The GoJu thread

[Fuzzy]

jundokan Goju Ryu.

Schools's formerly IOGKF, but they had a bit of a falling out with Higaonna a while back.

As for more formal classes - basics basics basics & kata. Bunkai for those who've been there a while. Conditioning and a little sparring for senior students. The dan do what ever, but obviously fancy stufff.


Informal classes - what ever floats the instructors boat. Plenty of bunkai, conditioning and so on. bit of kata. Bagwork, focus mitt drills. Plenty of sanchin.

They don't do kumite, but irikumi. In other words, its just fancy wording to trick the insurance brokers. They see kumite and go nuts and insist on protective gear. Tell them its irikumi and no-ones the wiser.
That being said, there's never been any mention of recent competition although some of the dans competed over 10 years ago.

Pretty much the same for the Jundokan club I used to train at. Lots of what you do in your informal classes. The head instructor for SA is damn tough, loves his conditioning and kumite. As far as I'm aware Jundokan specifically does not compete.
http://www.eastcoast.co.za/buddy/

[WorldWarCheese]

I got into some trouble before about posting about my school so I'm going to keep this generalized (as much as I can).

I did an offshoot of Meibukan Goju Ryu (Which I hear is a large org, I wouldn't honestly know tho'). I spent the ages of 11-18 there and came out with a Nidan.

Kihon:
Pretty much the same as you'd find in other generic karate. Two-knuckle straight punches to the solar plexus, back-fists, stepping punches, nukite, instep kicks, roundhouse kicks using the foot as point of contact, push-kicks, side-kicks, crescent-kicks and the kick you see at the end of the Karate Kid (Crane kick is it?). Also, the Axe kick was never drilled in class but it was made reference to when someone used it in sparring.

Kata:
-There are five-ish beginner katas that have you step to four directions that make a block then strike and pivot. I forget their names.
-Gekisai Ichi and Ni
-Sanshin
-Tensho (Though it was removed from curriculum later)
-Saifa
-Seiunchin
-Senseiru
And I was beginning to learn Shisochen (the Kata with a lot of Nukite) when I left. I assume Kururunfa and Superimpei are also in the curriculum but I can't be sure.

Bunkai
Bunkai was taught for all katas both in pieces and while doing the whole kata while being surrounded by uke done at varying speeds.

I actually liked the way Bunkai was for the most part treated except for the fact that they could easily get increasingly complicated and unwieldy/impractical especially when at the brown and black belt levels you were often expected to make up your own bunkai (Being told "Find X many moves in this Kata" as pertaining to rank and kata).

Bukens
I've heard them called "Kumite's" elsewhere. It's a bunch of short katas that comprise usually of 1-5 steps and 1-5 "moves" as in attacks or defenses. These were important aspects of training and coupled with the Katas were the main judge of whether a student passed or failed a belt exam. These were done both alone and with ukes.

Sparring
Point Sparring. I'd rather not talk about it.

There was a code and oath that were to be memorized but I neither want to, nor feel I need to recall them right now for the benefit (or possible detriment) of this thread.

Meibukan as a whole seems to be kata-krazy and filled with point sparrers, tho' the kata-specialists are much more highly held than the sparrers. I now have a predisposition for fighting in a horse stance and chambering my fists when I punch. I now have to go back and read the other half of the posts to this thread.

[WorldWarCheese]

I haven't done any Goju, but it is a big part of Kyokushin. I've heard that some of the Goju spar as hard as Kyokushin. That said, back in my youth Shotokan sparred as hard as KK, at least in Kenneth Funakoshi's dojo.

When I heard about "Full Contact Karate" while doing Goju I drooled at the thought. I found there's a KK place at a gym I frequented near my house (Less than 10 min drive), but by then I was in Worcester (45 min away) without a car and had made the switch to Judo. I still toy with the idea of training there during my school vacations since I can't make it up to Worcester during the summer and the nearest Judo is 30 min away (opposed to 10).

Either way, I still have my Ryu Narushima HL videos on youtube I favorited back in my Goju days.

[kindred21101982]

off topic a little but... what are the main difference between the different goju lineages does anyone know? or is it all just political.

[WorldWarCheese]

Chojun Miyagi died, different pepul said "I harve t3h r34l G0j00" and thus the splintering began.

[kindred21101982]

but does that effect the actual style i mean are the kata the same are the techniques the same or is it totally different depending on school

[Goju - Joe]

As far as I know the Okinawan lineage is more rigid where as the Gogen Yamguchi style which he taught in Japan is a little less.

It don't think it means much anymore.

Some school adhere ot the kata based light to no contact style and a few are more like Kyokushin hard contact. It really depends on the teacher.

[WorldWarCheese]

Teacher or general Organization as most schools within a general Org will adhere to that style of "sparring" and kata.

Such as the Goju Kai guys I've seen are very big into the "Hard" blocks and style whereas Meibukan tries to use more flowy moves. I'm not favoring either since my experience with Goju as a whole was particularly poor, but that's the way it seems to be.

[carney]

I'm new to Goju Kai and aiki-jujitsu, but I like them. In my particular school, the blocks seem fairly soft, having been adapted (so I'm told) from gung fu.
The combat is very close quarters: Movie in (usually to the outside), not back, unless forced to. Kicks are low. Full contact with mouth guards and cups (ribbed, for Her pleasure).
P.S. Don't tell me how to spell aiki-jujitsu. It's a transliteration. Like Shoalin, Si Lum Sai Long, etc.

WorldWarCheese described the style pretty well. But he left out the all important sock puppet ritual that....oh! aiiih! I'm sorry! No, Master! I won't tell!
And then the happy happy squirrel puts on the sombrero of not remembering the

[kaishaku]

I would like to add some about the splintering of Goju upon Chojun Miyagi Sensei's death. Upon his death his 4 top students opened their own dojo's.

Seiko Higa carried on as Sensei Miyagi's immediate successor.
Seikichi Toguchi - Shoreikan Goju-Ryu
Meitoku Yagi - Meibukan Goju Ryu
Eiichi Miyazato - Jundokan

There were no belt ranks or black belts in Goju Ryu before this. Upon Miyagi Sensei's death the students began to use a belt ranking system.

My instructor trained under Shoreikan Goju Ryu on Okinawa with Toguchi Sensei from 1955-1960. They sparred full contact without gear and many were injured. They would just drag them out of the way and continue sparring.

I cannot speak for the other styles of Goju, but our style still relies on hard full contact sparring among advanced ranks. No knees or elbows (in sparring), and we do use hand, and foot gear, as well as cups. We DO kick to the groin as well as punch and kick to all other targets above the belt including the face and head with full force, sweeps and throws are also permitted. There are black eyes, broken noses, and knock outs. We do not point spar and DO NOT go to tournaments. As these rules would clearly not be acceptable.

As far as Kyokoshinkai they fight hard with no pads, however (correct me if I'm wrong) they do not kick to the groin or punch to the face or head. We believe our rules are as close to real fighting training as one can get without too severly injuring your training partners.

I Do not want to start a debate about who has the most realistic fighting rules. Just remember the only no holds barred fight is a real street fight. Where anything goes, knees, elbows, locks, eye gouges, groin strikes, bite, spit, and anything else.

I hope this clears up some confusion.