MIYAGI RETURNS:  Miyagi appeared to be far removed from the contemporary karate training that was going on . In an essay written by him in 1942, he starts the paper with this qoute, " I don't know when it was changed, but "karate" is now written with letters as "Empty Hand" instead of "Chinese Hand". Anyway, I am happy to know that nowadays Karatedo is popular all over Japan as a unique Okinawa martial arts, and even it has been officially recognized by Dai Nippon Butoku Kai (Great Japan Fighting Arts and Moral Association) as one of Japanese fighting arts. However, without doubt, I am sure that the roots of Karatedo is in China."

A MISCELLANEOUS ESSAY ON KARATE  by Chojun Miyagi. Remarks: This short article first appeared in "Bunka Okinawa" Vol.3 No.6 dated August 15, 1942, and re-appeared as an appendix in the book "Chugoku" Okinawa Karate Kobudo no Genryu" written by Masahiro Nakamoto published on April 1, 1985 by Bunbukan

In his description of the kanji "Ju", he said it represented a softness to the level of blocking like the wind or willow. If you have trained in Goju from any of the living masters today then you know you have NEVER been taught to apply goju techniques... Like the wind.  The Ateru Goju-Ryu Karate Jutsu Fellowship is DIFFERENT.. Although we focus heavily on what many consider to be traditional training.. kihon ichi, kihon ni, kihon san, kihon ido, neko ashi Ido, Kata, Bunkai, Kumite etc, We also train in the theory and application of the soft aspects we believe exist within Goju Ryu. Huunjin has developed the Five Hands Systems that embrace the soft Kung Fu aspects that are so sorely missing today.

We have infused the China hand techniques into our Goju making it true Ateru Goju Ryu Karate Jutsu. ONE TECHNIQUE FIGHTING.

OUR FOUNDER: Kevin "Huunjin" Cullen is the founder of Ateru Goju-Ryu Karate Jutsu. He recieved his shodan from Gosei Yamaguchi (With Gogen's Seal on it) and trained under his auspices for 13 years. Cullen traveled to the Castro district hombu for either week long or two week long training junkets. They would typically train 8 two hour classes per week. Since his group flew out to train most of Yamaguchi's time was spent with the three or four who traveled out to train with him. Cullen then trained with M. Yamakura of the GKK for another thirteen years and received Godan and Renshi from that organization and was set to receive Roku Dan and Kyoshi soon after the time of his split from that organization. One day, during the first week long gasshuku in which Huunjin trained with Yamakura in Oklahoma, they were learning Yamakura's Yakusoku Kumite by the numbers in line drill format. When Yamakura faced Huunjin instead of calling out the number and then giving the command to defend he simply call the number of the technique and fired a bomb to the middle of Huunjin's forehead. With ears ringing Huunjin laughed out loud asking Yamakura, "What happened to the call, like all the other one steps?" Yamakura's reply: "Kevin, sometimes you have to block the punch!" The next time they were face to face during this drill,  they were performing upper one step number seven which included a nage throw to the floor. Now the floor was cement with indoor outdoor carpeting and no pad on it. Again Yamakura, who is past all Japan Fighting Grand Champion and winner of the Henry Cho at Madison Square Garden, neglected to give the call to defend as he had for the last six techniques. Huunjin was ready this time and fended off the lighting quick attack, threw the Grandmaster over his hip, bouncing him off the cement floor. He then added a bit of spice to the series with an impromtu telling punch to the solar plexus. Yamakura being a strong opponent looked up at Kevin Cullen (the Huunjin name came later) and said "Ahh Kevin, I see you get me back huh!" to which Mr. Cullen replied, "Hai Sensei". From that point on these two warriors built a lasting bond in Goju Spirit. The "Y" imprint from Mr. Yamakura's signature ring remained embossed on Cullen's head the rest of the day as a reminder.

After training for 10 years with Yamakura, Mr. Cullen asked for a Japanese name in the manner that Gogen was given his name by Miyagi. After two years of thought Yamakura named Mr. Cullen "Huunjin". The kanji reads "Dark Cloud Man" and as decscribed by Mr. Yamakura himself, the short meaning is: The bringer of death, the savior of the people. The long historical tale of the Huunjin is "He is the lone warrior, an ALMOST mythical man who is at the bottom of the valley surrounded by thousands of samurai. He kills them all and saves the village. He is the savior of the village. " Now realise this name was not given to Mr. Cullen haphazzardly. During a gshhuku, Mr. Yamakura stopped in the middle of a four hour training session and told Huunjin that he "reminded him of a man he hates." At this he inquired why Yamakura would say that to which his response was, " You remind me of a guy in Japan that I could never beat". 

EXCELLENCE OUT OF BASICS: When Kevin Cullen began his Goju training in 1973 he would take each new technique he learned at karate class and then go home and do each one 500 times before bed. He would do upwards of 3,000 waza each night before bed which would happen around 3-4 am each day. Huunjin's intensity and love for the art never slowed down. Another example of  his work ethic is Fridays before he would fly out to train with Yamaguchi for a week or two (16 two hour classes), Cullen would perform 300 kata back to back with only one 30 minute break making it an ordeal that would start at 8am and run non-stop until around 10pm. 

In 2005, international master and 10th Dan George Alexander gave Cullen the highest praise after attending a seminar on the Martial Oceans innaugural cruise by saying, "You are a true master of Goju! Your theories on true velocity and energy of attack are eye opening." The two have become good friends and are members of the elite Mondo Silente professional dive team. Cullen's methodologies may be contemporary and high energy, but his faith in traditional Goju has never waivered. These things you need to know. His only wish is to share his discovery with as many traditionalists as he can while he is able to do so.

CONSIDER THE SOURCES: Mr. Yamaguchi is a living legend, Mr. Yamakura was on the pro fight circuit with Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris for a year. By the way, you may ask him how well he fared with those two guys but his reply may stagger your belief system.  Mr. Cullen is pleased with his name Huunjin and is dedicated to live up to it's implications. Mr. Nishiyama's legacy is unquestionable as are the accomplishments of the amazing Kyoshi Yamazaki and George Alexander.  

IN THE BEGINNING: All things have a beginning, a middle and an end. Goju's beginnings are well documented and the result is ten's of thousands worldwide that train religiously in Goju. We are in the middle time right now and although the constant bickering and political motives of many Goju organizations create static for us all, I believe it is a very exciting time for GOJU! There are many factions, organizations and schools of thought. For example, there is the Okinawan style which is uglier, more powerful and works out of higher stances. The strikes or GO of this version are super strong and feature many hand and body conditioning exercises with the focus on power instead of fine lines and beauty. The Japanese stylists have adopted the strictest of standards and focus on low shiko dachis and neko ashi dachis. These are taught and enforced to the letter of the law and keep Goju extremely artsy and beautiful. As a result, some of the power is lost but it is still very good Goju. Nowadays, kata practitioners at international tournaments have incorporated extra long pauses and dynamics into their kata simply for effect. This seems to completely take away from the katas real meaning and looks show boaty but the crowd seems to like it. Oh did I forget to mention that each group believes that theirs is the only "TRADITIONAL" version out there. Well that's laughable since every one of them was adapted by whoever forged their particular Goju path which takes away from the traditional legitimacy of their art anyhow. Another thing you must consider is that ALL OF THEM leave out TRUE JU. When you add in the CHINA HAND, you complete GOJU with a true balance of ideas and techniques. When you look at Kung Fu stylists, their techniques appear as if they would have no effect on a strong attack, yet as if moved by the wind, the linear attack is bounced off effortlessly.

Ateru Goju Ryu Karate Jutsu combines the best of all of those worlds into a beautiful but highly funtional system. Our GO is based on the Okinawan hip twist at the end of each strike which is devestating, the low kicks and thrusts and agressive bare knuckle kumite. Our JU goes back to the CHINA HAND concept. Our founder has taken the soft elements of GOJU and created his 5 hands systems.  Kawa Te (River Hand) , Maru Te (Circle Hand) , Nagashi Te (Flowing Hand) , Kakuto Te (Chicken Beak/Dog Head Hand) , and Kakae Te (Hooking Hand). Each one of these is a stand alone as a system but can work together in concert to form an amazing alliance of hand and body defense. When you learn to block like the wind you open a whole new world of functionality and opportunity. One technique fighting is a reality.. only at True Goju.com.

NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION: Cullen came upon the soft side of Goju honestly and by accident. As the dj for a hugely successful nightclub in the 80's, he ended up extracting 80 percent of incorrigibles that would enter. (between 600-900 would pass through the door Thursday through Sunday.) When he would escort them out, the vast majority of them would take a cut at and/or try to take Mr. Cullen out. Kicks, punches, grabs, take downs... you name it. They tried them all. These attackers were a cross section of college kids, football players, military on leave, off duty law enforcement, bikers, hoods and thugs and martial artists. Of the over 200 real attacks on Mr. Cullen, he never used more than one technique, his attackers never regained the ability to attack again and there were no kicks or punches ever thrown.

Both Miyagi and Funakoshi are both qouted as saying that the perfect fight ends in one technique where no one is seriously hurt. Grandmaster Cullen has mastered that through the trial by fire method. He had an epiphany one night in a dream where he relived many of those attacks and realised that althought he was doing good GOJU he was applying it in a way that no one had ever taught before. Blocking in a way that he barely touched his opponents and thereby utilizing all of their energy and force to destroy themselves. You will learn more about this when you read on about the five hands systems. Suffice it to know that although Cullen has dispatched hundreds of bad guys of every type in the most delicate and risky arena that exists- in the streets, and all by using just one technique.