Summary

Cobra Kai's Miyagi-Do style is based on real Goju Ryu karate, emphasizing punches, kicks, and blocks.
Chojun Miyagi, founder of Goju-Ryu, inspired Mr. Miyagi's teachings in the Karate Kid franchise.
The show pays homage to real karate masters by featuring their photos in the Miyagi-Do dojo.

In the hit Netflix series Cobra Kai, Daniel LaRusso, played by Ralph Macchio, teaches a martial arts style that might look like flashy action movie nonsense, but in reality, the Miyagi-Do style is based on a real form of karate that originated on the island of Okinawa. The foundation of this art, known as Goju Ryu, is built upon punches, kicks, and blocks that are often put together in a string of techniques that can be practiced solo, known as kata.

Goju-Ryu Karate Forms The Roots Of Miyagi-Do From The Karate Kid And Cobra Kai

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The show, which spun off from the popular 1980s Karate Kid franchise, features flashbacks of LaRusso not only being taught the Goju Ryu style by his sensei, Mr. Miyagi, but also life principles that should undergird the fighting style. Miyagi often reveals bits of his past to LaRusso during their training sessions, where he shares stories about growing up in Okinawa and learning several martial arts, including Goju-Ryu, which in Japanese means "hard" and "soft" style, combining hard strikes with soft, circular motions to block or redirect attacks. A great example of this ripped straight from the films is the legendary "wax on, wax off" scene that everyone is familiar with. Moving the hands in a circular motion, the student can block or deflect incoming punches. Miyagi has LaRusso learn these techniques by making him do household chores that replicate the motion of the blocks to quickly build muscle memory, though, at first, the teenager believes he's being used for free labor.

Cobra Kai Terry Silver Johnny Lawrence Tory Nichols

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By Sarah Prado

The Chojun Miyagi Connection To Cobra Kai Goes Deeper Than Goju-Ryu, Though

daniel la russo and pat morita in the movie the karate kid

Cobra Kai and The Karate Kid not only feature a connection to Goju-Ryu itself, but also the karate master who founded it: Chojun Miyagi. Yes, that's right. Everyone's favorite mystical martial arts master was semi-based on a real person, the very founder of the art found at the center of the franchise. The real-life version of Miyagi created his art by combining Fujian White Crane kung fu with Shorei-Ryu Karate and Naha-te.

Chojun Miyagi's Goju-Ryu was designed to be a form of self-defense and is far more brutal than its on-screen counterpart. Practitioners are not only taught punches and kicks, but also grappling, takedowns, throws, and even joint locks. These are all critical for self-protection in close-quarter combat. Miyagi helped develop several popular katas for his karate style, such as Sanchin and Tensho, which not only teach motions for the above-mentioned techniques but also focus on how to breathe correctly.

The motions are then pulled out of the kata and isolated in drills called bunkai that are practiced with partners and in sparring. The founder also added a series of strength and conditioning exercises to make the body as hard as steel, including the hands, which are made into bone-shattering weapons by punching a wooden plank called a makiwara.

That's All Well And Good, But How Did Goju-Ryu Make its Way Into The Miyagi-Verse?

A split image depicts Cobra Kai characters Hawk, Johnny, Daniel, and Tory

So, how did t his style of karate end up in Cobra Kai? We have writer Robert Mark Kamen to thank for bringing this rich style of martial arts and its enduring principles for "all of life," as Mr. Miyagi would say, to the franchise. Kamen studied Goju-Ryu karate under a student who learned the art directly from Chojun Miyagi, the style's founder. Kamen built the story around his own life, including experiences of being bullied and interactions with his sensei.

Kamen then trained Ralph Macchio (LaRusso) and Pat Morita (Mr. Miyagi) in some of the fundamentals of the art to make the action sequences and the legendary tournament scene look more realistic. Macchio continued to be a student of the art and recently achieved his black belt.

When the creators of Cobra Kai, Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg resurrected the Karate Kid franchise, they decided not only to honor the original films but also the martial arts styles that were their foundation, by the inclusion of actual techniques in the fight choreography.

The Prime Example Is Daniel Teaching Robby Miyagi-Do In Cobra Kai

For example, in the first season of the series, LaRusso shows his protégé, Robby Keene, the son of his old bully Johnny Lawrence, the teachings of Mr. Miyagi, both his philosophy and fighting style. LaRusso passed along his sensei's lessons about balance by having Robby do kata on different surfaces. Rock formations, a dock, and several others served as callbacks to when LaRusso himself was being taught the famous crane kick on an old wooden piling sticking out of the sand on the beach.

"You may have the moves, but none of that matters unless you have balance," LaRusso says to Robby during their training. Mr. Miyagi would be proud.

Martial arts action and mystical Eastern principles for life aren't the only ways the hit show pays homage to the masters of old. Several scenes throughout the show give reverence to Chojun Miyagi and other important figures in the world of karate by featuring their photographs hanging in the Miyagi-Do dojo.

Cobra Kai's action scenes might be full of intense, flashy action sequences that thrill and entertain, but those fists of fury and devastating kicks are all grounded in the real-life disciplines of karate styles like Goju-Ryu.

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