National Shorei Goju Ryu of America Lineage
Many Okinawans traveled to China to learn about the Chinese methods, then would return to Okinawa and combine their new learnings with the existing Okinawan fighting arts. This method became the basis for many of the styles which exist today. Anytime a person studies more than one style and becomes skilled enough to teach, and does not teach just one style but a combination of styles, he has the dilemma of what name to call it. To be totally correct, he cannot call it by either name, but instead must create a new name.
Shorei came from Hsing Yi and Kosho Karate Kempo or Shuri-Te. Hsing Yi was a combination of six Chinese arts: three hard, or external; and three soft, or internal. (External - Shaolin-chun, Chuan Pei, Hung Kun; Internal - Chuan-fa, Tai-chi-chuan, Pa-Kua.) Kosho Karate Kempo or Shuri-Te was the existing Okinawan art taught by Chojun Miyagi.
Robert Trias learned Shuri-Te and later Goju Ryu. In 1946, he incorporated some of the Goju Ryu katas into the Shuri-Te, which was the beginning of our system as we know it today.
Most of our basics can be traced to three different origins: 1) a study of basic science, learning how to apply the maximum number of muscles and the maximum body weight into each technique, which enables us to use the strength of our entire body against the weakness of our opponent; 2) a period in China when monks studied animal movement and tried to duplicate these movements in human beings so he could strike the acupuncture points used in Chinese medicine to attack the energy, or "Chi"; 3) a period in Okinawa when all weapons had been confiscated, so they used their hands and feet as their knives, spears and clubs.
Our system represents the ancient theory of "No Limitations" of knowledge or technique. Many of today's styles are very limiting. For example, one style has only four hand strikes and four kicks, which were considered by one man to be the very best of all techniques. Another style has 70% kicking with very few hand strikes and was created as a sport to eventually be used in the Olympics. In these systems and many others, it is considered offensive to do anything which is not taught in that system.
Our style, on the other hand, contains every type of strike, block, kick, wrist, lock, arm bar, sweep, takedown or pressure point which can be used, giving the student the option of choosing which best fits his physique, personality, and situation. The style of Shorei Goju Ryu is so complete that it has something for everyone. One does not have to be tall and thin or short and stocky, or a top athlete to study this system. It is adaptable to every size and personality.
Written by: O’Sensei Herb Johnson 10th Dan
HERB JOHNSON
O'Sensei
10th Dan/Degree Black Belt
O”Sensei Herb Johnson began his Martial Arts training in 1963 as a high school wrestler. In 1968, he went to Ball State University to pursue a teaching and coaching degree. This is where he met his first teacher Hanshi Bill Wallace, who introduced him to Shorin Ryu Karate, and they became roommates for the next three years. When Bill Wallace left Indiana to do his graduate work at Memphis State University, O’Sensei Johnson trained with Hanshi Glenn Keeney in Goju Ryu Karate. Upon Bill Wallace's return to Indiana, December 1973, he opened the Olympic Karate Studio where he was working for Ken Knudson and teaching Chi Do Kwon Tae Kwon Do, which he had learned in Memphis. O’Sensei Herb Johnson was again his first pupil. In June of 1974, Hanshi Bill Wallace returned to Memphis to work for Elvis Presley at the Tennessee Karate Institute. O’Sensei Herb Johnson started working for Ken Knudson, owner of Olympic Karate Studios, and now learning and teaching Shorei Goju Ryu. In order to research this style further, in 1975, O’Sensei Johnson started attending seminars taught by O’Sensei Robert Trias, the founder of Shorei Goju Ryu. By 1979, O’Sensei Robert Trias appointed O’Sensei Herb Johnson as Style Head of Shorei Goju Ryu.
O'Sensei was promoted to 10th Dan/Degree Black Belt on August 31, 2014 by his instructors. Sadly O’Sensei Johnson passed away November 20, 2015. Thus passing the torch onto Hanshi Phil Morgan.
ROBERT A. TRIAS
O'Sensei
10th Dan/Degree Black Belt
While stationed in the Solomon Islands during World War II, O'Sensei Trias was the Middle Weight Boxing Champion of the U.S. Navy. It was there, in 1942, that he met Master T'ung Gee Hsing, who was to become his first Karate instructor. Master Hsing had learned Hsing-Yi from his father, Master Shang Tsao Hsing, as well as studying with Okinawan Karate Master Choki Motobu. Master Hsing was promoted to Shodan in 1910 by his father. Master Hsing offered to teach Robert Trias in exchange for learning American boxing in what was to become a famous exchange. O'Sensei Trias was promoted to Shodan in 1942 in the Shuri Ryu System. Later during the war, in 1944, O'Sensei Trias was able to train with his second instructor. Hoy Yuan Ping, in Kempo-Ju Jitsu, while stationed in Singapore.
O'Sensei Trias is widely recognized as the Father of American Karate, and his accomplishments have been many. He opened the first Karate school in the United States in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1946. He created the United States Karate Association in 1948. He prepared the first competition rules and organized the first Karate tournament in the U.S. in 1955, as well as the first World Karate Tournament (Chicago in 1953) and the first Professional Karate Tournament (San Antonio in 1968)."
O'Sensei Trias also formed the Shorei Goju Ryu System in 1948, having studied the Goju System from Master Gogen Yamaguchi in Japan and later perfecting his techniques with Roy Oshiro. O'Sensei Trias was promoted to 9th Degree Black Belt on July 16, 1964, by his instructor, Grand Master Yasuhiro Konishi (10th Dan and former Chief Instructor for Choki Motobu).
During this same period, Master Konishi also appointed him as the International Style Head of the Shuri Ryu System and they began discussion on standardizing the Shuri-Te System. Master Trias converted from Shorei Goju Ryu to Shuri-Te about 1953. Grandmaster Robert Trias died in July of 1989.