Myth: Goju-Ryu Karate was ‘created’ by Master Chojun Myagi, based on the Naha-Te system of Kanryo Higaonna, in the early 1900s.
Fact: The art known to the world today as Goju-Ryu karate was built on a bedrock of martial development that emerged over a period of centuries, not decades, dating at least as far back as 1392. Originally known as ‘Ti,’ it was indigenous to Okinawa. It was enriched and cross-pollinated, again over a period of centuries, with a Shaolin Kung Fu style originating in China’s Southern Fujian province. Oral history links it to Lohan and White Crane. It is comprised of Tiger, Dragon and Crane animal movements.

Myth: Karate was developed by Okinawan farmers who’d had their weapons taken away by the government. It was purely defensive in nature.
Fact: Ti was a warrior art. It was practised, preserved and propagated by members of Okinawan samurai class, the Pechin, who practised both armed and unarmed combat arts. Ti was a medieval (pre-gunpowder) battlefield art, with virtually all techniques intended to disable or kill an opponent within seconds. The banning of weapons following the Satsuma Invasion in 1609 further accelerated its development.

Myth: Modern Goju-Ryu karate as we know it in the West is essentially the same as the art that was practised by Grandmaster Kanryo Higaonna in the late 1900s.
Fact: Most modern karate has surprisingly little in common with the art of Kanryo Higaonna. Just as modern Judo was derived from Jiu-Jutsu, Modern Karate-Do was drawn from one of the more obvious aspects of the original Ti – closed-hand punching and kicking – that was safely amenable to athletics.

Whereas Kanryo Higaonna’s art was a synthesis of ancient Okinawan and Southern Fujian martial knowledge.
Nerve attacks (Kyusho-jutsu), gappling (Tuite), nage (throws) and strikes (atemi) were integral to the system and were used together, not in isolation. These sub-arts are only truly effective in street defence when used in concert with all other aspects of the system.

Myth: The classical Goju-Ryu kata together form a single, ancient and complete fighting system.
Fact: The system of classical Goju-Ryu kata was assembled by Chojun Myagi. Taken together these katas form a sophisticated and complete fighting system. However, Myagi is known to have inherited from Kanryo Higaonna at least these four kata: Sanchin, Seisan, Sanseru and Suparinpei. The principles of their performance - that is the underlying theory of Naha-Te - are ancient.

Myth: Karate has no effective grappling, so one needs to ‘borrow’ grappling techniques from other systems such as Aikido and Jiu-Jutsu and reverse-engineer these into the classical kata.
Fact: The classical Goju-Ryu kata were all designed to transmit, and to conceal, effective techniques for life-and-death combat at very close-quarters. Grappling is fundamental to karate and this is reflected, though concealed, in basic drills. Tuite, Okinawa’s indigenous grappling art, is different in important respects from other grappling arts such as Jiu-Jutsu and Aikido. Tuite has its own precise theory of distance, angles, energy transfer and body positioning, which is distinctly Okinawan.

Myth: Goju-Ryu Karate is primarily of Chinese origin.
Fact: Kanryo Higaonna’s first teacher was an Okinawan master, Aragaki Seisho. Aragaki himself studied with Okinawan masters as well as the Southern Fujian master, Wai Xian Xian. Kanryo Higaonna studied for a time with Ru Ru Ko, who was a disciple of Wai Xian Xian.
However, to say that Wai was ‘Chinese’ or Aragaki ‘Okinawan’ is an over-simplification. Both Wai and Aragaki were members of a Chinese-Okinawan community that moved freely by boat, between Naha and Fuzhow in Southern Fujian province, over a period of several centuries. In effect this was one community, separated by water.

Myth: Senior dan (black belt) rank automatically means that one is a skilled fighter and knowledgeable about all aspects of martial art, including the spiritual.
Fact: Senior dan rank means that a person has attained a certain stature or seniority within his or her school or organization. Beyond that the level of the karate master’s skill and knowledge depends entirely on the depth, skill and knowledge of his or her teacher or teachers, which is partly a function of lineage, and his or her own experience, development, talent and hard work.
Different organizations emphasize different martial aspects. So one school might be particularly advanced in developing powerful punches and kicks; another might emphasize performance of kata. Very few karate instructors today, even in Okinawa, teach the ancient, complete system of karate-jutsu.

Myth: The old masters of karate turned their hands and feet into lethal weapons and became great fighters simply by learning and practicing kata.
Fact: The old masters became great fighters by learning and practicing kata, but also by toughening their bodies and their hands and feet to the point where they could be used as weapons. The conditioning, toughening and strengthening aspect of old karate, hojo undo, was fundamental to this training. Key techniques, such as the nukite, will not work (except to very soft target areas) if the hands are not first conditioned and strengthened.
The punch will not work unless it is honed and strengthened with resistance training – pushups and Makiwara.
Practising kata is fundamental to training. When combined with sound conditioning and rehearsed, practical application (bunkai), it can produce great life-protection skill. If the techniques embedded in the kata are not ‘unfolded,’ and if the body and striking surfaces are not toughened, the kata and karate become primarily esthetic and aerobic.

Myth: By practicing karate, anyone – no matter their size, age, or physical prowess – can become a great fighter.
Fact: Karate training will improve anyone’s health, resilience, strength and flexibility. The training has life-enhancing properties that can be beneficial to anyone. However, Pechin ‘Ti’ was originally developed for young warriors with a high tolerance for pain and drudgery, who were motivated to learn the art out of a need to survive life-or-death combat. To do it well requires sweat and a lot of time.

By Michael Den Tandt
with files from Mathieu Ravignat