Friday, April 16, 2010

Kyokusin Legend : Masutatsu Ōyama

Kyokusin Legend : Masutatsu Ōyama



Ōyama Masutatsu (Japanese: 大山倍達 Ōyama Masutatsu July 27, 1923 – April 26, 1994), also known as Mas Oyama, was a karate master who founded Kyokushinkai, arguably the first and most influential style of full contact karate. He was born Choi Yeong-eui (Korean: 최영의, Hanja: 崔永宜). A Zainichi Korean (在日韓国人) he spent most of his life living in Japan and chose to become a Japanese citizen in 1964.

Oyama was born in Gimje, South Korea, during Japanese occupation and subsequent annexation of Korea. His parents were Yangban (nobility) in the region where he was born.[1] At a young age he was sent to Manchuria to live on his sister's farm. Oyama began studying martial arts at age 9 from a Chinese seasonal worker who was working on the farm. His name was Lee and Oyama said he was his very first teacher. Lee gave the young Oyama a seed which he was to plant; when it sprouted, he was to jump over it one hundred times every day. As the seed grew and became a plant, Oyama later said, "I was able to jump between walls back and forth easily." However, the story of the young Oyama's life has been sensationalized in manga and movies so the line between fiction and fact has become obscure.

In March 1938, Oyama left for Japan following his brother who enrolled in the Yamanashi Aviation School Imperial Japanese Army aviation school [1] . He was inspired to go to Japan by General Kanji Ishihara who was against the invasion of Asian neighbors (as a consequence, he was ostracized by higher ranks of the Japanese Army), to carve out his future in the heart of the Empire of Japan.

n 1953 Oyama opened his own karate dojo, named "Oyama Dojo," in Tokyo but continued to travel around Japan and the world giving martial arts demonstrations, including the fighting and killing of live bulls with his bare hands. His dojo was first located outside in an empty lot but eventually moved into a ballet school in 1956. Oyama's own curriculum soon developed a reputation as a tough, intense, hard hitting but practical style which was finally named 'kyokushin' in a ceremony 1957. He also developed a reputation for being 'rough' with his students, often injuring them during training sessions. As the reputation of the dojo grew students were attracted to come to train there from in and outside Japan and the number of students grew. Many of the eventual senior leaders of today's various kyokushin based organisations began training in the style during this time. In 1964 Oyama moved the dojo into the building that would from then on serve as the kyokushin home dojo and world headquarters. In connection with this he also formally founded the 'International Karate Organization Kyokushinkaikan' (commonly abbreviated to IKO or IKOK) to organise the many schools that were by then teaching the kyokushin style.

After formally establishing Kyokushin-kai, Oyama directed the organization through a period of expansion. Oyama and his staff of hand-picked instructors displayed great ability in marketing the style and gaining new members. Oyama would choose an instructor to open a dojo in another town or city in Japan. The instructor would move to that town and usually demonstrate his karate skills in public places, such as at the civic gymnasium, the local police gym (where many judo students would practice), a local park, or conduct martial arts demonstrations at local festivals or school events. In this way, the instructor would soon gain a few students for his new dojo. After that, word of mouth would spread through the local area until the dojo had a dedicated core of students. Oyama also sent instructors to other countries such as the United States of America, Netherlands, England, Australia and Brazil to spread Kyokushin in the same way. Oyama also promoted Kyokushin by holding 'all-world' karate tournaments every few years in which anyone could enter from any style.


Friday, February 19, 2010

The Origin of Kyokusin Kaikan

The Origin of Kyokusin Kaikan

The founder of Kyokushin, Masutatsu Oyama, was born Choi Yong-i on 27 July 1923 in Gimje, Korea, during the long period of Japanese occupation. As a young child, Oyama enjoyed fighting and watching others fight. In 1938, he emigrated to Japan and studied Okinawan Karate under Gichin Funakoshi, eventually gaining 2nd dan. Later, Oyama also trained under Yoshida Kotaro, a famous Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu/Yanagi-ryu Aiki-jujutsu master, from whom he received his menkyo kaiden - an older form of grade, a scroll signifying mastery, from Kotaro. This scroll is still on display at the Honbu dojo in Tokyo.

Also, upon the advice of his mentor and a member of the National Diet, Matsuhei Mori, around this time the young master took his Japanese name, Masutatsu Oyama, the name he would use for the rest of his life. After World War II, Oyama began his training in Goju Ryu karate under a Korean master in Japan, So Nei Chu, who ran a dojo in Tokyo along with the renowned Goju teacher, Gogen Yamaguchi. He would finally attain 8th Dan in Goju Ryu Karate. Another influence from the Goju school was Masahiko Kimura, although also an assistant karate instructor at the karate dojo Oyama trained at, Kimura was primarily a famous champion of judo who defeated Hélio Gracie. Kimura encouraged Oyama to take up judo so that he would have an understanding of the art's ground techniques. Kimura introduced Oyama to the Sone Dojo in Nakano, Tokyo, where he trained regularly for four years, eventually gaining his 4th Dan.

It was after this time that Oyama first retreated into the mountains for one of his well-known solitary training periods, yamagomori. He completed two such retreats for a total of almost three years of solitary training in accord with the ascetic traditions of many of the great warriors of Japan through the centuries. During this period of isolated training, Oyama engaged in intense shugyo, or spiritual discipline. In the early 1950s, Oyama traveled to the USA visiting 32 states.[citation needed]
Founder of Kyokushin Karate, Masutatsu Oyama.

In 1953, Oyama resigned from Goju ryu and opened his own independent karate dojo, named "Oyama Dojo" in Tokyo, but continued to travel around Japan and the world giving martial arts demonstrations, including bare-handed challenges.[citation needed] His first 'Oyama dojo' was a vacant lot in Mejiro, Tokyo. In 1956, Oyama moved the dojo into the ballet studio attached to Rikkyo University. Oyama's own curriculum soon developed a reputation as a tough, intense, hard-hitting, and practical style which he named "Kyokushin" in a ceremony in 1957. As the reputation of the dojo grew, students were attracted to come to train there from Japan and beyond and numbers grew.

In 1964, Oyama moved the dojo into a building he refurbished not far from the ballet studio at Rikkyo. Oyama also formally founded the "International Karate Organization Kyokushinkaikan" (commonly abbreviated to IKO or IKOK), to organize the many schools that were by then teaching the Kyokushin style. This dojo at 3-3-9 Nishi-Ikebukuro, in the Toshima area of Tokyo, remains the world headquarters for one of the current Kyokushin karate factions.
[edit] 1964 to 1994

After formally establishing the Kyokushinkaikan, Oyama directed the organization through a period of expansion. Oyama hand-picked instructors who displayed ability in marketing the style and gaining new members. Oyama would choose an instructor to open a dojo in another town or city in Japan. The instructor would move to that town and usually demonstrate his karate skills in public places, such as at the civic gymnasium, the local police gym (where many judo students would practice), a local park, or conduct martial arts demonstrations at local festivals or school events. In this way, the instructor would soon gain students for his new dojo. After that, word of mouth would spread through the local area until the dojo had a dedicated core of students. Oyama also sent instructors to other countries such as the Netherlands (Kenji Kurosaki), Australia (Shigeo Kato), the United States of America (Tadashi Nakamura, Shigeru Oyama and Yasuhiko Oyama, Miyuki Miura) Brazil (Seiji Isobe)and Great Britain Steve Arneil to spread Kyokushin in the same way. In 1969, Oyama staged the first 'All Japan Full Contact Championships' which took Japan by storm and Terutomo Yamazaki has become the first champion. Also in 1975, the First Open Full Contact World Karate Championships. Occasionally, world championships have been held at four-yearly intervals, although under the current confusion of self-proclaimed representative organizations, there are up to five so-called "world championships" claiming to represent Kyokushin.

Upon Oyama's death, the International Karate Organization (IKO) splintered into several groups, primarily due to conflict over who would succeed Oyama as Chairman and the future structure and philosophy of the organization. As a supposed will was proven to be invalid in the family Court of Tokyo in 1994, any claim to that will indicating the true intention of Oyama was nullified. Before his death, Oyama named no one as his successor although many now claim to be the rightful leader of his organization. One of these, a young and skilled student of Oyama's named Akiyoshi Matsui claimed that he personally owned the intellectual rights to all Kyokushin trademarks, symbols, and even the name Kyokushin. However, the Japanese legal system subsequently ruled against Matsui in this matter (as he had nothing at all to prove his false claim), returning the ownership of Oyama's intellectual property to his family. To this day, Matsui and his followers continue to claim he is the successor although this claim is backed by nothing but the hearsay of a handful of (coincidentally) Matsui's business partners and followers.

The only organization that remains loyal to Oyama's original Kyokushin Honbu Dojo (school) and Oyama's family (who inherited Oyama's intellectual property) is the IKO Kyokushinkaikan based at that dojo, identified as the IKO Sosai.


What is Kyokushin Kaikan?

Kyokushin kaikan is a style of stand-up, full contact karate, founded in 1964 by Masutatsu Oyama  who was born under the name Choi Young-Eui. Kyokushinkai is Japanese for "the society of the ultimate truth." Kyokushin is rooted in a philosophy of self-improvement, discipline and hard training. Its full contact style has had international appeal (practitioners have over the last 40+ years numbered more than 12 million.

Kyokushin has influenced many of the "full-contact" schools of karate, emphasizing realistic combat, physical toughness, and practicality in its training curriculum. The Knockdown karate competition system pioneered by kyokushin has been adopted by many different karate styles and organizations. Other martial arts organizations have "spun-off" from Kyokushin over the years, with some adding additions, such as grappling techniques, but continuing with the same philosophy of realistic and practical training methods.