student Higaonna Sensei followed his teacher and continued his training diligently
under his instruction. The dawn of graded belt systems was creeping over the Karate landscape and Eiichi Miyazato presented Higaonna Sensei with 3rd Dan
Black belt as a reward for his many hours of sweaty and dedicated practice.
With so many senior students of Chojun Miyagi all together it wasn’t long until rifts
began to form as to should be the Dojo head and to how certain aspects of training should be conducted. With compromising the exact teachings of Chojun
Miyagi Sensei not being a option for Anichi Miyagi, he decided to leave the
Jundokan and took a job overseas, before eventually settling in Tokyo, before
making his way back to Okinawa. Higaonna Sensei himself also left for mainland
Japan where he began his studies at Tokyo’s Takushoku University.
Yoyogi Dojo quickly became the most famous Karate Dojo in Japan and westerners from all over the world journeyed to Yoyogi to learn from Master Higaonna.
The Dojo was very humble, but the training severe. Although the cause of the
sweat, blood and tears was intense, visitors saw Higaonna Sensei’s abilities and
began to strive to reach his level by following his every instruction. Many western
historians were also visiting Dojo’s all over Japan during this time to document
and explain martial arts to the people of their homelands. One such person to see
Masters of many styles from all over Japan was Don Dreager who commented:
Higaonna Sensei’s demand as the world’s top Goju-ryu instructor could not be
contained Japan and subsequent trips in the 1970’s to Europe, Oceania and Africa made his following truly International. At the end of that decade in 1979, it
was decided that the first ever International Goju-ryu Gasshuku would be held in
Poole, England. Higaonna Sensei travelled to the United Kingdom and was joined