KATSUYA MIYAHIRA

Grand Master, Hanshi, 10th Dan

Grand Master Miyahira:   "Now the Japanese call it kobayashi style but that is incorrect...but that is all right because only people who do not know Okinawan karate will call it by that name.  Since they do not know, you must gently remind them or the Okinawan people will laugh at their ignorance.  After all, it is funny.  Many foreign people call it kobayashi shorin-ryu; that is just like saying shorin shorin-ryu.  It doesn't make much sense."

MAXIMS...by Grand Master Miyahira

GOURI:  Reason, Reasonable, Rationality

Each activity, each movement and pause in life's road should be preceded by and accompanied with reasonable and profound meditation, conscious of one's actual position and future in the community.  Secondly, one should identify one's objectives and strengths and search for the universal truth in each idea or problem.

GOUHO:  Legal or True Form

The process of reasonable and profound meditation must take into account the laws established by society and life.  One must also remember the laws of nature that govern the life of the universe.  This is to say, the laws of our society must be legitimately obtained and legally provided so that one can follow them to the best of one's strength and ability.

KIYOSON:  Cooperation, Association, Union

Everything that I have said previously may have no meaning if it is not valued or appreciated by our society.  To be valued and appreciated, it must benefit the people in general and the individual in particular.  Individual progress is good because it advances your social group, as a whole, to a higher state.  It is also necessary to unite others, to help them and to mutually cooperate by adapting individual interest to the betterment of the whole.

KIYOYEI:  Fellowship, Friendship

It is evident that one should strive to create a community that exhibits frankness, fellowship and friendship; to form a society of men and women with positive thoughts and feelings to bring about a peaceful and friendly world.

(For further background information about Katsuya Miyahira, see History and About Shido-kan Shorin-ryu.)
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