History
OF KYOKUSHIN KARATE
Kyokushin
kai Karate |
Kyoku: |
The
ultimate, the extreme. |
Shin:
|
The truth.
|
Kai:
|
Organisation
or school. |
Sosai Masutatsu
Oyama was born on July 27th, 1923 and given the name
Yong-I Choi. His birth place was the tiny village of Wa-Ryongri
in the district of Yong-chi Myonchul Na Do, in Southern Korea. His
family, considered aristocrats, and belonged to the Yangban clan.
His father, Sun Hyang, was the Mayor of Kinje, a town near the village
where Yong-I Choi was born. As a young child of nine years of age,
whilst staying on his sister's farm in Manchuria, Oyama began studying
the southern Chinese Kempo martial arts form known as "Eighteen
Hands" under the instruction of Mr. Yi.
In 1938 Masutatsu
Oyama travelled to Japan with the desire to enter an aviation school
and become a fighter pilot, but due to many reasons he was unable
to enter the aviation school and was forced to abandon his dream
to be a pilot and subsequently was forced to find work.
In Japan he
started to practise judo, but one day the young Masutatsu Oyama
saw a demonstration of Martial Arts that led him to the dojo of
Gishin Funakoshi and thus, he started practicing
Okinawa Karate. Ever since that day he with dedication that never
wavered throughout his life Masutatsu Oyama his devoted himself
to karate. By the time Masutatsu Oyama was twenty years old he had
gained the rank of 4th Dan in Okinawa Karate.
Following the
defeat of Japan after the Second World War, Masutatsu Oyama like
all other young Japanese, was thrown into a personal crisis. He
found a way out of his despair by training with So Nei Chu, a Korean
Master of Goju-Ryu Karate. This great teacher, famous for the power
of his body, and had a very deep spiritual belief had a profound
influence Masutatsu Oyama. Master So taught him that budo and the
spiritual fundamentals of Buddhism were inseparable.
|
Training
in the mountains |
After a few
years of training, “Master So” advised Masutatsu Oyama
to dedicate his life to the karate and to retreat to a mountain
hideout and train both his mind and body. So in 1946, Masutatsu
Oyama went into training, at a remote spot, on the Mt. Kiyosumi
in. To Oyama, this was the ideal place to train and be inspired
in the same tradition as his idol, Musashi. Of the books Oyama took
with him on this journey, none were more important than the collection
on Musashi, by Yoshikawa. For eighteen months, isolated in the mountains,
Oyama tested himself against nature’s elements with such scenarios
as training and meditating under icy waterfalls, performing countless
jumps over bushes and boulders and using trees and rocks as A makiwara
(striking aide), to condition his hands, feet and legs. He would
begin training at five in the morning, running up the steep slopes.
Using large rocks as weights, he would lift them hundreds of times
to increase his strength. In addition, he performed kata a minimum
of one hundred times each day as well as hundreds upon thousands
of repetitions of kihon (basic techniques); continuously push himself
to the limits of human endurance. At the conclusion of his daily
training, he would read various Buddhist writings and sit in zazen
and meditate. It was also at this time that Masutatsu Oyama began
to contemplate the idea of the circle and point for his karate.
He was accompanied by one of his students named Yashiro. His sponsor
and friend Mr. Kayama brought them food supplies every month. Through
hard training, Masutatsu Oyama learnt to overcome the strain caused
by solitude but Yashiro could not bear it and ran away. Loneliness
becomes his greatest enemy and when he and when he was at his lowest
point he shaved of one eyebrow so that he could not show his face
in public. In spite of his determination not to give up and return
home, about fourteen months later Mr. Kayama told Oyama that he
was unable to continue to support him in his quest and Oyama's original
plan of remaining in solitude for three years was brought to an
end.
In 1950 to test
his own power and to prove to himself and the world the power of
karate Masutatsu Oyama began his famous battles with bulls; partly
to test his strength and also to make the world sit up and notice
the power of his karate. All together, Oyama fought 52 bulls, killing
3 instantly and taking the horns of 49 with knife-hand blows.
In 1952, Masutatsu
Oyama left for USA, and he held 270 demonstrations throughout USA.
During these demonstrations, he would amaze the audience with his
breaking abilities and he soon got known as the GOD HAND. He also
fought exhibition matches against professional boxers, wrestlers
and others, and won all of them.
Masutatsu Oyama
opened his first "Dojo" in 1953 in Mejiro, a suburb of
Tokyo. Masutatsu Oyama's karate power was at its peak and so the
training was severe. By then the influence of his martial art background,
Kempo Okinawa karate and Goju karate combined to form what is known
to day as “Kyokushin Karate”.
The Kyokushin
organization has built its strength on a foundation of the fighting
ability and courage and so Masutatsu Oyama, introduced a test unique
only to Kyokushin Karate, the "One Hundred Man Kumite".
This is considered the ultimate test in Kyokushin Karate as one
has to fight 100 opponents in full contact knockdown fighting. To
show that this feat could be done, Masutatsu Oyama fought 100 opponents
on each of three consecutive days. He wanted to continue for a fourth
day but there were no opponents left to fight.
|
Bobby
Lowe trains in Japan and open the first dojo outside Japan |
The first "School
of Oyama" outside Japan was opened in 1957 by Shihan Bobby
Lowe in Hawaii. In 1952, Masutatsu Oyama gave a demonstration in
Hawaii, which was watched by Bobby Lowe. Masutatsu Oyama's powerful
demonstration had amazed Bobby Lowe. So after the demonstration
Bobby met with Masutatsu Oyama, and he invited Bobby Lowe to Tokyo
to train with him in Japan and Bobby Lowe went to Japan and trained
for over a year and a half.
|
Steve
Arniel trains in Japan |
Steve Arneil
started training in Kyokushin after getting his Brown Belt in Judo.
Steve stayed in Japan for several years and then went to England
where he was invited to join British Branch Chief Robert Boulton
in the British Karate Kyokushinkai instead of returning to what
was then known as Rhodesia and now called Zimbabwe.
The building
of the World Headquarters started in 1963 and was officially opened
in 1964. It was at this time that Masutatsu Oyama adopted the name
Kyokushin "The Ultimate Truth". Before 1963 Masutatsu
Oyama had called his karate Oyama Karate. The Honbu dojo is situated
in Nishi Ikebukuro, Tokyo which today is a Memorial Hall of Sosai
Oyama
In 1963 Masutatsu
Oyama wrote his first book “What is Karate” which become
the “karate bible” throughout the World. The book was
such huge success that in 1965 he followed it up with “This
is Karate” and then in 1970 with “Advanced Karate”
He also wrote a large number of very successful Kyokushin books
in Japanese and is no doubt the most successful author of karate
book in the world.
Kyokushin had
started its spread around the globe and became the largest martial
art organisations in the world with ten million members world wide
|
John
Taylor trains in Japan |
In April 1970
John Taylor left Australia to train at the Honbu and trains there
for one year. After completing his thirty fight test in the Honbu
Black belt class he was graded to 3rd Dan.
|
1975
The 1st World Open Championships |
Masutatsu Oyama
amazed the world in 1975 by putting on the open first full contact
championships, which had fighters from Kung Fu, Thai boxing and
other karate styles. Japan Kyokushin took out all of the first eight
places.
Masutatsu Oyama
passed away on April 26, 1994, at the age of 71 years. This day
was a big shock for all students around the world. However, although
its founder is not longer leading Kyokushin, Kyokushin members still
see him as the only founder and mentor.
After Sosai
Oyama died, a will alleged to be Sosai’s last Will and Testament,
was produced that stated he left Kyokushin to Matsui. At the informing
of all the Japanese Branch Chiefs of the existence of the will,
ten Branch Chiefs refused to accept Matsui as the head of Kyokushin
and immediately resigned from the then combined organisation. This
created the first split in Kyokushin. These ten Japanese Branch
Chiefs were Shihan Yoshikazu Matsushima, Shihan
Hiroshi Masuda, Shihan Toya Watanabe, Shihan Kaoru Takagi, Shihan
Tadashi Makabe, Shihan Yasuo Takahashi, Shihan Nobuhito Tezuka,
Shihan Katumi Onodera, Shihan Tomokichi Anzai, Shihan Eijiro Hayashi.
Once the Japanese
Branch chiefs had time to study the so called last will and testimony
of Sosai Oyama, doubt was expressed regarding the authenticity of
the document and another split was created and became known as IKO2
or the Branch Chiefs group, which effectively created three main
Kyokushin groups. However, due to the fact that the original break-away
group had not yet become an international organisation, most Kyokushin
members world wide were unaware of its existence. It was latter
decide by the Japanese courts that the document was not the will
of Sosai Oyama.
Shihan Nishida
become the President of IKO2, but later due to a financial scandal,
Shihan Nishida, as the President, accepted responsibility and resigned
from IKO2. He then started his own organisation and took the name
of Seibukai and Shihan Sanpei became the President of IKO2.
Later Shihan Kenji Sanpei resigned from this post (2000) due to
other commitments. After the resignation of Shihan Sanpei, Shihan
Yasuhiro Shichinohe take the leadership of the IKO2, then on June,
2001, Shihan Shichinohe resign from the IKO2 and Shihan Midori become
the President of the IKO2.
Several splits in IKO2 have occurred since its conception notable
Shihan Shichinohe, Shihan Oishi and a number of other Japanese Branch
Chiefs formed the Karate Union.
In 2003 IKO2 Japan changed their name from Kyokushin to Shinkyokushin.
At the International meeting in Japan in 2003 the Japanese IKO2
put the name change to the meeting and a number of countries also
decided to change their name to Shinkyokushin.
|
History
of IKO-Matsushima organisation |
In the beginning
Shihan Tezuka became President of what we believe to be incorrectly
named IKO3, as we were actually the first group to break away from
the Matsui group. Shihan Matsushima was the vice-president.Subsequently,
Shihan Tezuka resigned from his position whilst recovering from
heart surgery. The Branch Chiefs at that time then chose Kancho
Matsushima as the new President and the organisation took the name
of IKO-Matsushima.
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