- Meitoku Yagi
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Meitoku Yagi (八木明徳 Yagi Meitoku, March 6, 1912 - February 7, 2003) was born in Naha, Okinawa. Yagi learned Goju-ryu from its legendary founder Chojun Miyagi.
Yagi's lineage can be traced back to 36 Chinese families that immigrated to Okinawa in 1392. Also, his family can be linked to Jayana Ueekata, who was highly respected as a budoka in the Ryukyu Islands in the 17th century. Yagi is the 21st generation from that family.
Yagi began training under Miyagi when he was 14 years old. Miyagi was impressed by his dedication and hard work, and eventually taught him all the kata in the Goju-ryu syllabus. Normally, Miyagi would only teach Sanchin to his pupils for several years, and even then he might only teach them Seisan and Seiunchin.
After Miyagi's death in 1953, Yagi opened his own dojo in the Daido district of Naha. He named his school of Goju-ryu Meibukan, meaning "house of the pure minded warrior." The name and crest of his school both utilise the first kanji in his name, Mei, which has several meanings, including purity. It is made up of the kanji for sun and the kanji for moon, reflecting the duality of nature, which is inherent to Goju-ryu. Today, the main headquarters for the Meibukan school are in the Kume district of Naha.
On April 29, 1986, Emperor Hirohito named Yagi a Living National Treasure (ningen kokuho) for his contributions to the martial arts.
To complement his karate training, Yagi enjoyed many activities including shodo, playing the piano and shamisen, and chinese chess.
Meitoku Yagi began developing a series of kata in the 1970s and 1980s, which he named Meibuken kata. The first of which is Tenchi, meaning "heaven and earth." It was originally two kata, Fukyu kata ichi and Fukyu kata ni. The two kata can be put together so that if two karateka were to perform each half an attack in the first kata would correspond with a block in the second, for example. The Meibuken kata are different from the kata in the Goju-ryu syllabus in many ways, including having vertical closed hand chambers, and having a different yoi position, reflecting Yagi Sensei's Chinese roots, and his time spent studying martial arts there.
The other four Meibuken kata represent the four guardians of the cardinal directions in Chinese mythology. As with Ten no kata and Chi no kata, the other four pair up as well to show the kata’s bunkai. Seiryu (East, Blue Dragon) and Byakko (West, White Tiger) go together, and Shujakku (South, Red Phoenix) and Genbu (North, Black Tortoise) combine. Though those are the English names generally used for the kata, Yagi Sensei once said that he never specifically chose colours for the animals.
Yagi has three daughters, Chieko, Chikako and Chizuko; and two sons, Meitatsu and Meitetsu. His sons’ birthdates are unique in that the day and month of their births are the same–Yagi Meitatsu was born July 7, 1944 and Yagi Meitetsu was born January 1, 1949. Currently Yagi Meitatsu is the president of the IMGKA (International Meibukan Goju-ryu Karate Association), and Yagi Meitetsu is the president of the Meibukan hombu dojo. In 1997 Yagi promoted his eldest son, Meitatsu to Hanshi Judan. Before his death, Yagi also promoted Meitetsu to Hanshi Judan in 2001, but it was only made known publicly posthumously.
In 2000, Yagi released an autobiography entitled The Life Drama of the Man, Meitoku.
Yagi's number one goal was for his students to promote peace, be good people and contribute to society.
In late 2002, he was 91 and still performing demonstrations of katas. February 7, 2003 at 11:40 am, Dai Sensei Meitoku Yagi died. At the time of his passing he was considered as the most senior Karateka in the world.
Meitatsu Yagi
Meitatsu Yagi, born July 7, 1944, is the eldest son of the late Meitoku Yagi. Meitatsu did not read books or watch training videos to gain his expertise in Karate. He was being tutored directly by the himself. By training under his father for over fifty years, he was groomed and trained to carry on the legacy of Meibukan Gojyu-Ryu Karate. One of Yagi’s goals has been to spread Meibukan Gojyu-Ryu Karate throughout the world. Yagi has lived, worked, initiated new dojos and taught Meibukan in several places outside of Okinawa and around the world. Yagi lived in the US from 1964 to 1970; in Guam 1971 to 1975; in Saipan 1995 to 1997 and in the Philippines 1997 to 1998. After returning from Guam in 1975, Yagi was given the title of Renshi 6th Dan and became a Director of All Okinawan Karate-Do Association in 1976. Also in 1976, he was given the teaching responsibilities at the Hombu Dojo in Okinawa as President of Gojyu-Ryu Meibu-kai with Meitetsu Yagi (his younger brother) as Vice-President and Meitoku Yagi as Chairman / Consultant.
Meitoku Yagi chose his eldest son Meitatsu to be the first to learn all facets of Meibukan Gojyu-Ryu. He helped develop and teach all the kata, Renzoku Kumite, Kakomi Kumite, Meibukan Bo, Meibukan Sai, Nihon Kumite, Renzoku form and Kakomi forms. Although many profess to be Meibukan practitioners, many have not learned or practiced the forms developed by him for his style. These forms are an integral part of Meibukan Gojyu-Ryu.
Meitatsu was also a director of the All Okinawa Karate-Do Gojyu-Kai for 20 years. He also served a two year term as President of the Okinawan Karate-Do Gojyu-Kai in 1987 as well as President of the Hombu Dojo in Kume.
In 1995 Meitatsu worked in Saipan and the Philippines returning in 1998 to help care for his father who was ailing at the time. Meitoku YAGI gave Meitatsu Yagi the title of Hanshi Judan, Okinawa Karate-Do Gojyu-Kai in 1997. Meitoku Yagi]] presented only one Hanshi Judan]]. Meitatsu Yagi travels the world meeting and teaching hundreds of people each year in seminars in India, Canada, Israel, Italy, the USA, England and France as well as South America]].
Meitatsu has also been very active in promoting the Okinawa Traditional Karatedo Kobudo International Studying Center in Yomitan Village, Okinawa. He is working with Kenyu CHINEN of Shorin-Ryu and Yasuo SHIMOJI of Uechi Ryu. All three masters are traditional Okinawan teachers and are working together to promote Okinawa Traditional Karate-Do and Kobudo in Okinawa and around the world.
In 2007, he published his second book on the history and philosophy of Meibukan gojyu-ryu, entitled, "Importance of Spiritual Karate".
See also
Categories:- 1912 births
- 2003 deaths
- Okinawan karateka
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