When people talk about the students of Chojun Miyagi, Seiko Higa, Meitoku Yagi, Seikichi Toguchi and Eiichi Miyazato are usually the main ones that come to mind. It might come as a surprise to learn Miyagi had more than a dozen other senior students, although as most of them didn’t open schools they are much less known. Despite this, they did still influence Goju-Ryu in numerous ways.
While Goju is often split into “pre-war” and “post-war” versions, I’d say you could group the pre war into two sperate categories too.
Earliest Students
These would be the very first people that trained with
Chojun Miyagi. This is the first group of his students and the most senior. The
key individuals here would be Seiko Higa, Hohitsu Gushimiyagi, Jinsei Kamiya, Jinan
Shinzato, Keiyo Madambashi, Genkai Nakaima, Nanjo Kiju and Tatsutoku Sakiyama.
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| Chojun Miyagi with Seiko Higa, Kenwa Mabuni, Juhatsu Kiyoda, Jinan Shinzato, Keiyo Madambashi, Genkai Nakaima, Nanjo Kiju and Tatsutoku Sakiyama. (1924) |
There might be a few new names on there, or at least some
you didn’t often hear about. Higa of course needs no introduction, he originally trained with Kanryo himself. After his death it was natural to continue training with
his senpai Chojun Miyagi. He’s also the only one from this group that opened a
school and went on to teach students of his own.
Hohitsu Gushimiyagi was another student of Kanryo
Higashionna. He remained a life long friend of Chojun Miyagi. In the memorial
picture for Chojun Miyagi, he can be seen sitting next to the portrait of Chojun
Miyagi.
Jinsei Kamiya holds a very important role in Goju-Ryu
history. In addition to being a student
of Miyagi, he was also a physician and close friend. While Miyagi often gets the credit for
developing the Junbi undo, he was greatly assisted by Jinsei Kamiya.
Main Pre War Students
Here we find some more familiar names like Meitoku Yagi and
Seikichi Toguchi. It also includes Seiko Kina, Shunshin Furugen, Kiei Tomoyose,
Jitsui Yogi and Seijin Nakamoto.
Seiko Kina was one of the first of this group to begin
teaching. According to the Okinawa Karate Kobudo Jitten, he was running a dojo
in Izumizaki-cho where Miyagi and Shinzato would occasionally visit as well.
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| Chojun Miyagi teaching to various students |
Shunshin Furugen never opened a school but did teach several
students of Miyagi’s other students. His specialty kata was Kururunfa, which he
learned directly from Miyagi himself. He is known to have taught at least
Zenshu Toyama and Masanobu Shinjo.
When Morio Higaonna founded the IOGKF in 1979, many
of the names above became advisors to the organisation.
Post War Students
We now come to the final group of students. The most senior
here was undoubtably Eiichi Miyazato. Others included Koshin Iha, Aniichi
Miyagi, Chisen Bise, Seikichi Kinjo and Suichi Aragaki. After the passing of
Chojun Miyagi almost all of the post war students remained closely associated
with Eiichi Miyazato, at least for a period of time.
Miyazato continued teaching in the garden dojo, and when the location got too small due to the number of new students, the Jundokan dojo was built.
The Founding of the Goju-Ryu Shinko Kai
During Chojun Miyagi’s life time several of his students got
together to form an organisation for the preservation and promotion of
Goju-Ryu. The founding members were Genkai Nakaima, Seiko Higa, Jinsei Kamiya
and Keiyo Madambashi. Chojun Miyagi was the first president of the organisation.
After his death, Seiko Higa was the second president. The organisation would
eventually evolve into the Okinawa Goju Kai.
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| A notice in the newspaper about the Shinkokai. The four main members are listed. |
If you’re interested in more Goju-Ryu history, my book History
and Stories of Goju-Ryu has much more detailed biographies of most of the individuals
mentioned above, and many more: https://www.lulu.com/en/ca/shop/filip-konjokrad/history-and-stories-of-goju-ryu/paperback/product-1y8w9n86.html?page=1&pageSize=4
