1. Martial Arts:
History & Development

2. Early Fighting Systems
Karate-do owes its composition to diverse ancient fighting techniques such as Egyptian bare-handed fighting, Roman gladiatorial combat, Japanese sumo wrestling, Indian and Persian foot fighting, and the weaponless fighting found in Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

3. Chinese Influence
The Chinese people were exposed to these different methods of fighting during their extensive military and economic contact with the above countries. The fighting styles were observed, analyzed, and utilized by the Chinese; and it is in China that all these styles came together and influenced the configuration of ch'uan fa; which is the Chinese tradition of pugilism (the sport of fighting with fists -– boxing) and the forerunner of Karate-Do.

4. Development of Karate
The exact origins of karate are lost in the mists of time and the smoke of war.
We do know that karate originated in Okinawa, but it is very difficult to tell the true story about the development of the Okinawan martial arts for two reasons:

5. Much historical evidence destroyed in WWII
First, almost all written documents concerning Okinawan history and martial arts were destroyed during the American invasion of Okinawa in WWII.
The second reason is that the martial arts were often practiced in secret and the techniques were passed on through word of mouth rather than in writing.

6. As with most parts of the world, Okinawa was exposed to much war, invasion, internal strife and the odd despotic government and, just as in many other places, new methods of fighting and war were developed. They became masters of their ‘weapon’

7. 4 major factors in development of Karate:
In its earliest stages of development, karate was a form of closed fist fighting which Okinawans called te, or “hand.” Thanks to the wars and weapons bans experienced in Okinawa this art continued to develop, mostly in secret in the cities of Shuri, Naha and Tomari. (Different forms of self-defense formed within each city and became known as Shuri-te, Naha-te and Tomari-te.

8. 2. Chinese Martial Arts
Chinese Martial Arts -can thank Bodiharma for their origin. He was an Indian Buddhist monk who arrived in Shaolin-si, China, from India over 2000 years ago. He taught Zen Buddhism and introduced a systematized set of exercises designed to strengthen the mind and body.

9. Bodhidharma
According to legend, Bodhidharma was born in India during the early 6th century. He traveled from India to the Songshan Mountains, in the Honan province of China, and founded the Shao Lin Temple. The monks at the Temple were weak and in poor condition and thus very vulnerable to attacks from bandits and muggers. Bodhidharma created ch'uan fa to help them improve physically. Bodhidharma taught 18 postures, 2 sutra, and sitting meditation (zazen). The kata include exercises and breathing techniques to foster physical health and strength which were modeled on the movements of animals i.e., the tiger, monkey, leopard, crane, and snake. The sutra were developed to foster mental and spiritual growth. These kata, sutra, and zazen, formed the fundamentals of ch'uan fa, the precursor of Karate-Do.

10. 3. Okinawan nobility
Most of Okinawan nobles, from 13th c onwards, were required to work as officers in the army or police force where they kept law and order and received wages from the king for this service. No other occupation was allowed and thus they had no other source of income. This wage became insufficient and many were reduced to beggary. In 1724, in order to solve this problem, they were granted permission to become merchants, farmers, or craftsmen. Many of them left the state service and adopted new lifestyles. After a century and half, following the Meiji revolution, Okinawan nobles (as well as Japanese samurai) had their privileges revoked, including the right to carry swords.
The nobility, of course, would have preferred to fight with their swords rather than with their bare hands, but they were prohibited from carrying weapons. Both the nobles and farmers developed techniques that turned farm and fishing implements into lethal weapons; and such the development of kobudo.

11. 4. Banning of weapons
Weapons were banned in Okinawa on numerous occasions. The first was in 1429 (during establishment of Ryukyu kingdom); Around 1580 and again in 1609 this law was enforced. This forced many people to train physically for combat without weapons.

12. Okinawa (The roots of Goju Ryu)
In 1470 all weapons in Okinawa were banned and confiscated. This political move led directly to the development of two different fighting systems: Te, practiced by the nobility, is a form of empty hand combat; and Kobudo, developed by farmers and fishermen is a form of armed combat using simple tools as weapons. In both systems, training was conducted in strict secrecy. The different styles of Te (Naha -te, Tomari-te, and Shuri-te) were named after the villages where they were practiced. Naha-te is the direct ancestor of Goju-Ryu KarateDo; Shuri-te developed into Shorinji-Ryu which in turn developed into many different styles (such as Wado Ryu and Shotokan Karate-Do). A combination of Goju Ryu and Shorinji Ryu led to the development of Chito Ryu.

13. 19th and 20th Century Influence
Karate, as we know it today, has its origins in the 19th & 20th centuries and can be accredited to a few influential martial artists, all of whom were members of the elite royal palace guard.
“Tode” Sakugawa ( )
Sokon Matsumura (1809 – 1899)
Anko Itosu ( )
Gichin Funukoshi ( ) (foundation of Goju-Ryu)

14. Lineage

15. Ryu Ryu Ko (1873 – 1915)
Ryu Ryu Ko was a Chinese martial artist who most likely practiced the Fujian White Crane style of Kung Fu. His most notable students included many of the founders of different Okinawan martial arts which later produced Karate. These students included Higaonna Kanryō who founded Naha-te which became Gōjū-ryū. The kata Sanchin, taught in Gōjū-ryū and most other styles of Karate, was originally taught by Ryū Ryū Ko.
Because most of what is known about Ryū Ryū Ko has been passed down by his students, as an oral history, his exact identity, or even his very existence, has been disputed by critics
Ryū Ryū Ko had been born into the Fujian aristocratic class, who at that time were the only people permitted to study the martial arts which he studied at the southern Shaolin Temple in the mountains of Fujian Province (China)

16. Kanryo Higaonna ( )
Grandmaster Kanryo Higaonna’s father, Kanyo, worked as a merchant sailing between the small islands of Okinawa. From a young age ,Higaonna helped his father in this work and through the hard physical labor that was involved he developed a strong body. At the age of 16, he traveled with his instructor to Fuzhou, China. Once in Fuzhou he studied the Chinese martial arts under the great Master RuRuKo. He also received instruction from numerous other masters. Hiagaonna remained in China for a period of 5-13 years.
Chojun Miyagi (founder of Goju-Ryu and successor to Higaonna) said of Higaonna, "My sensei possessed incredible strength; the severity of the training he underwent in China is beyond comprehension.... Kanryo Sensei's speed and power were truly superhuman; his hands and feet moved faster than lightning".
In the year 1881, he returned to Okinawa where his martial arts would become known as Naha-te. In order to teach the youth of Okinawa he developed a teaching method that was specifically designed to develop the mind and body;
The first occasion on which the previously secretive art of Naha-te "opened" to society in general, occurred in October 1905, when Higaonna began teaching at the Naha Commercial High School. When teaching, Higaonna was an extremely hard task master. However, in his everyday life he was a quiet and humble man and one who was renowned for his virtuous character. He was a person who had no need or desire for worldly things. He leads a simple life that was devoted to the study and practice of martial arts. Kanryo Higaonna's unparalleled skill in the martial arts aside, his great and distinguished work was in bringing the Chinese martial arts from China to Okinawa, and from there spreading these arts among the people of Okinawa.

17. Chojun Miyagi (1888 – 1953)
The founder of Goju Ryu Karate-Do is Chojun Miyagi. He was born in Naha Okinawa on April 25th 1888, to a noble family.
At the age of 14 Miyagi began training under Arakaki, who introduced him to his friend, the foremost Naha-te master, Kanryo Higaonna; he was his Sensei's disciple for 15 years. In Fuzhou in Fukien Province, Miyagi studied . In 1908 he returned to Okinawa. Using his knowledge of Chinese Kempo he adapted Naha-te to more fully reflect the hard and soft aspects of Karate-Do -- the give and take required to be successful.
He invented three important kata: Tensho, Gekisai Ichi, and Gekisai Ni. The word goju means hard and soft. Go is the Japanese word for hardness and ju is the word for softness. The system is based on the oriental concept that all hardness and stiffness is not good. At the same time all softness and too much gentleness is not good. The two should complement each other. This combination gives Goju Ryu its beautiful, disciplined movements, filled with grace, flowing forms and strength. Actions are sometimes extremely fast and other times slow and majestic. Goju Ryu relies on an aggressive style of attack with emphasis on delivering blows hard but with easy effort and in rapid succession, manoeuvring not only forwards and backwards but also from side to side.

18. Gogen Yamaguchi (1909 – 1989)
Yamaguchi Sensei was born January 20, 1909 in Kagoshima, Japan. He heard of Goju Ryu Karate-Do and of the great Okinawan, Miyagi Chojun, while attending Restsumeikan University in Curious about the system, Yamaguchi Sensei, (The Cat), wrote to Miyagi Sensei and invited him to come to Japan. The meeting of the two proved to be fateful, not only for Goju Ryu but for all Karate-Do. Yamaguchi Sensei immediately fell in love with the strange and intricate patterns displayed by Miyagi. The hard and soft approach was for him. When Miyagi Chojun Sensei left Japan to return to Okinawa he left behind him a well trained and educated follower in Goju Ryu
In 1936 Yamaguchi Sensei organized a Dojo that radically altered the development of KarateDo. He believed that the strict Okinawan brand of Karate-Do was too static and limited, and thus, developed Jiu Kumite which did not exist in the traditional system. He blended the Okinawan Goju Ryu with yoga, and Shito elements and the Bushi (Samurai) tradition creating a typically Japanese style. The Second World War introduced Goju Ryu Karate-Do to servicemen who helped spread it to different countries. In 1953, Miyagi Sensei passed away, leaving Meitoku Yagi to succeed him in Okinawa and with Yamaguchi Sensei continuing his efforts in expanding the art in Japan

19. Dai Sensei Yagi Meitoku (1912-2003)
(1927): began training with Grandmaster Chojun Miyagi Yagi Meitoku Dai Sensei founded the Meibukan (Enlightened Warrior) school of Okinawa Goju Ryu Karate. He developed the Taikyoku training kata and the Kumite drills Rezoku Kumite, Kakome Kumite as well as systematized the Ippon and Nippon Kumite. In the 1980s and 90s after several research trips to Taiwan he also created 5 new kata as per the sacred animals of Taoist cosmology: Seiryu (Blue Dragon, East), Shujako (Red Pheonix, South), Genbu (Black Turtle Warrior, West), Byaku (White Tiger, North), and Tenchi (Tai Chi or Grand Ultimate).

20. Meitatsu Yagi ( )
is the eldest son of Meitoku Yagi and followed after him as a teacher and practitioner of Karate.
Meitatsu was tutored directly by his father, grand master Meitoku Yagi himself. By training under his father for over fifty years, he was groomed and trained to carry on the legacy of Meibukan Gojyu-Ryu (hard style) Karate
Currently Meitatsu is the president of the International Meibukan Goju-ryu Karate Association (IMGKA).[1]

21. Robert Dagleish (1942 – 1978)
Master Bob Dalgleish started his initial training in 1959 under the guidance of Master Masami Tsuruoka, 9th Dan and head instructor of the Chito Ryu style of Karate Do in Toronto, Ontario. Between the years of 1965 and 1967, Master Dalgleish journeyed from Toronto to New York, several times to learn Japanese Goju style under Master Peter Urban. However, Sensei Dalgleish had to start at the bottom and wear a white belt for a period of 2 years and after a 2-week grading period, he was again recognized as his previous rank of 3rd degree black belt by Master Urban. Sensei Dalgleish then retuned to Toronto and introduced the Goju style to Canada via the Eastern Karate Club.  In 1971, Master Dalgleish was granted the 5th degree Black Belt in Goju Ryu and later was granted the Masters' rank of 'Renshi' by Shihan Yamamoto, from Japan.  Master Bob Dalgleish travelled to Sudbury, Ontario in 1970 to establish the Sudbury Goju Kai Karate Dojo, until his death in 1978.  Dalgleish's most senior student and the man who even today is considered to be the senior Goju teacher in Canada is Bill Hind Kyoshi. Bill Hind still teaches Goju Ryu today in Toronto, his group is called "Canada Goju" . 

22. Bill Hind
The Head Instructor for the Canada Goju Karate Association is Hanshi Bill Hind, Hachidan (8th degree black belt). Hanshi Hind has been training and instructing in martial arts for over 40 years. He is the most senior student of Goju-ryu karate in Canada, having trained longer than any other Canadian.

23. O’Sensei Richard Kim
O'Sensei Richard Kim is considered by many to be one of the most knowledgeable Martial Artists. Born in 1917, he began studying Martial Arts at the age of 6. His training includes Karate-Do, Judo, Shorinji-Ryu, Kempo, Tai Chi, Ba Gwa, and Boxing under many notable teachers. His vast experience in the Martial Arts has been made available to others through his writings and teachings. His students include Peter Urban, Benny Allen, Don Warrener, and Wallace Platt.

24. Sensei Peter Urban
Sensei Peter Urban is a teacher, a writer, a self -employed businessman, and a consulting psychologist. His specialty is the field of martial combatives and their cognates, and he is considered the world's foremost authority on Karate-Do Psychology or Psychotherapy (Philosophical Psychoanalysis of the Martial Arts). He is the head of American Goju Do. Sensei Urban began training in 1953 when he was 18 years old. He had gone to Japan as a sailor in the US navy and stayed for 8 years to study Karate-Do. Sensei Urban started studying in Yokohama with O'Sensei Richard Kim and then a year later trained with Sensei Yamaguchi and Sensei Mas Oyama in Tokyo. He returned to the States and taught Karate-Do, introducing Goju Ryu to North America. In 1965 he founded his famous China Town Dojo, and established American Goju-Do. Sensei Urban believed that America should have its own endemic Karate-Do style, in much the same way that the Okinawans and Japanese have theirs. He developed an uniquely American style which includes the additions of the Kata Empi Ha and Urban Han. His students include Skipper Ingram, Chuck Merriman, Phil Maldonato, Johnny Cool, Al Gotay, Bob Dalgleish and Wallace Platt. When Sensei Urban recently turned sixty, he was quoted as saying: "Karate has been very, very good to me and on this day I celebrate that fact forever. The purpose of Karate training is to walk with confidence in your old age. I walk with confidence. I started Karate as a very young child. That is why I walk with confidence today."

25. Kyoshi Jay Purdy
In the 1980s, a Canadian karate student named J Purdy travelled to the Meibukan Dojo in Naha, Okinawa, Japan to learn the traditional methods of Goju-ryu Karate. Sensei J’s personal experience with Dai Sensei Meitoku Yagi inspired many changes to the way Goju Karate was practiced in Canada.
Today, Kyoshi J Purdy heads the organization of Canada Karate Instructors called Canadian Naha-te Goju Karate. This organization is dedicated to promoting the teaching of Chojun Miyagi through the lineage of Meitoku Yagi.

26. Sensei Tom Cako
Tom Cako, Director of Tri-City Training, began studying goju karate at a young age as a student of Kyoshi Purdy.
He established and directs the tri-division company, Tri-City Training which includes Goju Ryu Karate, Olympic Freestyle Wrestling, and physical preparation. For many years, Tom was a competitive athlete in the sport of Amateur Wrestling, where he was able to achieve national status and represent his country in both national and international events.
With passion and conviction, Tom continues to develop his own skills and to pursue these disciplines. As Director, Tom Cako is committed to promoting a lifelong, healthy lifestyle in his students, one that focuses on all aspects of their lives.

27. JUDO

28. Jigoro Kano ( )
Kanō Jigorō was the founder of judo. Judo was the first Japanese martial art to gain widespread international recognition, and the first to become an official Olympic sport

29. In 1882, Dr. Jigoro Kano (The Father of Judo) made a comprehensive study of the ancient self-defence forms and integrated the best of these forms into a sport which is known as Kodokan Judo.
The term Kodokan breaks down into ko (lecture, study, method), do (way or path), and kan (hall or place). Thus it means “a place to study the way”. Similarly judo breaks down into ju (gentle) and do (way or path) or “the gentle way”.
Prof. Kano adopted the superlative parts of all the Jujitsu schools, got rid of precarious parts and the Kodokan Judo was recognized in a few years to be excellent since its students overwhelmed the Jujitsu athletes at the Police Bujitsu Contest.
The categorization of Kodokan Judo was completed about The Kodokan had three broad aims: physical education, contest proficiency and mental training.

30. T’ai Chi Chu’an

31. Yan Lu Chan (1799 – 1872)
The most popular theory of tai chi chuan roots refers to the art being originated by Chang San Feng, who was born in Chang studied at the famous Shaolin temple and mastered its system of martial arts. The art was passed down in great secrecy for many generations, eventually reaching the Wang family.
The Wang family passed it no to the Chen family, who absorbed it into their own system, know as pao chuan (meaning “cannon fist”).
Yang Lu chan studied with the Chens and Wang family and soon became known as “invincible Yang” Yang was ordered to teach the imperial family and Manchu imperial bodyguard
During the 1920s tai chi chuan began to spread across the world as people began to recognize the health benefits.
Chen, Yang, Hao, and Wu form the basis for variations of style & form

32. Jiu Jitsu
(Brazilian Jui Jitsu)

33. Brazilian jiu-jitsu was formed from Kodokan Judo ground fighting (newaza) fundamentals that were taught by a number of individuals including Takeo Yano, Mitsuyo Maeda and Soshihiro Satake. Brazilian jiu-jitsu eventually came to be its own art through the experiments, practices, and adaptation of judo through Carlos and Hélio Gracie, who passed their knowledge on to their extended family.
BJJ promotes the concept that a smaller, weaker person can successfully defend against a bigger, stronger assailant by using proper technique, leverage, and most notably, taking the fight to the ground, and then applying joint-locks and chokeholds to defeat the opponent. BJJ training can be used for sport grappling tournaments (gi and no-gi) and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition or self-defense.