Grandfather of Shuichi Aragaki, current consultant to the International Okinawan Goju Ryu Karate-do Federation.

In the dojo of the master Sensei Ryuko Aragaki, Sensei Miyagi trained mainly with the makiwara, chishi and nigiri-game, which were used to strengthen and develop muscles. The master presented his young student to his friend Sensei Kanryo Higaonna when Sensei Miyagi was 14 years old.

He was born in Naha on 10 March 1853. He was the fourth son of Higaonna Kanyo and his wife Makado (1853 was a very important year in Japanese history: it was the year when the American Commodore Perry disembarked in Okinawa and visited the castle of Shuri). Kanryo Higaonna belonged to the ranks of the lower aristocracy. When Sensei Higaonna was a small boy, he was called "Machu".

Although Machu was always small for his age, his movements were very quick, his body was extremely agile and his legs and hips were extraordinarily flexible. From a very young age, he showed great interest in the martial arts and wanted to learn everything he could about them.

At the age of 14 years, he started studying Chinese Kempo with someone who had studied it in Fukien, China. Although Sensei Higaonna was not very tall, his body was well developed and strong, which meant that he was able to dominate Chinese kempo very quickly.

The young martial arts student did not need much time to reach a level of skill comparable with that of his master in both ability and technique. Although he was very young, Sensei Higaonna became very famous in Naha as a martial arts master. However, Sensei Higaonna was not satisfied with his level of ability. He wanted to go to China to study the country's martial arts.

Having heard about China from his master, as well as from traders and other students, the young Sensei Higaonna was fascinated by the Chinese civilisation, its martial arts, wisdom and art. For a long time he dreamt of going to China. His father wanted to help him to go but, as he had another six children to look after, he could not give him any financial help for such a journey. Even so, Sensei Higaonna did not abandon hope of satisfying his dream.

Sensei Chojun Miyagi was born in Naha on 25 April 1888. Sensei Miyagi’s family belonged to the bourgeoisie.

They owned two merchant ships and imported medicines from China, supplying the government and private traders. The family was one of the richest in Naha. Sensei Miyagi’s father was called Chosho Miyagi. He was the third son of the Miyagi family. When Sensei Chojun Miyagi was five years old, the heir of the main family died. Accordingly, Sensei Chojun Miyagi was adopted as heir by the main family, even though he was the first son of his father.

Furthermore, when Sensei Chojun Miyagi was 11 years old, his mother took him to a karate master called Ryuko Aragaki (Sensei Ryuko Aragaki was the grandfather of Shuichi Aragaki, current consultant to the International Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate-do Federation).

Having lived through the hard, tumultuous years of the Meiji Restoration and the China-Japan war, Sensei Miyagi’s mother was convinced that a man had to be mentally and physically strong to face the world as the father of a family.

In the dojo of the master Sensei Ryuko Aragaki, Sensei Miyagi had trained mainly with the makiwara, chishi and nigiri-game, which were used to strengthen and develop muscles. The master presented his young student to his friend Sensei Kanryo Higaonna when Sensei Miyagi was 14 years old.

Owing to the fact that his reputation had spread across Naha, many people came to Sensei Kanryo Higaonna to become his student. However, he took no one as his student unless he thought they had a personality that made them capable of the discipline required to study karate seriously. Even after he had accepted them as students, Sensei Kanryo Higaonna observed their behaviour to convince himself that they took their studies of karate seriously.

Sensei Anichi Miyagi was born in Naha, the capital of Okinawa, on 9 February 1931. He started to practice karate with three friends in the garden dojo of the founder of Goju-Ryu, Sensei Chojun Miyagi, in Tsoboya-choo (a district of Naha) in February 1948, at the age of 17 years.

During this time, sensei Anichi Miyagi worked at the air base of Kadena (one of the many American facilities on Okinawa). His parents had died and he had the responsibility of working very hard to bring up his family after the Second World War. During this period, Sensei Chojun Miyagi started teaching three times a week at the police academy of Naha and, when he finished at the academy and on his free days, he taught at home.

Sensei Anichi Miyagi was always at his master's home whenever he had free time. During his visits, he dedicated his time not only to karate training, but also to cleaning his master's house and garden and anything else that required his attention.

One year later, the three friends that had started practising karate with him had stopped, but the master Anichi Miyagi continued on his own.

His devotion to taking care of his master and to practising karate impressed Sensei Chojun Miyagi so much that it made him change the way he taught and he became more focused on detail and depth. The master Chojun Miyagi spent hours speaking with his protégé Anichi. Their relationship grew and Sensei Anichi was considered as “Uchi-Deshi” (a son).

In 1951, new students started training in the garden dojo of Sensei Chojun Miyagi. When all the regular classes finished and they had all gone home, the master Chojun Miyagi continued to train the young Anichi, going over everything he had talked and examining more profound, important techniques of Goju-Ryu. These training sessions were not only physical, but also the master spoke of many issues, such as history, culture, society and human relations, etc.

Before the Second World War, Sensei Chojun Miyagi travelled to spread the word of karate around Japan and the rest of the world.

Whatever the case, he stayed in Okinawa from 1948 to 1953. Before the war, he devoted his time to his own training and investigation to develop the future art of Goju-Ryu karate-do, but during this period he changed his ideas and decided to transmit the secret principles of Goju-Ryu (Gokui) for coming generations.

With this purpose in mind, Sensei Chojun Miyagi started to tell Anichi about all the knowledge he had acquired and accumulated during his experience in martial arts. Every evening up to his death, Sensei Chojun Miyagi devoted his time to teaching Anichi to fulfil his intention.

He returned to Okinawa with his family in 1947. In May 1951, his grandfather Sensei Ryuko Aragaki (Sensei Chojun Miyagi’s first instructor) introduced him to Sensei Miyagi and Sensei Shuichi started to train at the dojo in Sensei Miyagi’s garden. In September 1953, one month before the death of Sensei Miyagi, he moved to Tokyo to continue his studies.

He returned in 1954 and started to train again with Sensei Anichi Miyagi. In 1955, he again went to Tokyo (the Shinamachi area) and, in 1957, started teaching at the Keimiyagi dojo. In 1957, he started teaching at the Keimiyagi dojo. He was also the "consultant" (supervisor) of karate for the University clubs of Kagawa and Tokushima. In 1957, he opened his own dojo in the Bunkyoku area of Tokyo and, in 1972, he was elected vice-president of the karate federations of Tokyo and Tanashi City, by which he was praised for his teaching in karate.

In 1971, he was (supervisor) for the Uehara Dojo in Naha and, in 1981, for the I.O.G.K.F.

He also taught at Sensei Higaonna’s dojo in Naha.

Sensei Morio Higaonna, president and chief instructor of the I.O.G.K.F., was born in Naha, the capital of Okinawa, on 25 December 1938. He started practising karate at the age of 14 years at the school where he studied.

In 1954, at the age of 16, he started training with Sensei Anichi Miyagi. Through many long training hours and arduous work practising Goju-Ryu karate, he was quickly considered by all as one of the strongest and best men in karate on the island.

In 1960, at the age of 22, he moved to Tokyo to continue his studies in business at the university. He was invited to teach at the Yoyogi dojo of Tokyo, where he soon acquired a large audience of devoted karate experts, often teaching up to 1000 students a day. Students came from all over the world to train with the master Higaonna and, consequently, the I.O.G.K.F. was founded in 1979. The I.O.G.K.F. is now established in more than 50 countries across the world.

Training has always been the main issue in the master Higaonna’s life. He has never sought notoriety in the martial arts and his reputation is simply the result of his superb techniques and his control of this art; a control that is exceeded only by his genuine modesty and humility.

In September 2007, Higaonna Sensei received 10th dan (the highest rank in karate) as well as a special certificate signed by Miyagi An’ichi Sensei (successor of Goju-Ryu) and Aragaki Shuichi Sensei, both of whom are direct students of Chojun Miyagi Sensei.  This recognizes him as a successor in the direct line descended from Miyagi Chojun Sensei.

He was born in Luanda, the capital of Angola, on 20 January 1960. His training in the martial arts began with judo at the age of eight, a sport he practised for two years.

In 1970, his father moved for his work. In the local neighbourhood, there was a karate school and, after several visits, he became very interested in the martial art.

In April 1970, he started training in the Shotokan style at the school.

In 1974, there was a terrible civil war due to political problems related to Angola's independence. As a result, his family had to leave the country and move to Lisbon, Portugal. At that time, his instructor went to Japan, where he met Sensei Morio Higaonna and decided to change from the Shotokan style to the Goju-Ryu style of karate. When he returned to Portugal, his instructor moved to Oporto (approximately 300 km from Lisbon) and he had to travel each weekend to see him and study with him what was, for him, a new style. From the beginning, he was very impressed by the Goju-Ryu style of karate.

After a month, he decided to speak with his parents and, with their consent, he went to live in Oporto and lived as a student in the dojo. In the morning, he went to school and in the afternoons and evenings, he trained and helped with the classes in the dojo. There were many new students who were attracted by Karate-do.

In 1976, he met and trained with Sensei Onaga and Sensei Suzuki.

In 1977, he welcomed Sensei Masao Shimizu, who was sent to Portugal by Sensei Higaonna to help and develop the Goju-Ryu style of karate in that country. They both lived together in the dojo.

From that moment on, his training in Goju-Ryu became very intense. He trained from five o'clock in the morning until nine. Then he went to school. He then trained again from three in the afternoon until 10 o'clock at night. He followed this system for one year.

During that year, he met Sensei Morio Higaonna for the first time. He was very impressed by his power in training, as well as by his simplicity and modesty, which were always a part of him. From then on, he always attended and took part in all the Gasshukus with the particular intention of training with Sensei Morio Higaonna.

In 1978, he met up with Sensei Higaonna again while taking part in a special training session with all the Chief instructors in Bournemouth (England) with a view to preparing the founding of the I.O.G.K.F. During that year, he left Oporto and returned to Lisbon, where he set up the first dojo of Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate-Do in the metropolitan area.

In 1980, he received his Shodan from Sensei Higaonna at the European Gassuhuku that took place in Alicante, Spain. At the end of 1980, he went to see the world karate championships in Madrid, Spain and trained with Sensei Onaga at his dojo in Murcia (Southern Spain). From then on, he visited Murcia on a regular basis. In 1984, he left Portugal to live in Spain.

As chief instructor in Spain, he bears in mind the knowledge and experience he was given by Sensei Morio Higaonna: power, modesty and honesty, qualities which he tries to transmit to his students in the same way that he was given them by his Sensei.