My Training with Master An'ichi Miyagi
by Master Morio Higaonna
I began my training in Goju-ryu in April of 1955, when I was sixteen years old. It was not my first introduction to karate, as I had been training for two years in Shorin-ryu. My father was my first teacher, and had started teaching me when I was fourteen. When I had turned fifteen, I started training with Shimabukuro Sensei, who was teaching Shorin-ryu at the high school karate club and who had trained in Goju-ryu for two years under Chojun Miyagi. One day he told me of the intense power of Goju and encouraged me to have a look, and so I walked down the three-minute path that led to Chojun Miyagi's house and was introduced to the dojo by Kenji Kanashiro, a member of the high-school club who was also training in Chojun Miyagi's garden dojo.

I liked what I saw at Chojun Miyagi's garden dojo and decided I must train there. I returned soon afterward and joined the dojo. A man called Koshin Iha was in charge of collecting dojo fees. I approached him, handed him my training fees, and looked around the dojo as he was registering my name. One young man made an instant impression on me. His offensive techniques -- punching, striking, and kicking -- were lightening fast. His footwork really stood out; his movements were swift and nimble, like a cat's, and as he was moving, his techniques were executed with exquisite beauty; his arms, palms, and fingers flowing in prefect rhythm with the rest of his body.

"Who's that?" I asked, turning back to Koshin.

"That's An'ichi Miyagi," he said, pointing to him. "He's the most knowledgeable. Go and learn from him."

Practice would start at seven in the evening. At about six-thirty, I was usually the first to arrive. I would enter the dojo from the back and, after greeting Chojun Miyagi's wife, would begin to clean the dojo, sweeping the ground and sprinkling water over it to prevent dust from rising during practice.

Chojun Sensei's wife always sat in the kitchen while I prepared the dojo. Often, when I had finished, she would call me over and give me a mandarin orange to eat, occasionally talking to me about Chojun Sensei, who had recently passed away, or about the senior students of the dojo. Two things she repeated often still resound in my head today. They were: "For those who practice the martial arts, smoking is the worst thing for the body, so you must never smoke," and "You should learn from An'ichi Miyagi."


AN'ICHI MIYAGI
An'ichi Miyagi was born in Naha on February 9, 1931. He lost both parents during WWII and, at the age of fourteen, was left to provide for his two younger brothers, obtaining employment at the Kadena military base. He and his two brothers lived a five-minute walk from Chojun Miyagi's home.

An'ichi learned of Chojun Miyagi from a friend who worked at the base and became interested in studying karate. Together with three other friends, he went to Chojun Sensei's house to ask permission to learn from him. Having received permission, An'ichi began his training under Chojun Miyagi on February 1, 1948, at the age of seventeen.

After the war, life on Okinawa was a constant struggle. Food was so scarce that people had to work extra long hours to be ensured that they would have enough to feed their families at night. Chojun Miyagi's senior students, including Meitoku Yagi, Eiichi Miyazato and Genkai Nakaima, did not go to Chojun Sensei's home to practice, but would stop by to visit on occasion. An'ichi and his friends were the only people training at the garden dojo during that period following the war.

The four students began their practice with junbi undo, going into heiko dachi and exercising the toes and feet. Then they performed exercises to develop strength in their legs, followed by stretching exercises, then repetitive kicking drills, learning to snap their knees. They then moved on to exercises to stretch the wrists, elbows and shoulders, and to warm up the joints. Following that were torso stretches and neck exercises.

"You must practice junbi undo correctly and with great care," Chojun Sensei would tell them. "If you practice this way, your punching and kicking techniques will come easily. They will also facilitate the performance of kata."

Following junbi undo would be the hojo undo, using tools such as the chikara ishi (chiishi). Then would come the makiwara, kakie and then the kata, Gekisai Dai Ichi.

But the harsh conditions of the times weighed heavily on An'ichi's friends, and after one year the three dropped out. An'ichi alone remained at the garden dojo, practicing strenously while Chojun Sensei watched him like a hawk.

Chojun Miyagi Sensei continued to teach karate at the police academy where several senior students, such as Eiichi Miyazato, would divide their time between judo and karate. But Miyagi Sensei would continue to teach An'ichi everyday at his home. Chojun Sensei would sometimes grunt humorously at An'ichi, saying, "Teaching you by yourself is more tiring than teaching the group classes at the academy. There, I teach a big group, and all I do is count. When I teach you, I am working constantly, correcting your techniques and demonstrating for you. I become tense with frustration when I see you perform techniques that you have not yet mastered. That becomes tiring."

Now Chojun Sensei was sixty years old. He realized the development of Naha-te had been the life's work of his teacher, Kanryo Higaonna, who in turn had entrusted it to him. Now that he himself was approaching old age and death, he felt that if all were lost, his teacher's entire life's work might not survive. Chojun Miyagi was determined to pass the teachings on.

Often times, after training, An'ichi would relax and listen to Chojun Sensei discourse at great length about history and technique. He often spoke of heaven and earth, of yin and yang and the relationship of man to nature, and of scientific and medical subjects. Then, sometimes he would become quiet and eventually say to himself in reflection, "Ah, if only Jiru (Jin'an Shinzato) were alive, then I could rest easily." Jin'an, An'ichi had learned, was Miyagi's top student, but had died in the war. Miyagi had intended to leave Goju-ryu in Jiru's hands.

For the next two years, from 1949 to 1951, An'ichi trained intensively everyday at Chojun's garden dojo. Miyagi Sensei began giving An'ichi extra chores, some that seemed to have no meaning. One typical example of these is that one night he told An'ichi to come the next morning at 8 a.m. to move the large and heavy garden stones from one side of his yard to the other. The next day, he asked An'ichi to move them back, then several days later to other areas of his yard. An'ichi realized later that Miyagi Sensei was observing his personality, confirming his student's determination to get things done properly.

Oftentimes, while training, Chojun Sensei performed the kata together with An'ichi, performing kiai with passion thus bolstering An'ichi's spirits. He also taught kata bunkai to An'ichi in great detail, and eventually went far beyond the basics to show him the hidden techniques behind each movement. After darkness fell, they would go into Chojun Sensei's house and continue practice, with Chojun Sensei often talking great lengths of time about the movements and their meanings. Then one night Chojun Miyagi confided to him. "An'ichi," he said seriously, "I did not even teach Jiru in such detail. I have passed the gokui (essense) of Goju-ryu to you. You must train hard and value this treasure I have given to you."

The outbreak of the Korean War suddenly brought a great deal of extra activity to the American bases on Okinawa. An'ichi's workload instantly increased and at times he was not able to make practice in the evening. On one occasion, he was absent for three consecutive days. Chojun Miyagi, became concerned and visited An'ichi's home early in the morning. An'ichi awoke in the presense of his teacher, and after hearing Chojun's concern, explained how busy he had become. He then apologized for not letting Chojun Sensei know earlier. Chojun Sensei, relieved that his best student would still carry on his training, smiled, then scanned An'ichi's messy room and told him to clean it up.

In 1952, Chojun Miyagi began admitting other students to the dojo, including Yuno Aragaki, Saburo Higa, Sosaburo Aniya, and An'ichi's younger brother Mitsuhide who, at 12, was the youngest student there. An'ichi was now a Sensei and would teach them junbi undo, basics, and kata, while Chojun Sensei would watch and occasionally correct them.

This information was told to me during various conversations I had over the years with Kina Seiko, Nakamoto Seijin, Iha Koshin, Bise Chishin and Aragaki Shuichi Senseis, among many others. An'ichi Sensei himself never volunteered this type of information to me, but after hearing it from so many different sources I finally asked him if these stories were true. He confirmed them. An'ichi Sensei is not the type to boast or brag and hardly ever speaks about himself. Only after many years of training under him did he come to trust me and even then, it was not until I had discovered his relationship with Chojun Sensei through other sources and asked him directly, did he tell me anything about it.

On October 7, 1953, An'ichi was the last to leave the dojo, bidding good night to Chojun Sensei and his wife. The next morning at work, An'ichi's coworker signaled him over. With a sombre voice, he said, "An'ichi, I have just heard the news on the radio that your sensei has died." Shocked, An'ichi bolted out of the building and ran directly to Chojun Miyagi's house. When he arrived he saw standing outside Chojun Sensei's family, friends, other students and teachers from different styles, and neighbors, all waiting to go in to pay their last respects. At the age of twenty-two, An'ichi went into his teachers house and said his last farewell to the great man.

After a few weeks had passed, the question of a successor to the dojo began to arise. Chojun's senior students gathered at the house of Genkai Nakaima. Present at this meeting were Seiko Kina, Meitoku Yagi, Jitsue Yogi, Eiichi Miyazato and Koshin Iha, among other senior students. Nakaima suggested that the leadership of the dojo should go to the most senior student; Seko Higa. Eiichi Miyazato claimed that while training at the Police Academy, Chojun Sensei had named him as his successor, and that he should take over classes there too. The meeting ended without resolution. Sometime later, Miyagi's widow visited the senior students and convinced them that Miyazato was the most suited administratively to run the dojo. After a respectful period of mourning, training resumed at the garden dojo. Eiichi Miyazato became administrative director, Koshin Iha was in charge of bookkeeping and An'ichi was the everyday instructor.

Two years later I joined the dojo. Under An'ichi's caring instruction, I began to love Karate. His technique was superior and inspirational, compelling me to train harder with the hope that some day I might be as good as he. I also had the honor of practicing at Chojun Sensei's garden dojo for two years, after which, with the support of all the students, Eiichi Miyazato built a wooden indoor dojo in 1957, which he named the Jundokan.

I continued training at the Jundokan everyday with other students under the guidance of An'ichi Miyagi Sensei. As a matter of fact, most of the Jundokan senior members received their kata and bunkai training from An'ichi Miyagi, including myself, Nanko Mine, Shichiya, Ryosei Aragaki and Shinzo Chinen. Koshin Iha learned Suparinpei from An'ichi Sensei.

Gradually, differences grew in how the kata were to be performed. Then, in 1959, under the financial pressure of having to support himself and his two younger brothers, and tired of trying to resist changes in the kata, An'ichi Miyagi Sensei left the Jundokan with an offer of better pay working for a tanker company.

I continued training everyday at the Jundokan for one more year until in 1960, when I left Okinawa to attend university at Tokyo's Takushoku University. While at university, I continued my training. I found a little dojo in the crowded Yoyogi district and was asked by the man in charge to teach there. I gladly accepted and began teaching there three days a week. The rest of the story, I believe, you already know.


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