Who Were the Senior Students of Chojun Miyagi?

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.

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.

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.

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