Chinese American Goju

[K-man]

The first thing I noticed was the badge which is based on Yamaguchi's design. Then the kata don't have anything in common with Okinawan Goju. in fact they are nothing like the Japanese Goju either. So I did some reading and came up with this from an interview with Gary Card.

Martialforce.com: Is Chinese American Goju a combination of systems? Can you tell us what in your opinion makes its practice unique?


GARY CARD: The Chinese American Goju system is not really a combination of systems but more a system with influences. According to Shihan Bill Louie, the system is 80% USA Goju and the other percentage is a combination of kung-fu, jujitsu and judo. Shihan Bill Louie's major influence is his instructor, Maestro Peter Urban. Shihan Louie teaches his classes in basically the same format as Maestro Urban. He has kept his technique and kata basically the same as what Maestro Urban taught him. Shihan Louie is truly the best person to demonstrate the system; his movements and punctuation of technique are phenomenal.
http://www.martialforce.com/GARY CARD INTERVIEW ON MARTIALFORCE.COM.htm

The system is obviously a hybrid and as long as it doesn't claim to be a traditional style I have no problem with that. The kata are rather flamboyant and that ties in with the fact that these guys were big into competition.


Regarding Ron Van Clief though. Mmm!

Okinawa and Japan marks the origin of the Goju style founded by the honorable Chojun Miyagi (1888-1953). Honorable Miyagi reformed his former styles after mastering "Chinese Kempo" and "Naha-te", he named the style "Goju-Ryu Karate".


Meitoku Yagi* became the successor of Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate, after the death of the honorable Miyagi. Moreover, Gogen Yamaguchi** was designated as the successor of Japenese Goju-Ryu in Japan. In 1935 Gogen Yamaguchi established the "All Japan Goju-Kai Karate-do Association" in Kyoto, Japan.


Master Peter Urban***, a disciple of Gogen Yamaguchi brought the style of Goju-Ryu to the United States in 1959. In 1964 Master Peter Urban founded the U.S.A. Goju Association. Master's Frank Ruiz, Harry Rosentein and Ron Taganashi, all students of Grandmaster Peter Urban, founded the Nisie Goju Ryu system in 1969.


Master Ron Van Clief founded the Chinese Goju system on January 25, 1971. Master Van Clief is a disciple of Grandmaster Peter Urban, Frank Ruiz, Moses Powell and Leung Ting. After many years of study in Karate, Aiki-Jutsu, Ju-Jutsu, Zen-Jutsu and Kung-Fu, Master Ron Van Clief desired to bring the Goju system closer to its Chinese roots, due to the distinct ideologies of the Japanese, Chinese and American cultures. He combined the animal forms and soft aspects of his Chinese arts training, with the hard and soft characteristics of Japanese Martial arts.
http://www.ronvanclief.com/chinesegoju.html

Then we have this collection of misinformation that suggests that what is being shown is a return to the roots of Goju. In fact it is as far away from what Miyagi passed down as anything I have seen.

* Yagi was never Miyagi's successor. He thought he should have been but Eiichi Miyazato was elected as successor in Yagi's presence following Miyagi's death. (Chuck Merriman released the minutes of that meeting some years back.)

** Yamaguchi was never designated as the successor of Japanese Goju in Japan. He was the originator of Japanese Goju in Japan but he was not one of Miyagi's students as far as the records show. He was a student of Jitsuei Yogi who was a student of Miyagi.

*** This appears to say that Urban established his system under Yamaguchi but in fact Yamaguchi did not give him permission. He established his system regardless and it is significantly different to Yamaguchi's.

 

[punisher73]

Here is a video of GM VanClief doing his style's ippon.

 

[punisher73]

Do you guys remember him in one of the first ufc's? At age 50 he looked phenomenal! Too bad he didn't know the ground game,but who did at the time. I'll bet he could have more than held his own standing against alot of the ufc champions.

I do, I have been watching the UFC's since the first came out when I was 20. Didn't get to see much showcasing of his talents since he was armbarred very quickly by Royce (not a slam, but most were back then). Would have been interesting to see him fight another striker in the tournament first.