History & Lineage
Living Traditions — Where Past and Present Meet
Our Roots
Contrary to popular belief, the classical martial arts of the Ryūkyū Kingdom did not emerge from farmers or improvised weapons. They developed among the Yukatchu—the Ryūkyū aristocracy—through a fusion of indigenous practices and Chinese influence. For centuries, these arts were kept private and passed only to students of proven character.
The Karate Workshop continues this tradition with respect for the past and a commitment to authentic practice, preserving a direct lineage in Gōjū-ryū Karate and Yamanni Chinen-ryū Kobujutsu that links today’s training to the masters who came before.
Samuel Wykoff
Samuel began karate in 1984 and was introduced to Chinen Teruo Sensei in 1986, marking the start of his lifelong study of Gōjū-ryū. After university, he immersed himself in both karate and kobujutsu, training six days a week under Dong Tran, and attending frequent seminars with Chinen Teruo and Oshiro Toshihiro across the U.S.
From 2004 onward, Samuel lived and trained extensively in Japan, Singapore, and Europe, studying with practitioners of the Okinawa Gōjū-Ryū Karate-dō Kyōkai (OGKK), the Gōjū-Ryū Kokusai Karate Kobudō Renmei, and the International Okinawan Gōjū-Ryū Karate Federation (IOGKF). He also explored Jūdō, Uechi-Ryū, and Shintō Musō-Ryū Jōjutsu.
In 2014, Samuel returned home to Stillwater, NJ. In 2022, he founded the Stillwater Ryūkyū Bujutsu Kenkyūkai and later The Karate Workshop, where he continues to train.
He holds a 4th dan in Gōjū-ryū Karate and a 3rd dan in Yamanni Chinen-ryū Kobujutsu.
Oshiro Toshihiro • 大城 利弘
Oshiro Sensei began karate in 1955 at the age of six and, as a teenager, took up kobujutsu training under Kishaba Chōgi. After relocating to California in 1978, he established the Oshiro Dōjō and, in 1985, co-founded the Ryūkyū Bujutsu Kenkyū Dōyūkai (RBKD) with Kishaba, an international organization devoted to researching and developing Okinawan martial arts. Through the RBKD and decades of teaching and travel, he helped cultivate dōjō and study groups across the United States, Europe, and Japan.
Oshiro Sensei is widely regarded as a foremost authority on the Ryūkyū martial arts and has been prominently featured in Okinawan prefectural martial arts demonstrations and numerous research articles exploring Karate and Kobudō.
In 2018 he returned to Okinawa, where he continues to train and teach.
Samuel holds a 3rd-dan in Yamanni Chinen-ryū under Oshiro Sensei.
Image Credit: “Oshiro Dojo.” Oshiro Dojo - Karate & Kobujutsu, www.oshirodojo.com/shihan.php. Accessed 29 June 2023.
Chinen Teruo • 知念 輝夫 (1941–2015)
Raised just a few doors from Miyagi Chōjun’s residence and garden dōjō, Chinen Teruo glimpsed karate from an early age. After Miyagi’s passing in 1954, he began formal training at age thirteen under Miyazato Eiichi, first at Miyagi’s garden dōjō and later at the Jundōkan.
In 1959 he relocated to Tokyo, where he taught at the Yoyogi dōjō alongside Higaonna Morio. In 1969, at the request of Miyazato, he moved to Spokane, Washington, which remained his home for the rest of his life.
In 1979 Chinen co-founded the International Okinawan Gōjū-Ryū Karate-Dō Federation (IOGKF), serving as Technical Advisor until 1986, and in 1987 he established Jundōkan International. Throughout his life, he traveled extensively, bringing Gōjū-ryū karate to thousands worldwide. Today, Jundōkan International maintains dōjō in the United States, Canada, France, Peru, Portugal, South Africa, and Ukraine.
Samuel holds a 4th-dan in Gōjū-ryū under Chinen Sensei.
Image Credit: William R Sallaz 1985, reused with permission of Jundokan International
Miyazato Eiichi • 宮里 栄一 (1922–1999)
As a young teenager, Miyazato began training under his father, a student of Higaonna Kanryō. At sixteen, in 1938, he joined Miyagi Chōjun’s garden dōjō and continued there until Miyagi’s passing in 1953.
Miyazato served with the Ryūkyū Police Department and, together with Miyagi, taught karate and jūdō at the Naha Police Academy. After Miyagi’s death he assumed teaching responsibilities at Miyagi’s garden dōjō and, in 1957, established the Jundōkan, which remains one of the most respected centers of Gōjū-ryū.
In October 1969, Miyazato helped inaugurate the Okinawa Gōjū-Ryū Karatedō Kyōkai (OGKK) and served as its first president.
An accomplished judōka, he won the Okinawa Jūdō Championships and later served as President of the Okinawa Jūdō Federation. He also helped formalize the adoption of the modern dan ranking system in Okinawan karate.
Among his noted students was Chinen Teruo, who trained as his uchi-deshi and carried this transmission forward.
Image Credit: Miyazato Eiichi Portrait. (n.d.). Jundokan International. Retrieved June 29, 2023, from https://www.jundokan-international.org
Miyagi Chōjun • 宮城 長順 (1888–1953)
Miyagi began training in 1899 under Aragaki Ryūko and, in 1902, was introduced to Higashionna Kanryō, with whom he studied intensively until Higashionna’s passing in 1915. Following his teacher’s death, Miyagi traveled to Fuzhou to research Chinese boxing methods, making two voyages during the 1910s.
In the early 1930s—after his student, Jin’an Shinzato, was asked to name their art at a major exhibition—Miyagi adopted the name Gōjū-ryū from the Bubishi’s “Eight Laws of the Fist,” formalizing the “hard-soft” character of his tradition. He later served as the first head of Okinawa’s branch of the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai and helped bring karate into public institutions, including the Okinawa Police force.
Miyagi’s teaching, travel, and public demonstrations accelerated the spread of Gōjū-ryū beyond Okinawa. His organizational work and curriculum shaped subsequent generations through students such as Miyazato Eiichi, among others.
Image Credit: Nakasone Genwa, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Higashionna Kanryō • 東恩納 寛量 (1853–1915)
As a teenager, Higashionna Kanryō began training under Aragaki Seishō and later studied with Kōjō Taitei. In or around 1870 he arranged passage to Fuzhou, China, to continue his studies. There he trained with several teachers—most prominently a figure remembered in Okinawa as Ryū Ryū Ko—before returning to Okinawa around 1883.
Settling in Naha, Higashionna taught a compact, rigorous method emphasizing Sanchin and close-quarter practice. Over time his approach came to be known as Naha-te (Nāfa-dī), and it formed the foundation upon which Miyagi Chōjun would later build Gōjū-ryū.
Image Credit: Higaonna Kanryo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Aragaki Seishō • 新垣 世璋 (1840–1918)
An official of the Ryūkyū royal court and Chinese-language interpreter (a Chikudun Peichin from Kumemura), Aragaki Seishō stood at the crossroads of Okinawan and Chinese martial culture. He is documented performing Okinawan fighting arts before a visiting Chinese ambassador in Shuri on March 24, 1867—a program that included kata and weapons demonstrations and speaks to his stature among 19th-century practitioners.
Aragaki is widely associated with transmitting core material—most notably Seisan—and with teaching kata later preserved across multiple traditions.
His students included Higashionna Kanryō, whom he helped connect to further study (including introductions that led to training via Kōjō Taitei and onward to Fuzhou). Through Higashionna, Aragaki’s influence flows directly into Naha-te and, ultimately, Gōjū-ryū.
Image Credit: Okinawa Karate Kaikan, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Ryū Ryū Ko • ルールーコウ (1793 - 1882)
Known in Okinawa by the name Ryū Ryū Ko, this Fuzhou-based teacher is often associated with Fujian White Crane methods. Surviving details are scarce and largely based on oral transmission, but Okinawan accounts credit him with instructing visiting students from the Ryūkyū Kingdom during the mid-1800s.
He is widely credited with transmitting Sanchin and related training methods that later became central to Naha-te and, subsequently, to Gōjū-ryū—most notably through the study of Higashionna Kanryō (and, in some traditions, Aragaki Seishō). While the precise identity behind the name is debated, his influence is recognized in the foundational curriculum of Okinawan Karate.
Image Credit: Okinawa Karate Kaikan, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Sakugawa “Tōdī” Kanga • 佐久川 寛賀 (1733–1815)
Sakugawa began training in 1750 under Takahara Peichin (Peichin being a Ryūkyū court rank). On Takahara’s recommendation he traveled to China in 1756 and studied intensively with Kūsankū. Returning to Okinawa in 1762, he taught in the Shuri area and earned the epithet “Tōdī (Tōde) Sakugawa,” a nod to his mastery of Chinese-influenced methods.
In the late 1700s, Sakugawa’s distinctive bōjutsu passed to Chinen Umikana and was preserved within the Chinen family, later coming to be known colloquially as Yamanni Chinen-ryū in honor of Chinen “Yamanni” Sanda.
His empty-hand teachings formed a key foundation for what later became known as Shuri-te.
Image Credits: Okinawa Karate Kaikan, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
“I feel strongly that the future of Karatedō is still very positive, but hard practice is the key.”
— Chinen Teruo (1941-2015)