China

 

Karate began in China around 517AD.  Dharma (given name was Bodhidharma) was given credit for founding the art.  

 

Dharma was an Indian Prince from a warrior caste in India.  He gave up all of his riches to become a Buddhist Monk.  He traveled to China by crossing the Himalayan Mountains on foot to enlighten the monks on the teachings of Buddhism.  Dharma founded the Shaolin Monastery and established a set of 18 hand and breath movements, which were known as “I-Chin Exercises”.  These strengthened the monks who were weak from hours of meditation and prayer.  This set of 18 I-Chin (Sanchin) exercises became the first recorded kata, and soon developed into a very effective self-defense system, which became known as Shoalin-Szu or Chinese Kempo (Kempo means fist way).

 

Okinawa

 

The major Okinawan Karate Systems came from three separate villages:  Shuri, Tomari and Naha.  Karate means open or empty hand:  Kara = empty / Te = hand.  The Goju-Ryu system came from Naha, the Capital City of Okinawa.  Okinawa is the largest island in the Ryu-Kyu Island Chain, which stretches from Japan to Taiwan.

 

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Kanryo Higaonna (1853-1915)

 

Master Kanryo Higaonna traveled from Okinawa to Fuzhou, China in 1869 after the death of his father, and began studying Kempo.  He studied Chinese Kempo from Master Ryu-Ryu-Ko for 13 years.  Master Higaonna then returned to Okinawa and started teaching what he called Naha-te (combined ancient art of Te with Chinese Kempo). It was named after the village of Naha where Higaonna lived. It was said that he was super human, and that words could not describe him.

 

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Chojun Miyagi (1888-1953)

 

Chojun Miyagi was born in Naha, Okinawa. He was introduced to Master Kanryo Higaonna at the age of 14.  Miyagi became the uchi deshi (or private disciple) of Master Kanryo Higaonna and became his top student. Sensei Miyagi succeeded Master Higaonna after his death in 1915. 

 

Master Miyagi stylized the Goju-Ryu System which was named in 1930, after one of his senior students was asked what style of Karate he belonged to and he had a hard time answering.  The name Goju-Ryu was named after a phrase in a Chinese text called Bubishi.  The phrase reads “Ho Goju Donto - The way of inhaling and exhaling is hardness and softness”.  

 

Chojun Miyagi lost all of his martial arts relics in bombing raids during the battle of Okinawa in the Second World War.  He also lost three of his children and many of his students.  His best student and likely successor, Jin’an Shinzato was also killed.  Despite all of this, Miyagi resumed teaching in his garden dojo after the War.  Master Ei’ichi Miyazato took over the garden dojo when Master Miyagi passed away in 1953.

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Ei’ichi Miyazato (1922-1999)

 

Ei’ichi Miyazato was a senior post-war student of Master Chojun Miyagi and founder of the Jundokan branch of Okinawan Goju-Ryu.  He began his training with Master Miyagi at the age of 15.  In addition to Goju-Ryu, Miyazato was also a Judo practitioner.

 

After Master Chojun Miyagi’s death, Ei’ichi Miyazato became the instructor at Miyagi’s garden dojo.  In 1957, Miyazato built the Jundokan dojo because the garden dojo was no longer sufficient.  Jundokan stands for “House of Father’s Way” or “House for Following in the Father’s Footsteps”.

 

Master Miyazato taught Sensei Larry Pickel at the Jundokan dojo in 1963.

 

Ei’ichi Miyazato passed away in 1999 holding the rank of 10th dan in Goju-Ryu and 7th dan in Kodokan Judo.

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Larry Pickel (1942-2019)

 

Larry Pickel was a US Marine stationed in Okinawa, Japan.  While stationed in Okinawa, he studied Okinawan Goju-Ryu under Ei’ichi Miyazato and earned his 1st degree black belt.  When he returned to the states, he established a karate school in Anderson Indiana with the help of Glenn Keeney, Larry Davenport, and Jerry Brown. The school was eventually renamed to Komakai Academy of Karate.

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Glenn Keeney (1942-2021)

 

Glenn Keeney began his study of Okinawan Goju-Ryu in 1963 under Larry Pickel in Anderson, Indiana.  He was promoted to black belt by Master Koeppel in 1967.  

 

By 1969, Mr. Keeney became the sole owner of the Komakai Academy.  He competed in tournaments and was named as a Top Ten US fighter for 9 years by the Official Karate Magazine and rated #4 by Black Belt Magazine in 1974.  Black Belt Magazine also awarded him Instructor of the Year in 1977 and Promoter of the Year.  Mr. Keeney promoted the USKA Grand Nationals with Master Robert Trias in 1970 & 1971, The Top Ten Nationals in 1975 with Mike Anderson, the PKC Nationals and Bill Superfoot retirement fight in 1980 with CBS television and other tournaments with ESPN.  

 

Mr. Keeney founded the Professional Karate Commission (PKC) in 1986 as a sanctioning body for Full Contact Kickboxing with the help of Joe Corley and Don Willis.  After Master Trias’s death in 1989, Mr Keeney founded the PKC Point Circuit as a sanctioning body to include sport karate competition.

Grand Master Glenn R. Keeney held the rank of 10th dan, Hanshi of Okinawan Goju-ryu. Grand Master Keeney died in November of 2021.

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Larry Davenport 

 

Larry Davenport began karate in 1965 under Mr. Larry Pickel in Anderson, Indiana.  He then began studying under Mr. Glenn Keeney when Mr. Keeney became sole owner of Komakai Academy.  

 

Mr. Davenport was promoted to 1st degree black belt by Master Robert A. Trias on June 7, 1970.

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Curt Jones

 

Curt Jones began studying Goju-Ryu karate under Mr. Keeney in 1967. He earned his black belt in October of 1979. In 1989 Mr. Jones opened His own dojo "Komakai Academy of Marion". He is a recipient of the Large Double Bladed Axe. He is very good at self defense work. Mr. Jones started teaching Mr. Andrew White in 1989.

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Andrew White

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Andrew White began karate in 1989 under Mr. Curt Jones at the Komakai Academy of Marion. He originally started karate to spend time with his son. He earned his black belt in 1993. Mr. White was most recently promoted to 6th degree black belt in 2019 by Mr. Davenport. On November 9, 2019, Mr. White opened Shirokai Martial Arts in Marion, IN. Shirokai means "House of White".

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Gichin Funakoshi (1868-1957)

 

Gichin Funakoshi was the founder of Shotokan Karate-Do, perhaps the most widely known style of karate, and is known as the "Father of Modern Karate".  Following the teachings of Anko Itosu and Anko Asato, he was one of the Okinawan karate masters who introduced karate to the Japanese mainland in 1922.  Sensei Funakoshi, a retired schoolteacher, was chosen to go to Japan because he was an educated gentleman. After going to the Japanese mainland, he became very popular through martial arts demonstrations. He was also a poet who went by the pen name of Shoto. This pen name is where the name Shotokan comes from. Funakoshi is the one who changed how the word karate is written, going from "chinese hand" to "open/empty hand" as a way to make karate more accessible to others. Funakoshi largely influenced karate becoming popular throughout Japan. The Japanese helped establish karate as a Major Martial Art.  The Japanese Culture was more formal than that of the Okinawans.

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Robert A. Trias (1922-1989)

 

Grand Master Robert A. Trias was the “Father of American Karate”.  Trias was in the Navy. In 1946 he brought karate to the United States. He established and systemized the Shorei Style in Phoenix, Arizona (also 1946).

 

In 1947 Master Trias started the United States Karate Association (USKA).  Master Phillip Koeppel became second in command of the largest karate organization in the United States.

 

In 1983, Robert Trias was promoted to 10th degree by Grand Master Makoto Gima, the Chief Instructor of Gichin Funakoshi.

 

Grand Master Robert A. Trias died in 1989.