Goju-Shorei Systems consists of Karate and Weapons components. While the Weapons System is part of the Karate curriculum it can also be learned on its own. The ranking in Karate and Weapons are the same; Yellow, Orange, Purple, Green, 1st Brown, 2nd Brown, 3rd Brown, and 1st through 8th Black. Both Systems can be learned at home through the use of DVDs and curriculum text.
Whats That Mean?
Goju.
Means hard (Go) soft (Ju). It refers to the external (Go) and internal (Ju) techniques of the System.
Shorei.
Means Clear Spirit, and refers to the proper attitude one must have in order to learn and train in the System. There is some confusion about Shorei meaning Shaolin, this is because of the similarity of the word shoreiji, which means southern Shaolin temple of China. Shorei is related to Naha-te (Naha hand) and in some old texts Shorei and Naha were used interchangeably when referring to the different te (hand) arts. (Naha is a seaport in Okinawa).
Kanji.
The Chinese kanji on the Home Page and Banner is pronounced, bon chao ru chin and it translates to, ‘people that teach and train together become family’. We simply say, "Family First". Why Chinese kanji? Although we identify our art as coming from Okinawa, it first came to that tiny country from China. Remember, the original kanji used for kara (as in kara-te) meant China. Later when Japan was at war with China the first kanji character was changed from China to empty, but it still retained the original pronunciation. So karate went from China-hand to empty-hand. Political correctness at its finest.
Goju-Shorei Karate logo.
The design (mon) in the center of this logo is the symbol of Okinawa. This symbol has a grim history. Several hundred years ago Okinawa sent three envoys to Japan to negotiate a treaty. The Shogun’s answer was to throw the three envoys into a large vat of boiling water. The swirling pattern in the cauldron of those 3 bodies became the revered mon of Okinawa and many of the Ryukyu martial arts. I wonder if the phrase, “don’t kill the messenger”, came from that incident.
Body Mind Spirit.
In order to practice a martial art one obviously needs a Body that is healthy and in shape (within the limits of any physical impairments). A student has to be a martial artist in their Mind first. What one holds in their Mind becomes true. To be a complete martial artist a student has to have a belief system of caring, protection, guardianship, honor, loyalty, trust and humbleness. In other words, Spirit. Clear Spirit.
Goju-Shorei Weapons logo.
The design in the very center of this logo is called InYo. InYo is the Japanese version of YinYang. The gold eight sided figure is the design of the Weapons Ranking patch. Vincere Aut Mori is Latin and means, ‘Victory For Death’. When dealing with weapons that is the choice; win or die.
Soke.
Is a title which means head of family, head of system or system founder. In the case of Soke McNeill it refers to head of system and family. | 
