Kanryo Higaonna
 
Kanryo Higaonna was born in 1853, and in 1867 he set sail from Okinawa for Fuzhou in Southern China to study the Chinese martial arts. After he arrived, he was introduced to Ryu Ryu Ko who owned a furniture making shop and who was also an extremely skilled martial artist. Kanryo Higaonna presented him with a letter of introduction from a well-respected public official from Okinawa. After he judged the young Higaonna as possessing the proper character to learn the martial arts, Ryu Ryu Ko accepted him as his student.
 
Ryu Ryu Ko and Kanryo Higaonna became extremely close, and the teacher began to treat his student like a father treats his son. Mr. Higaonna moved into the house of his mentor and received the type of detailed instruction in the Chinese martial arts that was usually transmitted only from father to son. After their relationship had deepened, Kanryo Higaonna learned nine empty hand kata as well as the several weapons kata. As a result, Mr. Kanryo Higaonna became an extraordinarily proficient martial artist.
 
In 1881 when Kanryo Higaonna was about 28 years old, he became homesick, and with the approval of his mentor, he returned to his native Okinawa. Several years after he returned to Okinawa, Kanryo Higaonna began to teach his karate (still known as Chinese-hand) to a very small and select group of students. Of this cadre of students who trained for lengthy periods with Kanryo Higaonna, three of them eventually established their own styles of modern karate-do based on his teachings. Juhatsu Kyoda would establish To’on Ryu (Higaonna Style). Chojun Miyagi would create Goju Ryu (Hard-Soft Style), and Kenwa Mabuni would establish Shito Ryu (Itosu-Higaonna Style). 

Chojun Miyagi
 
Chojun Miyagi Sensei was born into a wealthy merchant family in 1888 and was accepted by Kanryo Higaonna as a student in 1902. All students were required to learn Sanchin kata for a period of three to four years before they were allowed to learn any other kata. In those days, this kata was performed while moving forward and backward across the room. All the while, Higaonna Sensei would perform shime, pushing and slapping each student to see if their stances were correct and to see if they were contracting their muscles correctly.
 
Over the years, Miyagi Sensei began to receive the type of instruction from Mr. Higaonna that few others received because the young Mr. Miyagi was trusted, physically strong, and talented. As time went on, their relationship deepened, and Kanryo Higaonna wanted Miyagi Sensei to experience the same type of training that he had experienced in China.
 
Consequently in 1915 he, like his teacher before him, left Okinawa to study martial arts in Fuzhou. Upon arriving in China, he sought out the legendary Ryu Ryu Ko only to discover that he had died. Mr. Miyagi then visited the grave of his teacher’s teacher and paid his respects.
 
He remained in China for another two months researching the training methods and the kata of Ryu Ryu Ko. Mr. Miyagi was able to locate an elderly man who had also been a student of the late Ryu Ryu Ko. In fact, he had been a junior student to Mr. Higaonna, and they had trained together. Upon his return to Okinawa from China, Mr. Miyagi diligently practiced both what he had learned from Mr. Kanryo Higaonna and what he had learned from the research that he had conducted in Fuzhou.
 
Mr. Miyagi returned to China for a second time again in1936 with the purpose of expanding his knowledge of the martial arts. These trips, his diligent research, and his relentless practice would lead him to establish what is now known as Goju-Ryu Karate-do.
 
From this research, Mr. Miyagi developed three kata that were added to the curriculum – Gekisai Dai Ichi, Gekisai Dai Ni, and Tensho. These and the original nine kata that had been taught to Kanryo Higaonna by Ryu Ryu Ko comprise the present Goju Ryu kata curriculum (Gekisai Dai Ichi, Gekisai Dai Ni, Sanchin, Saifa, Seiyunchin, Sanseiryu, Shisochin, Seipai, Seisan Kururunfa, Suparinpei, and Tensho. Additionally, the weapons kata that Higaonna Sensei had learned from Ryu Ryu Ko were dropped from the curriculum as they were viewed as primitive by Japanese standards.)

Gogen Yamaguchi

Yamaguchi Sensei was born in 1909 and created the Gojukai organization which was successful in spreading Goju Ryu throughout Japan and around the world. Some karate historians note that his efforts brought a lot of attention both to karate in general and to Goju Ryu in particular. Yamaguchi Sensei always wore traditional Japanese clothing and wore his hair long making him appear to be a warrior of old who was somehow transported into modern times. His actions and manner of dress caught people’s attention which did a lot to promote Goju Ryu around the world.
 
However, Yamaguchi Sensei’s greatest contribution to karate-do and Goju Ryu was that he transformed karate into a martial art that was acceptable not only in Japan, but also acceptable in the Western world. This was particularly due to his development of jiyu-kumite.
 
When Okinawan karate teachers first traveled to the main islands of Japan in the 1920s and introduced their martial art to the Japanese public, they discovered that karate was viewed as primitive, uncultivated, and without organization when compared to other Japanese martial arts.  To counter this perception, Yamaguchi Sensei was one of the individuals who began to transform Okinawan karate into a suitable Japanese martial art.
 
Okinawan karate had no jiyu-kumite in its curriculum, and this was a major impediment to its acceptance as a Japanese martial art. From the perspective of Japanese budo-ka, Okinawan karate lacked the dynamics and spontaneity found in the Japanese martial arts and left the trainee ill-prepared for real combat. The perception was that Okinawan karate was not a complete budo when compared to the Japanese martial arts of Judo and Kendo.
 
If karate could succeed in developing a safe and vigorous format as both Judo and Kendo had done, then Karatedo could develop into a truly Japanese martial art. However, if it failed to develop this format, then it would be relegated to an inferior status when compared to Judo and Kendo. In short, the very future of Karatedo as a Japanese martial art was on the line.
 
In the 1930s, Yamaguchi Sensei was the first person to begin experimenting with jiyu-kumite without heavy protective equipment. This began at the Ritsumeikan University karate club which was established by Yamaguchi Sensei. This was fertile ground for such experimentation firstly because it was a university environment and secondly because there was intense rivalry between Yamaguchi’s Karatedo club and the university’s Judo and Kendo clubs. Yamaguchi Sensei was determined not to let Karatedo be viewed as inferior to either Judo or Kendo.
 
Yamaguchi Sensei developed a type of jiyu-kumite that is markedly different from today’s WKF sport-kumite. Close-quarter fighting with low kicks, throws, and circular striking techniques became a signature of Yamaguchi Sensei’s Goju Ryu jiyu-kumite. It appeared so realistic that when it was first publicly debuted at a Tokyo budo demonstration in 1940, many of the spectators believed that it was an actual fight.
 
By developing jiyu-kumite, Goju Ryu was transformed into a truly Japanese martial art that was on par with Judo and Kendo. Without a doubt, Yamaguchi Gogen Sensei was the right man to promote Goju Ryu in Japan and eventually spread it around the world.

Shuji Tasaki
 
Shuji Tasaki Sensei began training in Goju Ryu directly under Yamaguchi on August 15, 1951. As time went on, it was Shuji Tasaki Sensei who epitomized the Yamaguchi style of jiyu-kumite and became well-known as Gogen Yamaguchi’s most competent fighter. Tasaki proved this by winning the first All Japan Gojukai Championships in 1963. There was no point system then, and all the presently forbidden techniques of the WKF were permissible.
 
Tasaki Sensei explains some of the unique advantages of Yamaguchi Sensei’s jiyu-kumite: “By application, Goju dojo kumite gives you the edge, as it is not dependent on your youth. In karate if you step back, you lose everything. Side stepping is good. [The] younger have speed, [the] older are slower. Therefore, you must step in to receive. If you train only in modern karate, once you are passed 30 years your karate is over. As long as one has mastered the Goju Ryu kumite, the other can be adjusted. If trained in Goju Ryu dojo kumite, you can continue after reaching middle age. Point fighting would not result in this. If you lose your speed, you lose your karate.” Haito-uchi (ridge hand strike) and kin-geri (groin kick) from close range were among Tasaki Sensei’s favorite kumite techniques.
In 1972, Tasaki amicably broke from Yamaguchi’s Goju Kai organization and formed the Seiwakai. However, he always considered Yamaguchi to be his first and only Sensei, and he always remained close to Yamaguchi Sensei and his family. Additionally, he continued to teach as he had been taught.
 
Professionally, Tasaki was an artist of ikebana (Japanese flower arranging). Along with being a fierce and hard fighter, he was a sensitive and gentle artist epitomizing Go and Ju (hard and soft) in his life. He is also remembered by his students as having a heart of gold.
 
Tasaki Sensei was a 8th Dan Seiwakai and was awarded a 9th Dan in the JKF Goju Kai for his lifetime contributions to Goju Ryu Karatedo.

Leo Lipinski
 
Leo Lipinski Sensei was born in Durban South Africa in 1946 and began his martial arts training in 1962. His early years of training included a variety of martial arts including several styles of karate and judo. Leo Sensei would even go down to the docks of Durban to learn from people he met on cargo and fishing ships from Japan, Okinawa and Korea.
 
After graduating from South Africa University in 1966, he opened a Dojo which would later become the first Karate Club in South Africa to teach non-whites. It must be kept in perspective that this was the height of apartheid, and his actions sometimes brought him into contact with the authorities.
 
In 1967 Lipinski Sensei began training in Gogen Yamaguchi’s Gojukai organization, and the following year he was graded to Ni Dan by Gogen Yamaguchi in Tokyo Japan. It was also at this time that he began to forge his relationship with Shuji Tasaki Sensei which would last a lifetime.
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In 1970 he became the Chief Instructor in South Africa for the Yamaguchi Gojukai organization, and in 1974, he began training at the Seiwakai Goju Ryu Karatedo Dojo of Shuji Tasaki Sensei. He was graded to Godan by Yamaguchi Sensei in 1976. However, in 1987, Leo Sensei resigned from the Yamaguchi Gojukai organization and joined Tasaki sensei’s Goju Ryu Karate-do Seiwakai Organization and the JKF Goju Kai both of which had split with Yamaguchi Gojukai.
 
Leo Lipinski Sensei is responsible for spreading Shuji Tasaki Sensei’s Japan-based Seiwakai around the globe. The same is true for the JKF Goju Kai.  Leo Sensei was an 8th Dan Seiwakai. Additionally, he was the highest graded non-Japanese in the JKF Goju Kai receiving his 8th Dan in 2017. Although he is sometimes remembered as being tough on his students, Leo Lipinski Sensei is always remembered as a very generous man who deeply cared for his students.
 
Perhaps the most important thing to remember about Leo Sensei is that his primary interest was kumite and its application as self-defense methodology. Leo Sensei fought in the same manner as Tasaki Sensei using similar techniques and strategies. Additionally, both firmly believed that in order to learn how to fight, you must fight. Consequently, most of his basics were geared toward fighting.
 
However, this in no way means that kata is ignored. It means that Leo Sensei believed that there should be no disconnect between kata and kumite as there is in modern WKF kumite and kata. Leo Sensei viewed kata as a record of combat techniques and strategies, and he took these techniques and strategies from the Goju Ryu kata and applied them directly to his fighting. He used them with as much control as possible since many of these are extremely dangerous. 

Seiichi Fujiwara
 
Seiichi Fujiwara Sensei was Tasaki Sensei’s top student and is now the President of Seiwakai International. He was born in 1950 and he began practicing Karate at the age 17 when he entered Chiba Commercial College. He joined the school’s karate program with around 80 other students. The vast majority quit because of the harsh practice, and three months later there were only 10 people left. However, with the demanding practice Fujiwara not only improved but also became fixated on Karate. Fujiwara Sensei went on to become an All-Japan National Kata and Kumite Champion. He has earned the ranks of 8th Dan JKF Goju Kai, 8th Dan Goju Ryu Karatedo Seiwakai and 7th Dan Japan Karatedo Federation.
 
Fujiwara Sensei is the Director and Coach of the Akita Karatedo Federation Goju Kai. He serves as the chair of the Overseas Committee for the JKF Goju Kai and is President of the Seiwakai International Goju Ryu Karatedo Association, one of the largest Goju Ryu Karatedo Associations in the world. He is also the owner of Ohara Ryokan (traditional Japanese hotel).
 
To be certain, Fujiwara Sensei is also well known for his Goju Ryu style kumite but explains that it is not all that we teach. Fujiwara explains his approach to teaching karate particularly in regard to children: "the children say they would like to learn Karate so that they will not be defeated in a fight," and they join because they want to become strong. However, karate is not learned in order to become strong in fights. Mr. Fujiwara explains: “We coach manners to children first, thoroughly and exhaustively to polish them as humans.” When karate skills are used thoughtlessly it involves danger. Goju Ryu is based on the concept that “you do not strike a person and you do not get struck by a person". This is the spirit of our style’s foundation. "The basis of Karate is to live in such a manner that you do not develop hateful thinking toward others."

 Vassie Naidoo
 
Vassie Naidoo Sensei is the Vice President of Seiwakai International. He was born in Durban South Africa in 1947 and began his karate training in1963 with Leo Lipinski Sensei. By the 1970s he was teaching in the Gojukai organization of Gogen Yamaguchi Sensei in Durban. Vassie Sensei also trained in Japan directly under Yamaguchi Xensei who personally graded him to Sandan in 1978 and also awarded him teaching credentials.
 
By the late 1970s, the political situation in South Africa had deteriorated because of the country’s apartheid policies, and many people left for more hospitable countries. Leo Sensei moved to Santa Monica, California to study acupuncture, and he invited Vassie Sensei to come there for a visit. When Vassie Sensei arrived, he fell in love with the area and, in 1981 he decided to move with his family to southern California.
 
As a member of the Yamaguchi Gojukai organization, Vassie Sensei tried to work through Gosei Yamaguchi who was teaching in the San Francisco area. However, Vassie Sensei learned that there had been some sort of falling-out between Gogen Sensei and his son, Gosei. Vassie Sensei found that training with Gosei was untenable because of the rift between Gogen Yamaguchi Sensei, the founder of the Gojukai organization, and his son.
 
Leo Sensei was also aware of this situation, so he and Vassie Sensei decided to train on their own. For several years, they went to the beach or to a park and trained in Goju Ryu kumite on a daily basis. Then in 1986, Leo Sensei left Santa Monica and moved to London. In the following year, Leo Sensei joined the Seiwakai.
 
In 1994 Vassie Sensei went to Japan with Leo Sensei and trained daily with Tasaki Sensei, Fujiwara Sensei, and several others. They didn’t know it at the time, but this was the beginning of the annual Omagari Seiwakai Seminar that has grown tremendously in size. After about a month of training, they traveled to Kyoto, where Vassie Sensei successfully graded to Yondan in the JKF Goju Kai. Miyazato Sensei, the most senior direct student of Miyagi Sensei, was one of the people on the grading panel.
 
After the grading in Kyoto, Vassie Sensei decided that he wanted to stay in Japan and train more with his teachers in the Seiwakai, so he called Fujiwara Sensei on the phone and asked if he could return for more training. Fujiwara Sensei invited him to Omagari where he stayed for another month and trained daily with Fujiwara Sensei.
 
Vassie Sensei was instrumental in establishing Seiwakai USA and eventually became its president. As we know, he is now the Vice President of Seiwakai International. He is an 8th Dan in Seiwakai and a 6th Dan in the JKF Goju Kai.