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Goju Ryu Training
Junbi Undo
The warm up exercises associated with Goju Ryu are physically demanding and were designed by Miyagi Chojun Sensei after having conducted intense medical research. He designed the individual exercises to relate to specific kata techniques, and organised the exercises into three parts.
Junbi Undo Dai Ichi concentrates on warming up the joints and nerves of the body. It begins with the extremities of the body and works its way back toward the brain, finishing with the neck.
Junbi Undo Dai Ni is designed to awaken the muscles of the body, while Junbi Undo Dai San concerns itself with the breathing of the practitioner, synchronising breath with movement.
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Hojo Undo
Hojo Undo are the supplementary training exercises of Goju Ryu, using the traditional weight training equipment as handed down by Miyagi Sensei. Exercises with the Chiishi (strength stones), ishi sashi (stone padlocks), nigiri game (gripping jars), kongoken (iron hoop), tan (barbell), makiwara (striking post), and tou (wooden post) all relate to kata techniques and are designed to give the practitioner a ‘feel’ for the correct body movements, as well as strengthening the grip and developing the muscles of Goju ryu practitioners.
There are also other lesser known weight training implements still used, as well as ude tanren (arm and body conditioning), sandan ge (blocking exercises), and kakie (pushing hands).
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Hojo undo equipment
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Kata
The kata of Goju Ryu are the main bulk of the training, with all other areas contributing to the development of the kata. There are 8 classical kata, 2 breathing kata, and 2 basic kata.
Please see the topic kata for specific information relating to the kata of goju ryu.
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Bunkai
As well as the actual performance of the kata, much time is dedicated to the bunkai (application) of the techniques contained within. Practitioners must aim to develop a realism in the techniques so that they may be of use in a self defence situation. The various striking tools must be forged by using the makiwara if they are to have value. Without a correct understanding of the applications of the kata, and the physical conditioning with which to be able to use the applications, kata may have limited value to the practitioner.
Goju Ryu was designed to be a civil self defence martial art and was not intended to be used on a battlefield or in a competitive scenario. The techniques are designed to be responses to common situations that may present themselves when confronted by an untrained attacker, who is also unaware of the tactics being used against him.
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Miyagi Sensei demonstrating bunkai with Kyoda Sensei
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Kakie
Whilst there is little free sparring in Goju Ryu, kakie is used to give the practitioner a feel for how opportunities to use techniques may present themselves in an uncooperative opponent. Kakie Dameshi was a term used in Okinawa to describe a test of strength between two practitioners, and was used as a method of free sparring for practitioners by which they could test their skill. Besides this, kakie also develops a firm grounding in your stance, and works as a sensitivity drill where you are constantly trying to detect the shifting of your opponents weight, and any opportunities where your opponent may be unbalanced or attacked.
Kakie by its very nature encourages close quarter fighting where various strikes, joint locks, chokes and takedowns may be employed. The distance at which these techniques are employed closely relate to self defence where an opponent is likely to be closer to you, as opposed to the longer range techniques employed in competitive sparring.
All areas of the goju ryu system directly benefit one another, for example hojo undo will benefit your sanchin, which in turn will benefit your kakie etc. Time must be dedicated to each component to develop as a well rounded practitioner.
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