What is Gosoku Ryu Karate?

�Go means power, Soku means speed, Ryu is style.

This is meaning of Gosoku Ryu. Every movement fast with power, kill idea.�

-Soke Takayuki Kubota

Gosoku Ryu is a style of karate developed by Grand Master Takayuki Kubota.

Literally translated, Gosoku Ryu means, "hard-and-fast style". �Go� refers to
power, �Soku� refers to speed, and �Ryu� refers to the style. All styles of karate
utilize speed and power, but there are certain characteristics of Gosoku Ryu that
makes it faster and the movements more powerful than some of the more common
conventional styles. Gosoku Ryu, originally developed by Grand Master Kubota in
the 1950's, is his own incarnation, with roots in the Shotokan and Goju Ryu styles
of karate. This style of fighting was uniquely suited for the smaller, quicker
fighter. When a smaller fighter blocks the attack of the larger fighter, a direct
force on force block cannot easily be used. The result could be an injured limb for
the smaller fighter. Gosoku Ryu instead redirects force instead of meeting force
with force. Gosoku Ryu takes the powerful linear movements utilizing the rooted
deep stances and hip rotation of Shotokan and combines them with the fast circular
�soft� movements and short stances of Goju to create a hybrid style that generates
tremendous power and speed, hence the name: Gosoku Ryu. Goju Ryu karate often
redirects energy instead of meeting force on force like the Shotokan style and is
hence considered a "soft" style. Do not consider "soft" lacking power though. Goju
utilizes shorter rooted stances and very powerful yet quick movements utilizing
dynamic body tension. Gosoku Ryu is the perfect union of Shorin and Shorei (hard
and soft styles) and therefore is suited to all body types, both large and strong
as well as light and fast. Gosoku Ryu is the culmination of centuries of martial
arts taking the best of all styles to create a hybrid martial art with great
strength and speed.

Gosoku Ryu manages to fuse these two styles and in the process creates many of its
own unique movements. Gosoku Ryu is characterized by fast circular hand movements
and fast footwork. Offensive movements are explosive and utilize the full body
power of the practitioner, creating tremendous force. The most fundamental of these
movements is the unique footwork that is a characteristic trait of the Gosoku Ryu
style. Much of the footwork incorporates the switching of the position of the feet
and hips. This switching causes the entire body to rotate and harness the power of
the ENTIRE body into the movement. This rotation therefore puts the entire mass of
the body behind the punch, kick or block, greatly amplifying the power. There are
also many short, explosive steps which translate to rapid hand movement and quick
closing of the distance to the opponent. This quick movement translates into a
devastating offensive attack that is very difficult to defend against. Short steps,
combined with the switching of the feet and hip rotation make for an extremely
powerful and explosive attack.

The hand movements in Gosoku Ryu are also unique. The Gosoku defense is a flowing
circular movement using both hands at the same time. This allows for both hands to
defend at the same time while harnessing the momentum generated by a flowing
circular movement. Each movement of the Gosoku defense is designed to block several
attacking movements at the same time. The flowing circular movement also retains
the momentum during the defense and allows this energy to continue to flow into the
subsequent counter attack making for a very quick counter with little or no lapse
in time or movement between the defense and counterattack. Once the Gosoku defense
opens up the attacker, often times the final blow will be delivered by changing
into the classic Shotokan reverse punch which has no rival when it comes to power.
Combine this reverse punch with the momentum generated by the Gosoku Ryu footwork
and this powerful, traditional punch is made even stronger by harnessing the energy
and momentum generated by the footwork of Gosoku Ryu.

Offensive hand techniques in Gosoku Ryu also utilize circular movement, which is a
departure from the traditional Shotokan linear hand movement. At close range,
circular hand movement attacks are very effective and able to breach the linear
defense of many fighting styles as they go around the defensive limb of the
defender. Hooking offense in combination with linear offense makes for a very
difficult and powerful attack to defend against.

All techniques taught in Gosoku Ryu have been tested both on the street and in
karate tournaments. If the technique is not effective, it is not used. Gosoku Ryu
is a "living" art that is constantly evolving by improving technique and has the
ability to adapt to changing conditions. The art is unique in that is has the
ability to adapt to the strengths and weaknesses of the practitioner, as opposed to
making the practitioner transform himself or herself to adapt to the art. Gosoku
Ryu in each practitioner therefore becomes unique, with each person working the
techniques best suited to his or her own body size, build, and strengths. Gosoku
Ryu also incorporates facets from other martial art styles as well. Redirection of
the opponent's force is utilized in adaptations of Aikido technique. Grappling
techniques of Jujitsu and Judo are utilized if the fight goes to the ground. Many
of these techniques are unique and have been developed by Soke Kubota especially
for law-enforcement as well as self-defense use. Soke is also an expert in
grappling and joint manipulation, which he employs extensively in his instruction
of law-enforcement officers worldwide. Soke refers to this as "Gyaku Te Jitsu"
which is the art of "the counter or reverse hand". This is also incorporated in the
training of Gosoku Ryu.

Gosoku Ryu weapons techniques also utilize use the hard and fast movements of
Gosoku Ryu. Combined with the footwork of Gosoku Ryu, the weapons system developed
by Soke Kubota is VERY strong. Weapons training includes the use of the jo (short
staff), tonfa (side-handle baton), tsue (walking cane), boken (wooden sword) and
katana (long Samurai sword). Soke is also a Master with the PR-24 police baton
(side-handle baton created for police use). Like his karate style, Soke Kubota's
weapons style also utilizes the philosophy of Gosoku Ryu and teaches only practical
movement applicable to combat. Again, if it does not work in combat, it is not
taught.