Customer Reviews

Okinawan Goju-Ryu: Fundamentals of Shorei-Kan Karate (Japanese Arts)

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The inclusion of the Goju-ryu Sanchin kata (complete with instruction for proper breathing) makes this book a must-have. Sanchin kata has many variations in different schools, even within Goju-ryu. Seikichi Toguchi was a very highly respected Shihan (master). The explanations in his book are lucid and the photos extremely helpful.

Invaluable for newer Goju Ryu practitioners, this outstanding book covers the basic stances, punches, kicks and blocks required learn hookiyu kata and gekisai kata (including how to formally begin and end the forms). While you cannot learn any martial art solely from a book, the kata, bunkai oyo, and basic kumite are clearly illustrated and adequately described for beginners. For more advanced students the sanchin kata write-up is excellent, integrating movement, breathing and technique in a way that illuminates some of the more difficult aspects of that essential form. There is also an interesting yet brief history of Goju Ryu, including biographical information about Kanryo Higashionna (the founder of Naha Te) and Chojun Miyagi (the founder of Goju Ryu karate). Seikichi Toguchi, a direct student of Miyagi's, was an inspirational leader of the Goju community whose teaching will be sorely missed. Both his books are essential reading for Goju Ryu practitioners.

Lawrence Kane
Author of Surviving Armed Assaults, The Way of Kata, and Martial Arts Instruction

Face it. There are lots of varied styles of Goju Ryu Karate Do. There are even those claiming direct lineage and senior student status from Chojun Miyagi Sensei. Toguchi is not one of those. This man actually trained with him! He also trained with and was a student of Seko Higa a true senior student of Chojun Miyagi.
In this book you get a feeling of a true Goju Ryu Sensei. He accurately develops the history of Goju Ryu and the people involved with promoting it after Miyagi's death. This is extremely important since Miyagi never named a successor to his style. The only person Miyagi granted permission to open a dojo was Seko Higa. After Miyagi's death his senior students opened the Jundo Kan which still exists to this day. This is where splits in the style come from.
Toguchi explains his basics with ease and introduces his developed techniques that he was given permission by Miyagi himself to create. This is why this book is so good. You get a first hand account.
This book is easy to understand and the author comes to the point quickly without pages and pages of rhetoric. It is great reading and very discriptive both in words and pictures.
Great for any library.

This is an excellent book for Okinawan Karate-do practitioners. Master Toguchi was a pupil of Masters Miyagi and Higa, making him one of the few masters to understand the Goju-Ryu legacy. The only lacking topic is something deeper on the style's ancient history, nevertheless is a "must have" for Goju-Ryu practitioners.

I purchased this book to supplement my Urban Gojudo karate classes. When you start karate for the first time in your mid-40's, it's a bit embarrassing when you can't keep up with the kids :-) My hope was to use my "superior experience" to do a bit of home supplementation, and this book has been an enormous help.

Seikichi Toguchi relies on diagrams and pictures to convey the proper method of performing the moves. Each individual component of a move is broken down step-by-step and shows both a photograph of a teacher demonstrating the posture -and- a foot-diagram showing the proper way to place your feet. If you are learning a kata, there is a picture showing both how to perform each kata alone -and- opposite a sparring partner (very helpful in visualizing the end-purpose of learning the kata). At the start of all kata and kumite series, there is also an "enbusen line" diagram (diagram that shows how the moves are made, i.e., "I" shaped, figure 8, starburst, etc.) The enbusen lines can be the most difficult part to "get" when you're learning a kata for the first time in class, so they are enormously helpful.

My only criticism of the book is that, with an average of 4 pictures/diagrams on each 5x7 page, sometimes you have to squint to see the finer details such as the exact angle of the fist or the position of each finger. However, the book would be 4 times longer (and 4 times more expensive) if this problem was rectified, so in my opinion the tradeoff for the bargain price is acceptable. Despite this minor flaw, I anticipate purchasing the next book in this series as a supplement once I move up a belt.

Note that Okinawan Goju-Ryu (Shorei-Kan) is a slightly different variant of karate than American Goju. There are few differences in how the basic moves are executed, but one of the katas Seikichi Toguchi teaches is different than the katas you will be expected to learn in Urban Gojudo. However, because the grand masters shared the same teacher and both styles evolved with an emphasis on "unarmed street fighting," the basic moves at this level (fundamentals) are essentially the same. After using this book to master numerous basic moves and two katas, I have yet to notice any significant differences. However, if you are studying Japanese Shotokan karate, whose basic moves are exaggerated to have an emphasis on the eventual use of weaponry, be aware that the differences may be greater than either Shorei-Kan or Gojudo karate.

This is one of the first books to deal with Goju Ryu published in the United States. ALthough it is not a volume that deals in depth with Okinawan Karates history it does provide the reader with a lot of information on the subject. It's real wealth is the pictures showing how the kata are executed, particularly Sanchin. This alone will give the karate-ka who does not practice Goju-ryu an educated view from which they can make a comparison between their execution of Karate kata and the Goju ryu way. Like Richard Kims Weaponless Warriors this is an older book one still of value for today's karate-ka.

I bought this book over three decades ago when I was studying Shorei-Kan. My recollection is that his original photos and text for the book were stolen from his briefcase in, I believe, New York City, and he had to re-do everything. Just think how much better it might have been with the original materials! Toguchi Shihan was on the judging panel when I tested for my green belt (around 1975), and he personally handed me my belt. When I learned of his passing, I also discovered he was born the same year as my father, who had also passed away, and that made it all the more sad for me. I remember he had such a rough, airy voice, rumored to be from a throat injury he sustained in a fight. Again, he will be missed.

I found very useful to complement my karate training from the master himself. Since karate is transfered from master to student, each one adds their own variation and over the years diverts from the source. Having a book true to it is very useful to understand many things we practice over and over.

The book is very clear and easy to follow, helping to correct style and stances.

This is a good book for basic Goju techniques. If could have had more on kata.

The seller was very prompt and I received the book in excellent condition! The book is very instructive and with clear photos thruoughout. It did not have some of the Kata's I am familiar with, but did have great instruction in other Kata's and Bunkai.