What 正剛館 (Seigokan) means

The school's name appears on our emblem, on the ribbon beneath the fist: 正剛館. Those who cannot read Japanese see three drawings. Those who can find a person's name, a style's name and a statement of principles.

Three characters

• 正 (sei) means correct, just, upright. It appears in words such as seiza (正座, the formal kneeling posture) and seishin (正真, genuine).
• 剛 (gō) means firm, strong, unbending. It is the same character that opens the word Gōjū (剛柔), the name of the style: hard (剛) and soft (柔).
• 館 (kan) means house, hall, building. In the names of martial arts schools it marks the "house" where one trains.

正剛館, then, is the "house of Seigō". And Seigō (正剛) is the founder's name, Seigo Tada (多田正剛). The school carries, in its very name, the name of the man who created it and the character of the style it teaches.

The name and the style

It is no coincidence that the 剛 in Tada's name is the 剛 of Goju-ryu. Tada learned Goju-ryu directly from Chōjun Miyagi at Ritsumeikan University from 1939, and founded Seigokan in 1945 to pass on what he had received. The "firmness" in the name belongs to the style and to the man. Read the biography of Seigo Tada.

The three words

The Seigokan headquarters in Himeji sums up the school's principles in three words, which are also the ones that close the Dojo-kun written by Tada:

• 誠実 (seijitsu): sincerity, honesty. Train wholeheartedly, without pretense.
• 謙虚 (kenkyo): humility. Knowing there is always more to learn.
• 不屈 (fukutsu): perseverance. Literally, "not bending".

These three words are not a motto to hang on the wall. They are the standard by which Seigokan Brasil measures its own work and what it asks of every practitioner and every affiliated dojo.

On the emblem

On the Seigokan Brasil emblem, the raised fist between the laurels stands for 剛, firmness; the laurels, for training and recognition; and the ribbon with 正剛館, for the school all of it belongs to. The usage rules for the emblem are on the brand page.