Main Instructor

Name Greg Merigan

Rank 5^th Dan Shihan

Style Japanese Goju Ryu

Shihan Greg Merigan started his journey in Goju Ryu in 1970 under the instruction of one of the Legends of Goju Ryu, Shihan Sal Ebanez, in the Victorian country town of Shepparton. Back then it was the old school of training with lots of basics, kumite and conditioning exercises. Whilst training in Shepparton Shihan Merigan was very proud to have met and trained with the legendary founder of Goju Kai Hanshi Gogen Yamaguchi when he visited Australia.

These were interesting times as there was a great rivalry between the country division of Goju Kai run by Shihan Ebanez, and the city division of Goju Kai, run by Shihan Tino Ceberano. The state kumite competitions were very hard with no quarters given and none expected. With the city division having great Goju Kai practitioners like Max Fabris, Tom Curtis, Ragnar Purgei, Lou Spizzerie, Steve Callangillo and Morgan Ebourzed, the country division had it’s work cut out but they gave it their best efforts and came away as better karate-ka and better people.

At the age of 22 Shihan Merigan moved to Melbourne to work and continue training in Goju Ryu, this time with Shihan Max Fabris as part of Shihan Tino Ceberano’s organization. Shihan Merigan received his Shodan-Ho (provisional black belt) from Shihan Ceberano in 1984    In 1986 Shihans Ebanez and Ceberano parted ways and Shihan Ebanez founded Goju Ryu Australia with high ranking students Warren Ross, Lou Spizzerie, Morgan Ebourzed, Tom Curtis and Max Fabris. As a member of Shihan Fabris’s club, Shihan Merigan moved under the banner of Goju Ryu Australia to continue his training. He was grade by Shihan Ebanez to Sandan-ho (provisional 3rd Dan Black Belt) in 1991.   In 1993 Shihan Max Fabris left Goju Ryu Australia to start his own organization, the World Goju Ryu Karate-do Academy in Brunswick, Melbourne. Shihan Fabris has been the Australian Karate Federations national kata coach for more than 15 years. Training under Shihan Fabris was very technical with a lot of emphasis was on kata and bunkai. Shihan Merigan was graded to Sandan (full 3rd Dan Black Belt) in 1993 and Yondan (4th Dan Black Belt) in 1997 by Shihan Max Fabris and Shihan Warren Ross.

Shihan Merigan moved to Queensland with his family in 1994 and founded Japanese Goju Ryu Karate-do Australia on the Gold Coast the same year. In his time in Queensland he has had the opportunity to train with some of the best instructors in the world, like Hanshi Patrick McCarthy, Shihan Masao Kawasoe 7^th Shotokan and Kancho Deena Naidu (a direct student and 6^th graduate of the famous Japan Karate-do College under Hanshi Gogen Yamaguchi). In May 2004 Shihan Merigan received the rank of Godan (5^th Dan Black Belt) from Kancho Deena Naidu, Founder and Chief Instructor of International Goshin Kai Karate-do Organization.

Since starting Japanese Goju Ryu Karate-do Australia, Shihan Merigan has trained his students to become state, national and international champions in Kata, Kumite and Kobudo, and he himself has won numerous medals for kata at state and national level and winning the Australian Traditional Karate Federation senior kobudo event in Sydney 2003. Shihan Merigan is a highly respected Referee and Judge who has refereed at state, national and world levels. His school of karate has a mixture of traditional karate, sports karate, self-defence and kobudo with an emphasis on teaching students the importance of not only being good martial artists but good people as well.

Now that Japanese Goju Ryu Karate-do Australia is directly affiliated with Kancho Deena Naidu, Shihan Merigan has the opportunity train with a direct student of Hanshi Gogen Yamaguchi and with other affiliates like Shihan Grant Ratcliffe and Shihan Kathryn Terry of International RyuKyu Kai Karate-do the quality of training that is offered to his students is immeasurable.