Grandmaster Chojun Miyagi, the founder of Goju-Ryu, was born on April 25, 1888. He began training in karate under Kanryo Higaonna at the age of 14 in 1902. The training was severe beyond belief at times but he practiced even harder with an enthusiasm unmatched by any of the other students. Chojun Miyagi became uchi deshi (private disciple) of Kanryo Higaonna. He studied with his teacher for 14 years before his teacher’s death in 1915. As successor to Naha-te, Chojun Miyagi pushed himself to the limits of endurance in his desire to emulate the extraordinary skill of his teacher. To this end, that same year (1915) he journeyed to Fuzhou, China, the city where his teacher had studied the martial arts, to further his own research. This was one of three trips he made to China during his lifetime. On his return to Okinawa, he began to teach the martial arts at his home in Naha. Later, he also taught at the Okinawan Prefecture Police Training Center, at the Okinawan Master’s Training College, and at the Naha Commercial High School (where his teacher had once taught).
Miyagi worked hard to spread karate throughout Okinawa and mainland Japan, and to earn Naha-te a status equal to that of the highly respected Japanese martial arts of judo and kendo. To achieve this, he traveled frequently to mainland Japan where he was invited to teach karate at Kyoto University, Kansai University and Ritsumei Kan University. In 1931, Goju-Ryu Karate-Do was officially registered in the Butokukai. Miyagi was also the first karate instructor recognized by the Japan Butokukai as a master of Karate in those early days of development.
Chojun Miyagi passed away on October 8th, 1953, leaving a great legacy behind. He predicted that during the twentieth century karate would spread throughout the world.