Gosei Yamaguchi Hanshi.

Chief Instructor of Goju Kai Karate Do USA

 

The President of Goju Kai Karate do in the USA~ Gosei Yamaguchi 9th Dan, was born Norimi Gosei Yamaguchi on June 29th, 1935 in Kyoto - Japan, and is the eldest son of Gogen Yamaguchi. He began his Karatedo training at age four with his father. He spent his early childhood (1939-1945) living in Manchuria China while his father was on duty serving in the Japanese military. Mr. Yamaguchi (as he prefers to be called by those who are not his students) earned the rank of Sho-Dan in Judo at the Kodokan nearby to the home of his father whilst in High School. He later studied Shotokan Karate do, Russian language, and Commerce whilst attending Takushoku University (1952-1954) for two years, and later transferring on to Meiji Gakuin University (1954-1956). Gosei Shihan graduated with a BA in English Literature at age 21. He was then sent to the USA by his father and began teaching in 1964 at San Francisco State University Karate club where his younger brothers Gosen Kishio Yamaguchi had already established a club and his youngest brother Goshi Hirofumi Yamaguchi assisted in promoting and teaching. Norimi Gosei Yamaguchi officially became a staff instructor there in 1967.

Japanese-American Karate Instructor and author ; Founder of Goju-Kai Karate-Do U.S.A., Norimi Gosei Yamaguchi is the eldest son of Gogen Yamguchi. Under his father's tutelage he studied Japanese Goju-Ryu, and after receiving a Judo black belt from the Kodokan he came to the U.S. in 1964 to replace his brother Gosen, as director of the Goju-Karate club at San Francisco State College. In 1967 he became one of the first martial arts instructors to serve on the faculty at an American college. Gosei Yamaguchi is noted for his teaching of the physically and mentally handicapped.

• In 1972 he was chosen to the Black Belt Hall of Fame; in 1975 he became a member of Who's Who in the Martial Arts. He is the author of two books: Fundamentals of Goju-Ryu Karate and Goju-Ryu Karate II. Yamaguchi promoted number of tournaments in the San Francisco area, among them 1966 California Goju-Kai Karate-Do Championships, 1967 North-South California Karate Tournament, 1967 All Goju-Kai Karate-Do Championship, 1968 and 1970 National Goju-Kai Karate-Do Championships, and 1972 AAU National Invitational Karate-Do Championships. Inserted from MARTIAL ARTS:TRADITIONS, HISTORY, PEOPL p. 396

Kishio Yamaguchi (Gosen Shihan) returned home to Japan to help teach at the Honbu Dojo assisting his father, and also to continue his University studies. Gosen Shihan was Vice-President of the now Major Airline Japan Airlines (JAL) who were a major sponsor of the Goju Ryu Kai through out the 1970’s. In 1965 Mr. Gosei Yamaguchi formally established, and was appointed head of the Goju-Kai Karate-Do U.S.A, and at the time of its conception was a formal part of the I.K.G.A. Although now the Goju Ryu Kai USA has very few Shibu Dojo, the association at one time boasted Eighty six (86) schools and about Fifty thousand students in the USA (20 thousand in New York / New Jersey area alone).

• Gosei Yamaguchi 1972 Karate Sensei of the Year
•  Norimi Gosei Yamaguchi, founder of Goju-Kai Karate-Do USA, has been deeply involved in karate since he learned to walk. He is the eldest son of Gogen "The Cat" Yamaguchi, who established what is now called the International Karate Do Goju-Kai in 1930, five years before Gosei was born. Raised in Manchuria until the war in the Pacific ended, Gosei spent his junior high and high school days in Tokyo. He studied goju-ryu diligently under the watchful eye of his father and also earned a judo black belt from the Kodokan. Then, when he entered Japan's Takushoku University to major in business and Russian, Gosei expanded his knowledge of karate by joining the shotokan club. After two years at Takushoku, he transferred to Meiji Gakuin University, where he received a BA in English literature in 1956. In 1964, Yamaguchi came to the US to replace his brother, Kishio Gosen, as director of the goju karate club at San Francisco State College. A short while later, he established Goju-Kai USA which now has 86 branches across the country. He idealizes the martial arts as educational tools and approaches karate from the points of view of psychology, physiology, physics, ethics and aesthetics, applying them to everyday life. Also he avidly promotes all karate, not just his own style, and recently began conducting regular refereeing clinics for the Pacific Association of the AAU Karate Committee. As an author, Gosei Yamaguchi earlier this year completed his first book, The Fundamentals of Goju Ryu Karate. Copyright © 1972, Blackbelt Communications, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
• This story was reprinted from Black Belt magazine.
•  http://www.blackbeltmag.com

In 1972 Mr. Gosei Yamaguchi was named as ‘Instructor of the Year’ by “Black Belt Magazine” the most popular Martial Arts Magazine in the United States. At the time of the writing of this section (1997-98), Mr. Yamaguchi still teaches Kinesiology and self defense (not commonly called Karate in the eyes of Universities) at S.F.S.U and still heads the Goju-Kai Karate-Do, U.S.A. located at 97 Collingwood Ave. San Francisco, California (Due to close its doors on April 30th, 2000). After almost 60 years in the study of study Goju Ryu, his current rank is 9th Dan Hanshi. Mr. Gosei Yamaguchi still remains one of the legendary Karate-Ka in the United States today and still teaches Goju Ryu in its most classical form. He idealizes the martial arts as educational tools and approaches Karate from the points of view of psychology, physiology, physics, ethics and aesthetics, applying them to everyday life.

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