Thank
you
for taking the time to visit this website of
Goju Kai Karate do School of Yamaguchi. This
style was established in 1963 in Sydney
Australia. The Australian branch of Goju Kai
has a very long standing tradition of an
unbroken lineage directly to Grandmaster
Gogen Yamaguchi and hence his successor and
third son Goshi Yamaguchi now 8th Dan and
Hanshi.
Paul
Starling
7th
Dan
Kyoshi, joined Goju Kai Karate do in the early
1960's and has remained a member ever since,
making him the most senior non Japanese Instructor
and World Vice President of the IKGA
[International Karate do Goju Kai Association].
Australia is a continent as large as
North America and distances between states have
always been prohibitive, yet Goju Kai has
continued to flourish here during the past 52
years, largely as a result of the combined
efforts of the Shihan instructors located in New
South Wales, Victoria & Western Australia and
Queensland. Although each Chief Instructor has
their own unique and individual method of teaching
and running their Dojo, they are united in a
determined stance of loyalty and respect for the
Yamaguchi family and for Yamaguchi Goshi Shihan.
Perhaps it could be argued that the
strength of Goju Kai Karate do in Australia comes
from the fact that the most senior Instructors
here are of a very high rank, [at least 7th Dan],
and that, of these Instructors and their
Senior students, each has been training and
teaching for at least 30-50 years. At the same
time, training with these Instructors are many
other Shihan Instructors of 5th Dan and 6th Dan
Rank who have also each been training and teaching
for approximately 25-45 years.
Instructors of the 4th Dan rank
{Jokyo}, and 3rd Dan rank {Shidoin}, work with their
Chief Instructor or Shihan, cohesively,to keep in tact the traditional
precepts of Goju Kai Karate do which state that:-
We are proud to study the way of Goju Ryu.
We are courteous in manners
We are humble but strong
We cultivate the spirit of co-operation
We respect the Budo spirit of traditional
martial arts.
The
Australian
branch of Yamaguchi Goju-Kai maintains a strong link
with the Japanese Headquarters of IKGA.
Grandmaster Goshi Yamaguchi Saiko Shihan visits our
Country on a regular basis (usually every 2 years),
and since the 1960's Australia has frequently sent
individuals as well as large groups of students and
Instructors to Japan, ensuring that Australia keeps
up to date with the latest methods of teaching and
training. It
has been said that outside of Japan and the United
States school of Gosei Yamaguchi Shihan that
Australia has the longest history of Goju-Kai
Karate-Do associated with the Yamaguchi Family. We
are proud of the fact that we now have fourteen
Shihan Instructors in the Australian branch of the
IKGA, which is explained by our 50 year + history.
We hope that you will find time to sign
our guestbook; to navigate this site please either
view the pages that interest you from the Home
Page/Site Map, or otherwise please press the last
navigation link at the top & bottom of each page
titled 'NEXT'.
As this site is continually being
modified, we hope that you will bookmark the Home
Page, and return intermittently, pressing the RELOAD
button, to view a regularly updated version of the
site. The International Karate do Goju Kai
Association, currently have Dojo in 60+ different
countries throughout the world, and we hope that
you will navigate and explore the various Websites
of our worldwide association.
Members may also be interested to
attend European, Canadian, Australian, African,
South American or Asian Summer and Winter camps
held regularly and taught by Goshi Yamaguchi
Shihan. Sydney members have previously attended
Seminars in Sweden,Karlsgogaar, Corfu-Greece &
Japan,and Western Australians & Victorians
attended Championships & Seminars in Japan,
India Malaysia & Brazil and beyond.
Read about the very first SHIHAN KAI TRAINING CONFERENCE
September- October 2014 Matsumoto Japan