What ryu????

[Manny]

I want to know what ryu of karate Mr.Miyagi taught to Daniel San in the karate kid saga. It seems to me that Sato and Chosen (Sato's newphew) were Gojo Ruy Karatekas, and Miyagi is from Okinawa so the karate Miyagi knows must be okinawan but not sure.

Manny

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I want to know what ryu of karate Mr.Miyagi taught to Daniel San in the karate kid saga. It seems to me that Sato and Chosen (Sato's newphew) were Gojo Ruy Karatekas, and Miyagi is from Okinawa so the karate Miyagi knows must be okinawan but not sure.

Manny

I believe that movie lore has it as Goju-Ryu. This would make sense. Goju is indeed Okinawan, and it was founded by Chojun Miyagi Soke.

 

[dancingalone]

It is Goju-ryu. Mr. Miyagi's surname is an obvious reference to Miyagi, Chojun the founder of Goju-ryu karate. Even better evidence is the kata Daniel Larusso is learning in the 3rd Karate Kid movie. It's Seiunchin with performed in the Goju flavor although Ralph Macchio does it poorly. I vaguely recalled a teaching sequence however where it was clear the choreographer has sought guidance in portraying the kata in the Goju way rather than Shito-ryu.

 

[harlan]

The screenplay was written by a goju man, Robert Kamen, and he acted as an advisor during the movie. However, the people, events, etc. are more of a synthesis of his experiences, and ideas. I'm not certain how much goju kata is actually in the movie (might have to rewatch it).

http://www.kamenwines.com/history/index.html

 

[Mushinto]

In the movie, it was called "Miyagi Do" and that's as good of a name as any. A fictional martial art named for a fictional character.

In slight disagreement with harlan, although written by Robert Kamen, the martial arts choreographer was Pat Johnson who was a Tang Soo Do student of Chuck Norris.

However, it does look like Goju Ryu to me.

 

[harlan]

Thank you. I didn't know how much 'goju' was in the movie through Mr. Kamen...but still a good story.

 

[punisher73]

Mr. Miyagi never really identifies his art in the movies. He tells Daniel that it was a "family art" taught to him by his father.

As others have pointed out, in the third movie Daniel is taught the kata Seiuchin (there are various spellings) which point to the face that the style would be Naha based and not necessarily Goju-Ryu.

Seiuchin is a kata that is only found in the Naha based or influenced styles. Shito-Ryu has it, but they incorporated all of the katas into one style so it has the katas of both Goju-Ryu and Shorin-Ryu in it. The other style that has it, chose to mix elements of both Goju and Shorin-Ryu and that is Isshin-Ryu. In Goju-Ryu the opening steps are done on a 45 degree, while the Isshin-Ryu version uses a full 180 degree step for the first 3 movements.

I tried watching some clips on youtube, but could not tell the angle of the footwork very well due to cut scenes and such.

 

[Mushinto]

Mr. Miyagi never really identifies his art in the movies. He tells Daniel that it was a "family art" taught to him by his father...

The the best of my memory and without looking, in the first movie, the announcer at the tournament introduces Daniel as being from the "Miyagi Do" Karate or Dojo. That's where I heard it.

ML

 

[Black Belt Jedi]

I want to know what ryu of karate Mr.Miyagi taught to Daniel San in the karate kid saga. It seems to me that Sato and Chosen (Sato's newphew) were Gojo Ruy Karatekas, and Miyagi is from Okinawa so the karate Miyagi knows must be okinawan but not sure.

Manny

I believe its Tomari-te, since Miyagi was born and raised in Tomari village Okinawa. Tomari-te is a mix between Naha-te and Shuri-te techniques.

 

[Ray B]

I agree with Dancing Alone, Harlan and Mushinto.
However, in "The Next Karate Kid", Hillery Swank is doing part of Naihanchi.

 

[clfsean]

Moo-vee ryu I think...