Fitness I started practising Goju-Ryu Karate-Do at the beginning of 1990. I stopped for 4 years while I was at University and returned after at the beginning of 2000. Some months later my traineeship ended, and I reached a point where I decided to stop practising until I got a new job because it was annoying to get dressed/undressed just to practice. In January 2001, I got a part-time job at afternoon-night as a supermarket cashier, and it was no longer possible to attend my trainings. I am currently 3rd Kyu (Brown belt): Later, I thought a few times about returning to my trainings by changing my work timetable, but my back problems prevented me from doing so. But… on 27.Nov.2006 I got a declaration from the doctor at work saying I could practice karate with a small restriction, though. But, after a lot of meditation, I decided not to continue because I could only go once a week and I needed extra time for my free time activities, which make me very busy sometimes. “Go” means “Tough” and “Ju” means “Soft”, so “Goju” means soft and simultaneously tough. It is like the young bamboo tree that, when the wind blows strongly, it bends so that it doesn’t break and, when the wind calms down, it goes back to its original state. Our trainings were very hard with lots of physical exercise taking us to the limits of our strength. The word “Karate” means “empty hands” which means that our body becomes a weapon more powerful than traditional knives and such. Karate also brings a physical and mental balance/harmony. Belt colours in my karate years: Graduation Colour 10th Kyu — White belt    9th Kyu — White belt + 1 list    8th Kyu — Yellow belt    7th Kyu — Orange belt    6th Kyu — Green belt    5th Kyu — Blue belt    4th Kyu — Red belt    3rd Kyu — Brown belt    2nd Kyu — Brown belt + 1 list    1st Kyu — Brown belt + 2 lists    1st–10th Dan — Black belt   Numbers in Japanese: During the practice of karate, we used numbers from 1 to 10 in some exercises. Here are the numbers in English and the corresponding word in Japanese: English Japanese One ICHI Two NI Three SAN Four CHI Five GO Six ROKU Seven SICHI Eight HACHI Nine KYU Ten JU Lineage of Goju-Ryu: The lineage of the Senseis of Okinawa Goju-Ryu Karate-Do is:   1) Sensei Ryu Ryu Ko (Fukien — China);   2) Sensei Kanryo Higaonna (Naha — Okinawa);   3) Sensei Chojun Miyagi (Naha — Okinawa) — Founder of Goju-Ryu;   4) Sensei Anichi Miyagi (Naha — Okinawa);   5) Sensei Morio Higaonna (Naha — Okinawa). (Shidoshi Álvaro Silva in 2005)

LAST UPDATE: 10.JUN.2022