Hanshi Gogen Yamaguchi 
(1908-1989)
Gogen Yamaguchi , a student of Chojun Miyagi, promoted the school of Goju-Ryu
Karate in Japan. In 1950, he founded the national organization of
All Japan Karate-Do Goju-Kai in Tokyo, Japan. Next year, Gogen
received 10th Degree Black Belt from Chojun Miyagi in 1951.Gogen Yamaguchi
has developed what we call “modern Karate”. From a technical point
of view, he had unified all Karate exercise by employing an extremely
well organized method. As a result of the introduction of free-style
sparring, the art of Karate had become a more active and popular
art in Japan as well as in other parts of the world. Although
he studied such martial arts as Judo, Kendo, Iaido, Jo-do, and Kusari
-gama (art of chain) in his younger days, Karate had from the beginning
captured most of his enthusiasm
Hanshi Gogen Yamaguchi was born on January 20, 1909 with the name Jitsumi in the
city of Kagoshima on the southern end of Kyushu, Japan. His father
was Tokutaro Yamaguchi. When Hanshi Yamaguchi was young, he already
showed great interests in Martial Arts.
After
his family moved to Kyoto, he began the serious study of Karate-do
with Takeo Maruyama Sensei 
at the Maruta Dojo in Miyazai Kyushu. Mr. Takeo Maruta was
a carpenter from Okinawa by trade and student of Chojun Miyagi 
. Mr. Maruta, who was a Goju practitioner, was drawn to
the young Yamaguchi's serious attitude and his willingness to train
hard. Mr. Maruta taught Yamaguchi all he knew about the Goju system.
In
1928, he studied Law at Kansei University. From 1929 to 1937, he studied
at Ritsumeikan University and received Law Degrees. He started
a Karate club and invented its free sparring form while studying at
the University. At that time, all karate schools in Okinawa
and Japan practiced kata and pre-arranged application exercise and
never attempted to practice free form sparring.
In 1937, he received the name Gogen from Chojun Miyagi who authorized him to promote the
school of Goju-Ryu Karate in Japan.
In 1950, he founded the national organization of All
Japan Karate-Do Goju-Kai in Tokyo, Japan. Hanshi Gogen received
10th Degree Black Belt from Chojun Miyagi in 1951.
Hanshi Gogen Yamaguchi has developed what we call
“modern Karate”. From a technical point of view, he had unified all
Karate exercise by employing an extremely well organized method.
As
a result of the introduction of free-style sparring, the art of Karate
had become a more active and popular art in Japan as well as
in other parts of the world. Although he studied such martial
arts as Judo, Kendo, Iaido, Jo-do, and Kusari-gama (art of chain)
in his younger days, Karate had from the beginning captured most of
his enthusiasm.
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