Peter Urban (1934-2004) was an American karate teacher who trained in Japan under Richard Kim and Gogen Yamaguchi, opened one of the first Goju-ryu schools in the United States in 1959, and founded USA Goju.

USA Goju is the American Goju-ryu karate system Peter Urban taught after breaking with Gogen Yamaguchi in the 1960s. His students founded several further systems, including Nisei Goju, World Goju and Chinese Goju.

When did Peter Urban die?

He died in Massachusetts on 7 April 2004, aged 69.

Peter Urban, 1934–2004: The Man Who Brought Goju to New York

Peter Urban came home from the Navy in 1959 with a black belt from Japan and opened one of the first Goju-ryu karate schools in the United States, in Union City, New Jersey. He went on to promote the first karate championship at Madison Square Garden, write one of the first karate books by an American, and build USA Goju, the lineage behind a long list of American karate systems. He died on 7 April 2004, aged 69. He deliberately named no single successor, and his organization divided accordingly.

Full name: Peter George Urban
Born: 14 August 1934, Jersey City, New Jersey
Died: 7 April 2004, Massachusetts, aged 69
Art: Goju-ryu karate; founder of USA Goju
Trained under: Richard Kim (from 1953) and Gogen Yamaguchi (from 1954) in Japan; also trained with Mas Oyama
First school: Union City, New Jersey, 1959
Books: The Karate Dojo: Traditions and Tales of a Martial Art (1967); The Karate Sensei (1984)
Notable students: Including Frank Ruiz, Alberto Gotay, Ron Van Clief and Dayton Guinee, each of whom founded a system of his own

Yokohama and Tokyo

Urban grew up in Union City, New Jersey, and joined the U.S. Navy after high school in 1952. Stationed in Japan, he began training in Yokohama in 1953 under Richard Kim, as a live-in student. In 1954 he moved to Tokyo and was accepted as a student by Gogen Yamaguchi, the head of Goju-kai karate, and he also trained with Mas Oyama. He left Japan in 1959, by his own account with a fifth-degree black belt from Yamaguchi.

Bringing Goju to New York

In 1959 Urban opened a Goju-ryu school at Summit Avenue in Union City, New Jersey, and taught at the Hoboken YMCA. He moved across the river into Manhattan in the early 1960s and ran a series of schools in New York, the best known of them in Chinatown on Canal Street. Few Americans had seen Japanese karate; Urban’s schools put it within reach of the New York public.

He was also a promoter. In 1962 he organized the first North American Karate Championships at Madison Square Garden, one of the earliest attempts to stage karate competition for an American audience. In 1967 he published The Karate Dojo, one of the first karate books by an American author to reach a national readership.

The break, and USA Goju

In 1966 Urban went to Japan to ask Yamaguchi’s consent to establish an independent American Goju organization. Yamaguchi refused, and the relationship broke down; accounts of the meeting differ and some are colorful, and we do not repeat them. Richard Kim later promoted Urban to sixth degree. Urban went ahead without Yamaguchi’s blessing, incorporated his business, and taught under the name USA Goju. He later founded the U.S.A. Goju Association.

The style he taught was his own synthesis: Yamaguchi’s Goju, Oyama’s hard fighting and Kim’s philosophy, adapted for American students. It was controversial with traditionalists. It was also enormously productive. Urban’s students founded Nisei Goju (Frank Ruiz), World Goju (Alberto Gotay), Chinese Goju (Ron Van Clief) and American Heritage Goju (Dayton Guinee), among others.

Death, and “majority rules”

Peter Urban died in Massachusetts on 7 April 2004, aged 69. A lineage organization descended from his school gives the cause as heart failure; we have not found it in an independent source. He was named Black Belt magazine’s Hall of Fame Man of the Year in 2003.

According to the same lineage organization, Urban’s will named no single successor and instead set out the principle that “majority rules” within the organization. Whatever he intended, the result has been a family of independent USA Goju and Goju-derived groups rather than one organization.

What a school owner should take from Peter Urban

Urban shows the power of being first in a market and making noise about it. He opened early, moved to where the customers were, staged the first big tournament in the biggest arena in New York, and wrote the book. Each of those made the others more valuable.

He also shows the value of adapting a product for the customer in front of you. He taught Japanese karate to Americans in terms they could follow, and when his teacher would not approve, he built his own brand rather than stop.

And his succession is the other side of the same independence. A founder who encourages his students to build their own systems will get many systems. An owner who wants one organization to outlive him needs to name who will lead it.

Quick answers

Who was Peter Urban?: Peter Urban (1934–2004) was an American karate teacher who trained in Japan under Richard Kim and Gogen Yamaguchi, opened one of the first Goju-ryu schools in the United States in 1959, and founded USA Goju.
What is USA Goju?: USA Goju is the American Goju-ryu karate system Peter Urban taught after breaking with Gogen Yamaguchi in the 1960s. His students founded several further systems, including Nisei Goju, World Goju and Chinese Goju.
Did Peter Urban organize the first karate tournament at Madison Square Garden?: He organized the first North American Karate Championships at Madison Square Garden in 1962.
When did Peter Urban die?: He died in Massachusetts on 7 April 2004, aged 69.

Sources, and what we could not confirm

Sources: the English Wikipedia biography of Peter Urban and its cited sources, for his birth, Navy service, teachers, first school, the 1962 championships, the 1966 break with Yamaguchi, his books and his death; USAdojo‘s profile for his Manhattan schools and his second book; and the history published by the American Goju organization (labelled promotional) for his students, the Chinatown school, the “majority rules” will and his cause of death.

Conflicts printed rather than smoothed over. His first school is placed at 13th Street and Summit Avenue by one source and 14th Street by another. His company is said to have been incorporated in 1965 by one source and 1968 by another. One source dates his return from Japan to the early 1970s, which conflicts with every other account and with the 1959 school; we have not followed it.

Not independently documented. His fifth-degree rank from Yamaguchi, his later 10th-degree title within USA Goju, the details of the 1966 meeting, his cause of death and the terms of his will.

Corrections. See our editorial policy. If you trained under Peter Urban, we want to hear from you.