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Being Related to Mr. Miyagi
My father’s cousin, Kanki Izumikawa, was Chojun Miyagi’s successor
I know that Mr. Miyagi from the Karate Kid is a fictional character, but I didn’t realize that his ancestor was Chojun Miyagi — a real person from the same neighborhood as my Okinawan grandfather.
I was watching the Cobra Kai Netflix series, and I screamed when I saw Chojun Miyagi pictured on the wall as a Miyagi ancestor.
Chojun Miyagi was the founder of Goju Ryu Karate (Soft/Hard karate) which was passed down to my family, specifically, my father’s cousin Kanki Izumigawa. Goju Ryu karate is about outwitting opponents through defensive measures and then punching quickly. When I saw the original Karate Kid movies in the 80s, I didn’t know my own family history or that we were tied to the Miyagi family.
Chojun Miyagi was born in 1888, a year after my grandfather, Kamado Izumigawa, who was born in Nakagusuku Village (now Nishihara) in Okinawa in 1886. My grandfather knew Chojun Miyagi but my grandfather emigrated to Hawaii in 1906 while Chojun Miyagi stayed in Okinawa. Mr. Miyagi’s ancestor trained with my ancestors. My grandfather’s family trained with Chojun Miyagi’s sensei, Kanryo Higaonna in Naha, the capitol city of Okinawa. Karate was practiced by samurai families and was passed down to sons.
When Daniel san visited Okinawa with Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid II, they would have met members of my family as they were from the same village and probably had attended the same school.
Karate master Kanki Izumikawa 泉川 寛喜
April 16, 1908 — November 1, 1967
Kanki Izumigawa is my father’s cousin. My father met him when he was stationed in Japan during the Korean War but did not know at the time that they were cousins. My father was born and raised in Hawaii and did not know any Okinawan or Japanese.
My father said that Kanki’s knuckles were calloused from punching. Kanki taught differences in show and real fighting. He told stories of fighting, but advised to avoid fights.
