The modernization of karate has dramatically changed the way the art is practiced and the way the public understands it. Today, many people associate karate with tournaments, points, high kicks, athletic performance and competition. Those disciplines require skill, dedication and athleticism, and they have their own purpose.

 

Our purpose is different.

 

At NYC Goju-Ryu Karate-Jutsu, we preserve a traditional Okinawan approach built around close-range personal protection and the physical preparation necessary to make it work. There are no competition rules shaping what we train. The question is not whether a technique will score a point. The question is whether it will work when you need it.

 

That difference changes everything. Our karate contains striking, kicking, seizing, tearing, pulling, throwing, joint manipulation, choking and strangulation methods, grappling, ground fighting, vital-point attacks and close-quarter combat. The system demands more than simply learning how to perform techniques. The body itself must be developed and conditioned to make those techniques effective.

 

Traditional Hojo Undo is an essential part of that process. Heavy and deliberately awkward training implements are used to develop tremendous functional strength throughout the hands, fingers, wrists, forearms, shoulders, back, hips, legs and core.

Chi-ishi, weighted stone or concrete levers, develop powerful grip, wrist and forearm strength while teaching the entire body to generate connected power. Nigiri-game, heavy gripping jars, strengthen the fingers, hands and forearms for the seizing, pulling and controlling methods found throughout the art. The massive iron kongoken develops whole-body strength through lifting, twisting, pushing, pulling and controlling resistance.

 

Then comes the physical conditioning. Bare fists meet makiwara. Forearms meet forearms. The hands, legs and body are progressively conditioned through repeated impact and resistance. Wood, stone and other traditional hard surfaces become part of a training process designed to strengthen the body's natural weapons and prepare the practitioner to deliver and withstand force.

 

The training is hard. It is demanding. It can be uncomfortable, and at times it can be brutal. But it is never brutality

without purpose. Every repetition has a reason. Every conditioning method has a function. Everything points toward the same objective: preparing the practitioner physically and mentally for the unpredictable reality of self-defense.

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Although the training is demanding, it is progressive and adaptable. Following Miyagi Chojun Sensei's principle that training should take the individual's physical condition into consideration, each practitioner progresses according to age, health, experience and physical capability—without changing the purpose or integrity of the training.

 

We are not preparing you for a scheduled opponent. We are preparing you for the one you never expected. The art provides the technique. The training forges the body. The body becomes the weapon.

Traditional. Demanding. No-nonsense.  If this is the type of training you are looking for, look no further...