Okinawa Goju-Ryu Karate-Do KyokaiMinei Karate Dojo日本語
日本語

News

The Karate Kid and Okinawan Goju-Ryu

The screenwriter trained in Goju-Ryu

Robert Mark Kamen, who wrote The Karate Kid (1984), is a Goju-Ryu student himself.

“Miyagi” is named after the founder of Goju-Ryu

In an interview with BUDO JAPAN, Kamen explains why he used the name “Miyagi”: Chojun Miyagi founded the style of karate Kamen practices, and Kamen wanted to honor him. Chojun Miyagi (1888–1953) founded Goju-Ryu in Okinawa.

The character is a different matter. Kamen says Mr. Miyagi “came out of my own head” and rejects the idea that he was modeled on a real person. Kamen says he did not meet Fumio Demura, who is sometimes named as an inspiration, until four years after he had created the character.

What comes from Goju-Ryu, what does not, and what is invented

The link to Goju-Ryu described here rests on the screenwriter’s own account.

  • Kamen says of “wax on, wax off” and the other chores, “Those are all basically Goju-Ryu techniques.” He is equally clear that the training story itself is invented: “It’s all made up.”
  • The crane kick is invented. Kamen told Sports Illustrated, “I made it up,” and told BUDO JAPAN the idea came from a photograph he once saw in a dojo in Okinawa: a man standing on one leg with his arms stretched out.
  • The third film features Seiyunchin (also spelled Seiunchin), a real Goju-Ryu kata. Kamen says he wanted a kata that would be cinematic. Seiyunchin has no kicking techniques, and that is how the kata is actually practiced.
  • The fights on screen were not put together by a Goju-Ryu practitioner. The fight choreographer was Pat E. Johnson (American Tang Soo Do), who also appears as the tournament referee.
  • The second film is set in Okinawa, but it was filmed on Oahu, Hawaii.

Goju-Ryu and Okinawa

Karate developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom from the indigenous Okinawan art known as te (手, “hand”), under the influence of Chinese martial arts. The name Goju-Ryu is said to come from a line in the Bubishi, a Chinese martial arts text: “the way of inhaling and exhaling is hardness and softness.”

The Okinawa Goju-Ryu Karate-Do Kyokai (OGKK) defines twelve kata, and Seiyunchin is one of them. You can read about each kata on our About page.

About Minei Karate Dojo

Minei Karate Dojo is a branch dojo of the OGKK in Sashiki-Tsuhako, Nanjo City, Okinawa. Our lineage runs from the founder Chojun Miyagi, to Eiichi Miyazato, who established the OGKK, to Nanko Minei, who founded this dojo, and to Yasuyuki Minei, who leads it today. The story is on our History page.

This dojo has no connection to The Karate Kid. No reservation is needed to visit or try a class. Please come to the dojo on a practice day. See Access & Visits for details.

Sources