"The literal translation of the Japanese term Goju is “hard/soft” - go meaning hard and ju meaning soft. Ryu means school, thus Goju-Ryu is the hard/soft school of Karate. Goju-Ryu Karate is one of the four original Okinawan styles of Karate, and was founded by Chojun Miyagi (1888-1953). Sensei Miyagi had spent years in China training with the Chinese masters of White Crane style Kung Fu before returning to Okinawa to formulate what is now known as Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate Do. Traditional Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate has a very pure lineage. Gojo-Ryu Karate is a traditional martial art that was handed down from the founder Sensei Chojun Miyagi to his student Sensei Anichi Miyagi and then to Sensei Morio Higaonna in an unbroken line, which means the art has not been diluted or embellished through the generations like many other martial arts have. Instead, Goju-Ryu Karate persists as a highly effective fighting system today. It is not a sport style of Karate but offers its students a practical method of self defence in any situation. Characteristics of Goju-Ryu Karate Goju-Ryu Karate has a great variety of hand and foot techniques and employs hard and soft techniques with both circular and linear movements. Particular emphasis is placed on strengthening the body and mind with supplementary exercises. The basic idea of the hard and soft style is use a soft blocking technique to block a hard strike or to deflect the strike rather than to meet force with force. Likewise, when attacking, Goju-Ryu employs a hard technique against a soft target and vice versa. For example, in Okinawan Goju-Ryu a palm heel strike (using the relatively soft palm heel of the hand) is often used to strike something hard like the head. Another example for the hard/soft aspect is a kick (hard) into the groin (soft)." http://www.all-karate.com/108/goju-ryu-karate

GōjÅ«-ryÅ« (剛柔流, GōjÅ«-ryÅ«?), (Japanese for "hard-soft style") is one of the four traditional styles of karate[citation needed], featuring a combination of hard and soft techniques. It is commonly believed[citation needed] that the concept of combining the two extremes originated in a Chinese martial arts doctrine known as wu bei ji (pronounced bubishi in Japanese.) GōjÅ«-ryÅ« combines hard striking attacks such as kicks and close hand punches with softer open hand circular techniques for attacking, blocking, and controlling the opponent, including locks, grappling, takedowns and throws. Closed hand means Go which is hard, and open hand means Ju which is soft. Both principles, hard and soft, come from the famous martial arts book Bubishi (Chinese: wu bei ji), used by Okinawan masters during the XIX and XX. Major emphasis is given to breathing correctly. GōjÅ«-ryÅ« practices methods that include body strengthening and conditioning, its basic approach to fighting (distance, stickiness, power generation, etc.), and partner drills. GōjÅ«-ryÅ« incorporates both circular and linear movements into its curriculum. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goju_Ryu Goju Ryu shares its roots with other styles of karate developed over the centuries from the fighting arts of China and rooted through Okinawa. Many of the school's movements are very soft, as in Chinese Kempo. The Okinawan brand of karate was originally imported from China more than 400 years ago, but had developed into a hard style during its years on the island by the influence of the Okinawan native arts. When these arts came to Okinawa, where they underwent changes and were combined with Okinawan Te. Many approaches to self-defense came into existence. Naha Te named after the city it was practiced in (Naha) over time developed in combination of other Te to become Goju Ryu. Kanryo Higaonna was known as the highest authority of Naha Te. He as well as his successor Chojun Miyagi (1888-1953) made several treks to Mainland China to absorb more skill and to hone their art. Miyagi for the most part undertook invented and standardized the training and modernization of the techniques, and created the first named style of karate (other than that named after the city it was founded). He later (1928) introduced Goju Ryu to the Japanese mainland. There Gogen ("the Cat") Yamaguchi Hanshi, his successor on the mainland trained in Goju Ryu, and was entrusted by Kaiso Chojun Miyagi with the task of furthering the development Goju Ryu The Japan Karate Do GojuKai Association (JKGA) was established In 1950 by Shihan Gogen Yamaguchi, and followed by the establishment of the International Karate GojuKai Association (IKGA) in 1965. Upon Shihan Yamaguchi’s death in 1989, his son H. Goshi Yamaguchi has been appointed to the helm of the association, strengthening international ties in his travels through out the world teaching and training others in his fathers and his fathers teachers style of Karate Do http://www.gojuryu.com/more_about_gojuryu.htm The literal translation of the Japanese term Goju is “hard/soft” - go meaning hard and ju meaning soft. Ryu means school, thus Goju-Ryu is the hard/soft school of Karate. Goju-Ryu Karate is one of the four original Okinawan styles of Karate, and was founded by Chojun Miyagi (1888-1953). Sensei Miyagi had spent years in China training with the Chinese masters of White Crane style Kung Fu before returning to Okinawa to formulate what is now known as Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate Do. http://www.all-karate.com/108/goju-ryu-karate

Hard, soft style karate, has three versions or ryu, Okinawan being the first, then Japanese, and Nisi Goju a combined American version. Gogen the cat Yamaguchi and Dr. Chitoshi trained togather and developed their systems togather, so many of the Kata and techniques from both Goju ryu and Chito ryu karate are the same and have influanced may other systems of Karate such as Shito ryu, Wado ryu, Keio kan and several others.