山口 剛玄
(1909-1989)
Gogen
Yamaguchi was born January 20, 1909 at Miyakonojou, Shonai, Miyazaki Prefecture as
the third son of Tokutaro. He was named Jitsumi, 実美.
When he
was thirteen years of age, he studied Goju-Ryu Karate Kempo with his instructor named
Takeo Maruyama 丸田武雄. He studied Law at Kansei University in 1928 and
Ritsumeikan University from 1929 to 1937 and received Law Degrees. While studing at
the University, he initiated the Karate club and invented its free sparring form.
By this time, all karate schools in Okinawa and Japan practiced kata and pre-arranged
application exercise and never attempted to practice free form of sparring.
In 1937,
he received the name Gogen from Chojun Miyagi and authorized him to promote the school of
Goju-Ryu Karate in Japan.
In 1950,
he founded the national organization of All Japan Karate-Do Goju-Kai in Tokyo, Japan.
Gogen received 10th Degree Black Belt from Chojun Miyagi in 1951.
He was
recognized as one of the greatest Karate masters in Japan. He was the founder of
what might be called modern Karate, an advanced stage which illustrates both a technical
and social elevation of the art of Karate. From a technical point of view, he had
unified all Karate exercise by employing an extremly well organized method.
As a
result of the introduction of free-style sparring, the art of Karate had become a
more active and popular art in Japan as well as in other parts of the world.
Although he studied such martial arts as Judo, Kendo, Iaido, Jo-do, and Kusari-gama (art
of chain) in his younger days, Karate had from the beginning captured most of his
enthusiasm.
In the
general development of Karate, Gogen had contributed several distinguished services.
First, he formed a group of Asian martial instructors. He then succeeded in bringing
seventy Asian instructors to Japan and traveled throughout the country, holding exchange
martial arts demonstreations. After the Pacific war, he succeeded in unifing all
Karate schools into one union. As a result, the All Japan Karate Federation
was established in 1964.
In the
United States, people refer to Gogen Yamaguchi as the "Cat." As a further
recognition of merit, he was honored in 1969 by Emperor Hirohito of Japan with
Ranju-Hosho, the Blue Ribbon Medal.
