, for the most part, in the 1920s. It was broken down into several elements:

Jumbi undo, or exercises to work the muscles of the body to develop strength and flexibility in preparation for the following training. .

Kihon kata: Fundamental kata to learn correct posture and breathing, and develop a strong physique and spirit. In Goju Ryu the kihon kata are the fundamental forms Sanchin and Tensho.

Hojo Undo: Supplementary exercises working with the various pieces of training equipment to develop strength for the kaishu kata. Miyagi explained that exercises are carried out for specific body parts as well as for whole-body strength.

Kaishu kata, which contain techniques of defense and offense, linked together. Miyagi advised that kata should be performed using the power of mind and body, ”in accordance with its technical purpose.”

Interestingly, this list in “Goju Ryu Kempo” (translated by Joe Swift and included in his “The Essence of Naha-te”) does not include kumite, but that was added later in “Karate Do Gaisetsu” to make up the final five-element structure of training. In “Gaisetsu” Miyagi explained that kumite training is the practice of kata techniques with a partner. He wrote that “Understanding the technical purpose (of a movement)”, we practise the techniques of attack and defence with fighting spirit like a real situation.”

Summing up, Miyagi explained that: “We develop the body and mind through the fundamental kata. We then develop the spirit of martial arts by acquiring fighting techniques through the correct practice of kaishu kata and kumite.”

He seemed to take some satisfaction in this structure and it has remained in place in Okinawan Goju Ryu till today. Essentially, the road to mastery is still based on the long practice of kata, supplemented by the training with equipment, kakie, blocking exercises and prearranged kumite. Miyagi’s system had a basic form of kumite but it was never really developed, as it was in Japan, into a free style method of sparring, or competition.

Although Chojun Miyagi never found a way to fit a free form of kumite into his system, he did have an interest in different forms of combat. Tatsunori Sakiyama recalled that when Miyagi visited the mainland in 1932 he asked to see Sakiyama, a former student who was then working as a policeman in Tokyo. Sakiyama went to meet Miyagi at the Fuji dojo in Ushigomi and found him with several other people, Senseis Fuji, Gusukuma, Nakamoto and others. Miyagi had called for Sakiyama because he wanted him to have a match with the well known boxer Piston Horiguchi. However, as a policeman Sakiyama was a government worker so it wasn’t considered appropriate for him to engage in an actual match. But in any case the group went to Horiguchi’s gym and asked him to show his boxing technique. In exchange Sakiyama demonstrated karate. It’s interesting, by the way, that Miyagi himself never took the opportunity of having a match with Piston Horiguchi, but instead asked his student to do it. On another occasion, when Piston Horiguchi met Choki Motobu, it was Motobu himself who engaged in some form of sparring with the boxer.

In his essay “Karate Do Gaisetsu” Miyagi referred briefly to sparring with protective equipment. "I have thought about this a long time,” he wrote, “and feel that through research and free sparring we must solve the longstanding question of the value of protective equipment (bogu). If we can use this equipment safely then we can practise free sparring on the same level as other martial arts and develop the same spiritual goals". "Karate do Gaisetsu" was delivered as a speech by Miyagi in Osaka in 1936 and maybe that little mention of bogu kumite was tailored to a Japanese audience which would have been well aware of the free sparring and contest practice of mainstream Japanese martial arts, most notably judo and kendo. Miyagi’s comments are a little strange, though, because although experimentation with bogu had been carried out by some Japanese university clubs such as Tokyo, Ritsumeikan and Kansai, and by Muneomi Sawayama’s Nippon Kempo, it’s not clear from the essay whether Miyagi himself had ever made any study of sparring and bogu. In fact, according to the testimony of Meitoku Yagi, Miyagi had already experimented with bogu several years before and discarded it as a training method. Yagi recalled that there were many injuries during this practice, “for example, when the head was struck with furi-zuki it could cause severe neck damage.”

In the discussion between Yagi and Gogen Yamaguchi published in the booklet to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Miyagi’s death, Yagi said, “By the way, Miyagi Sensei asked the makers of kendo bogu to create bogu for karate. That particular bogu was developed according to Sensei’s ideas. He then brought the bogu to the Commercial School and the Police Academy to try them out. The protection around the area of the ear was not strong enough to withstand blows and the eardrums of some students were injured. The face gear was made similar to a baseball catcher’s mask. However, the opening in the face gear was too big. The ‘nukite’ strike could actually connect to the eyes. In karate poking the eyes and hitting the groin area are important techniques. Thes are vital areas that cannot be toughened . . . . Also, good bogu to protect against knee kicks (kansetsu geri) was not there.

“. . . . There were many things that needed improvements in the bogu. They were planning on re-developing it but eventually, the idea died down. In any case, the idea of safe karate using bogu, just as they do in kendo, was being considered at that time, some fifty years ago.”

In the December 1989 number of his IOGKF newsletters Morio Higaonna added the information that "It was about this time, for a period of one year between 1929 and 1930, that Miyagi Sensei began experimenting with Iri-Kumi (free sparring) using protective equipment. He ordered the protective equipment, head guards, chest guards, groin guards and fist protectors, from Osaka on mainland Japan. For the most part it was high school boys who practiced the Iri-Kumi. Punches and kicks were delivered with full speed and power with no consideration for control or for limiting dangerous techniques. The fighting that took place could at best be described as rough. Miyagi Sensei's idea was not to practice Iri-Kumi as a sport, but rather to research the possibilities of realistic free sparring with protective equipment. After one year of Iri-Kumi training the sprited fighting of the high school boys had resulted in a high level of injuries, particularly to the neck and toes. The neck, because of the heavy head guard (which had a heavy metal grill to protect the face) which created a whiplash effect when the head was struck, and the toes, due to the metal grill on the head guard and also because of the chest guard which was a solid design similar to kendo armour.

"Because of the high incidence of injury due to the unsuitable design of the protective equipment, Miyagi Sensei stopped this type of training. He decided that for the majority of students at least, as far as kumite training was concerned, it was better to concentrate on yakusoku kumite (prearranged sparring), san dan uke harai (three-level basic attack and block training) and kakie (push hands). This type of training he decided was most important."

The furi-zuki mentioned by Yagi may have actually been the kind of wild swing used by tired or inexperienced fighters or by someone who gets hit and loses their temper. These were early days and experience in this kind of fighting needed to be built up, but the comment about people getting injured by blows to the head doesn’t seem to say much for the effectiveness of the Goju Ryu defensive techniques that students had been taught in class.

There is also no mention of Miyagi himself trying out the bogu; instead, if Morio Higaonna’s account is correct, he got his young students to test it out and risk a “high level of injuries” over the year of testing. If he had tried it then no doubt he would have found that the traditional Goju Ryu techniques would not work under those conditions. He could have seen that from observation of his students’ fights, of course, which is maybe why, like the other traditional karate masters, he decided to leave it alone.

So Okinawan Goju retreated from jyu-kumite, whether contact or non-contact, and went back to the practice of basics, kata, conditioning and pre-arranged kumite. Miyagi failed to develop a workable method of (non-contact) free sparring and so that was left to Gogen Yamaguchi and other Japanese instructors, who thereby fulfilled the prophecy of Okinawan-born Admiral Kenwa Kanna, who after watching a 1926 demonstration by Gichin Funakoshi’s students said that “If karate involves only the practice of kata as it does today then there will be no progress in its dissemination. For the future, just as in judo and kendo, tournaments must be held in order to popularize and spread karate. . . If we can achieve this, then karate will no longer be an Okinawan art, or even a Japanese art, but it will become an international art and spread throughout the whole world.”

Next chapter