Gogen Yamaguchi
Jitsumi Gogen Yamaguchi (Yamaguchi Gogen born on January 20, 1909, died May 20, 1989) was a world renown Grandmaster of Japanese Karate Do and founder of the International Karate Do Goju Kai Association. He was one of the most well-known of all Karate Do masters to come out of Japan.
Early Years
Gogen Yamaguchi was born on January 20, 1909 in Miyakonojo Shonai, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan, near Kagoshima City on the island of Kyushu. In his 5th year of primary school, Yamaguchi commenced his Karate Do training under the guidance of Takeo Maruta, a carpenter joiner from Okinawa. Maruta was a Goju Ryu practitioner.
Gogen Yamaguchi was named Jitsumi Yamaguchi by his father Tokutaro who was a merchant and later a school teacher and superintendent; his mother was Yoshimatsu. Jitsumi was their 3rd son and there were ten children in the very large Japanese family.
“The Cat”
Gogen Yamaguchi was also famously known in the world of Karate Do as ‘the Cat’; he was a very small man, just over five feet tall and 160 pounds, however he projected the impression of great bulk and an aura reminiscent of the samurai era. He was first dubbed ‘the Cat’ by American Gi’s for his gliding walk and flowing hair. He alone was primarily responsible for the spread of Goju Ryu throughout the world today whereby hundreds of thousands of practitioners have experienced some form of training within traditional and non- traditional Karate dojo.
According to Gogen Yamaguchi himself when interviewed by French magazine Karate journalist Rolland Gaillac, April 1977 edition, he stated: “Even today, young man, if you were to face me in combat, I would be able to determine in a second the strength of your Ki. Immediately I would know if you were a good opponent. It is this quality, and no other, which has given me the name of “The Cat.”
Early Training in Kyoto
Gogen then began the serious study of Karate Do with Sensei Takeo Maruta after his family relocated to Kyoto. Maruta was also a carpenter of joiner by trade and was himself a student of the legendary Chojun Miyagi of Okinawa. Gogen Yamaguchi studied directly with Chojun Miyagi later in 1929, after he and his then- current teacher and friend Jitsuei Yogi wrote to Chojun Miyagi and invited him to come to Japan.
Gogen Meets Chojun Miyagi
Chojun Miyagi visited the university dojo of Kansai, Osaka, Ritsumeikan, Kyoto, and Doshisha Universities, whilst Gogen was attending Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. There he studied Law and in 1930 Yogi together with Gogen Yamaguchi co-founded the Ritsumeikan Daigaku Karate Kenkyu-Kai. Ritsumeikan Karate Do Kenkyu-Kai was the first university Karate club in western Japan and was infamous for its hard style training and fierce Karate fighters. Both Yogi and Yamaguchi attended Ritsumeikan University during the time Chojun Miyagi visited, and Chojun Miyagi stayed in Yogi’s apartment.
Chojun Miyagi later gave Gogen Yamaguchi the responsibility for spreading Goju Ryu in mainland Japan. In the early 1930’s Gogen designed what would become the legendary signature Goju Ryu fist. It is said to be modeled after the right hand fist of Chojun Miyagi.
Introduces Jiyu Kumite and Forms the All Japan Karate Do Goju Kai Federation
After graduating from Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto in 1934, Gogen designed and introduced Jiyu-Kumite which has become known today as sport and tournament fighting kumite. In 1935 he officially formed the All Japan Karate Do Goju Kai Karate Do Association (which later split into the JKF Goju Kai and the J.K.G.A.). Also in 1935 Gogen began his travels with the Japanese government as an intelligence officer and his first son Norimi Gosei Yamaguchi was born (Gosei is the current leader of Goju Kai USA).
WORLD WAR II
During his military tour in Manchuria in World War II, Gogen was captured by the Soviet military in 1942 and incarcerated as a prisoner of war in a Russian concentration camp. It was here that he battled and defeated a live tiger according to his autobiography. Gogen Yamaguchi was originally targeted for hard labour in the POW camp however he had impressed the Russians who discovered who he was and requested that he teach Karate Do to the Russian soldiers. It was then that, ‘the prisoner became the master of the guards, who became his students’.
In 1945, Gogen returned to Japan where he re-opened his initial Karate Do dojo in Nippori which was later destroyed by fire, and advertised with a sign outside reading Goju Ryu Kai. Many people thought his school was closed forever and that he had been killed in the war. Accordingly Gogen held large exhibitions in Tokyo which showcased the various Chinese and Japanese martial arts that he had experienced. His school reopened and moved at a later date to the Suginami-Ku area of Tokyo. Here he quickly expanded throughout a network of independent Goju Ryu dojo. The rapid growth and expansion was reinforced by Gogen’s energetic and forceful persona which resulted in a worldwide network of Karate schools which he alone built into a powerful martial arts empire.
Registers the Name Goju Ryu, Opens his Honbu Dojo
Gogen Yamaguchi established the Goju Kai Headquarters in Suginami-Ku, Tokyo, Japan, nearby to the busy shopping precinct of Roppongi. It was also at this time that he registered the name Goju Ryu formally with the Butoku-kai (official government body and Headquarters for the Japanese Martial Arts).
By 1950 Goju Kai Headquarters was officially relocated to the Suginami Tokyo School which contributed to an almost tripling of membership to 450,000. Five years later he officially chartered the I.K.G.A.
Later in 1964, Gogen Yamaguchi along with other founder members Otsuka Hironori from Wado-Ryu, Nakayama Masatoshi from Shotokan, Mabuni Kenei and Iwata Manzao of Shito-Ryu, unified all the Karate dojo in Japan to form the All Japan Karate Do.
Goju Ryu Kai Spreads Throughout the Western World
By 1966 his organization comprised of more than 1,200 dojo clubs and 600,000 members within the Goju Kai system. Peter Urban had opened his New York Dojo and initiated the spread of the style throughout the USA. In Australia, Paul Starling (the most senior Caucasian pupil graded by Gogen Yamaguchi in his lifetime) had been training for four years with Gogen’s first Australian student Mervyn Oakley.
Death and Legacy
Prior to his death he was decorated by the Emperor of Japan in 1968 with the Ranju-Hosho, the Blue Ribbon Medal of the fifth order of merit, for his enormous contribution to the spread world wide of the Japanese martial arts. For many years Gogen Yamaguchi was listed in the Guinness Book of Records regarding his rank and achievements.
According to his obituary, “His name was a household word in Karate circles, and he appeared in all the major Martial Arts magazines and publications, both in Japan and the western world.”