by his many supporters and newcomers curious to see the Master from the East.
During a meeting with the senior members of each country it was agreed that
some form of organisation was needed for Higaonna Sensei’s following. With the
permission of many of Okinawa’s senior Karate Masters, including Anichi Miyagi
Sensei and other students of Chojun Miyagi, Sensei Morio Higaonna became the
World Chief Instructor of the International Okinawan Goju-ryu Karate-do
Federation or as would come to be known, IOGKF International.
Annual European training camps amongst rotating member countries were established and the IOGKF began to grow larger and larger. In 1981 Higaonna Sensei
brought the world to Karate. The first IOGKF world Budosai was held during that
year and for many of the world’s highest ranked instructors it was their first visit to
the birthplace of the art they were so desperate to Master.
By the early 1990’s Higaonna Sensei had married his sweet, Alanna and they had
moved to her hometown of San Marco’s in California with their son Eric. He established IOGKF world Honbu Dojo there. The presence of such an incredible
master became another important turning point in making IOGKF truly International and IOGKF began to grow in North America and Canada. The expansion of
these areas eventually lead to the creation of another annual IOGKF event, the
Miyagi Chojun Festival (MCF).
As time went on, Higaonna Sensei decided that he needed to return to Okinawa
to strengthen IOGKF in Karate’s homeland. Before a stay on the mainland of
Japan, he returned to Okinawa where he continued teaching at the Higaonna
Dojo in Makishi, a short distance from Tsuboya and the Garden Dojo of Goju-ryu
style founder Chojun Miyagi.
It was the founders wish that his style of
Goju-ryu, although an Okinawan art,
would become a treasure for the world
and that its benefits would extend far
across the globe. His untimely death
and limited by the capabilities of travel
and communication in his time, Chojun
Miyagi was prevented from ever seeing
this a reality. However today, some 60
years later, the commitment of Master
Morio Higaonna now see’s the IOGKF and Goju-ryu Karate-do present in over 55
different countries with over 75,000 members.
Higaonna Sensei has taken Goju-ryu to the world and then brought it back home
to Okinawa again, rewarded for his efforts by his late teacher, Anichi Miyagi, with
the presentation of his 10th Dan Black Belt and 2007 and with the attendance of