1. Ques Es Kyokushin Segun Sosai Oyama 2

Sosai Masutatsu OyamaMasutatsu Oyama was born on July 27th, 1923, in the village of Qa-Ryong-Ri Yong-chi-Myo'n Chul Na Do, near the town of Kinje, not far from Gunsan in the southwest of Korea. The village is close to the Yellow Sea which for centuries was occupied by Chinese and Japanese pirates infamous for their pillaging along the coastline. His birthname was Hyung Yee Choi, but when he emigrated to Japan, he was pressured into taking a Japanese name. He chose Oyama, meaning 'great mountain', in honor of the family that befriended and took him in while in Japan. Young Hyung Yee was one of the lucky few in the province of Cholapuk Do because he belonged to the Yangban clan. Thus his family was part of the aristocracy.

Like his father, Sun Hyang, and his three brothers, Hyung Yee was unusually powerfully built. The family, who was quite wealthy, had a large country estate and his father was also the mayor of Kinje. The road to Yongee Primary School was dirty and narrow, and like the other children, Hyung Yee had to walk the ten kilometres to school. His class contained 60 pupils in a school of 400.

Ques Es Kyokushin Segun Sosai Oyama 2

El Kanji es la insignia que representa al Kyokushin Kai, estilo de Karate creado por Sosai Mas Oyama. Este bordado se lleva universalmente en el frente izquierdo de la chaqueta del Dogi, su significado essimplemente Kyokushin Kai. Seminar with shihan Roman January 16/05: Mas Oyama, a true Budoka, practiced Karate everyday without fail until he passed away in 1994, aged 70. The toughest man in the world, founder of Kyokushin Karate, Grand Master Masutatsu (Mas) Oyama was born in southwest Korea, a few miles from the coast of the Yellow Sea. The day was 27 of July 1923, and the place, Kimji - about 180 miles southwest of Seoul.

Discovering Martial ArtsAt a relatively young age, he was sent to Manchuria in Southern China to live on his sister's farm. At the age of nine, he started studying the Southern Chinese form of called Eighteen Techniques (Shaku-Riki system). His teacher was Mr. Yi who at the time was working on his sister's farm. Mas Oyama studied with Mr. Yi for about two years.

He attained a level equivalent to.At the age of 13, he returned to Korea to live with his aunt in Seoul and attend junior high school. Hyung Yee was not really interested in his schoolwork. He preferred being outdoors, fishing and swimming with his friends. The one thing that interested him the most was athletics. He participated in football as well as crosscountry running. Even though he failed to show any interest when his brothers tried to teach him boxing, he eventually gravitated towards a martial art named Taiken or Chabee. He was very devoted and rarely missed a training opportunity.

Taiken or Chabee is a Korean martial art which is a mixture of Kempo (which itself is similar to ). Chabee came from the period (912-1392). Before the Koryo period, the Korean peninsula was unionized by the royalty Silla. The fighting techniques used at the end of the Silla era were a mixture of Chinese and Korean martial arts, favoring Chinese hand techniques. It was very different from the old Korean martial arts which contained a lot of head, elbow and foot techniques.

During the Koryo era, the Korean peninsula blossomed materially as well as culturally. It was also during this time that the so called Eighteen Techniques developed. Later, a system named the Thirty-Six Techniques was developed and finally both these systems combined to form Chabee. Studying Karate In JapanThis training continued until Mas Oyama was approximately 15 years old. At this point, he moved to Tokyo, Japan to train as an aviator so he could be like Bismarck, his hero of the time. He was enrolled at the Yamanashi Youth Aviation Institute.

Survival on his own at that age proved to be more difficult than he thought, especially as a Korean in Japan, so the aviator training fell by the wayside. During this time he started training in boxing. One day he noticed a student training in Okinawan. He took an interest and went to train at the dojo of Gichin Funakoshi at Takushoku University, where he learned what is known today as Karate.

The rapid progress of his training was very impressive. By the age of 17, he was already a 2nd Dan. By the age of 20, he was a 4th Dan. At this point he also took a serious interest in Judo and his progress there was no less amazing. By the time he had quit training in Judo, less than four years after he had started, he had achieved the rank of 4th Dan in Judo as well. Mountain RetreatAt this time, Mas Oyama entered the which was the training academy for the Imperial Japanese military. The Butokukai specialized in guerrilla warfare, espionage and hand to hand combat.

Sosai spent two years in this organization which ended with the close of World War II. The defeat of Japan and the subsequent indignity of occupation was very hard to accept for Mas Oyama. He decided to continue his training under the direction of Master So Nei Chu who was also a Korean (from Oyama's own province) living in Japan.

He was a expert and student of, the founder of Goju Karate. So Nei Chu, renowned for his physical and spiritual strength, was purported to be the leading expert in Goju Karate in Japan at that time, second only to Miyagi Sensei. It was Master So who encouraged Sosai Oyama to undertake his mountain retreat to strengthen his technical skills and temper his spirit. Mas Oyama was accompanied by one of his own students, but after six months of isolation, the student secretly fled during the night. This left Mas Oyama to continue his vigorous training alone, making it even harder for him because he now longed to return to civilization that much more.

So Nei Chu wrote to him and suggested he shave off an eyebrow in order to get rid of the urge to return. Surely he would not want anyone to see him that way! This and other more moving words convinced Oyama to continue, and he resolved to become the most powerful Karate man in Japan. Soon however, his sponsor informed him that he was no longer able to support him, and so after 14 months, he had to end his solitude.

A few months later in 1947, after returning to civilization, he tested his abilities in the Karate division of the first Japanese National Martial Arts Championships and won. However he felt empty for not having completed the three years of solitude. He then decided to dedicate his life completely to Karate-do, so he started again - this time on Mount Kiyozumi which was also in Chiba Prefecture. He chose this site for its spiritually uplifting environment. Mountain Training.AgainThis time his training was fanatical - 12 hours a day every day with no rest days. He stood under cold buffeting waterfalls, broke river stones with his hands, used trees as and jumped over rapidly growing flax plants hundreds of times each day. Each day also included a period of study of the ancient classics on the martial arts, and philosophy.

After eighteen months, he came down, fully confident of himself and able to take control of his life. Never again would he be so heavily influenced by the society around him (though it is probably safe to say that his circumstances were never again as traumatic). Demonstrating His KarateIn 1950, Sosai (the founder) Mas Oyama started testing (and demonstrating) his power. In all, he fought 52 bulls, three of which were killed instantly. The other 49 had their horns taken off with knife-hand blows. That it is not to say that it was all that easy for him. Oyama was fond of remembering that his first attempt simply resulted in an angry bull.

In 1957, at the age of 34, he was nearly killed in Mexico when a bull got some of his own back and gored him. Oyama somehow managed to pull the bull off him and broke off his horn. He was bedridden for six months while he recovered from the usually fatal wound. Today of course, animal rights groups would have something to say about these demonstrations, despite the fact that all the animals were already destined for slaughter.In 1952, he traveled the United States for a year, demonstrating his Karate live and on national television. During subsequent years, he took on all challengers, resulting in fights with 270 different people.

The vast majority of them were defeated with one punch! A fight never lasted more than three minutes and very rarely lasted more than a few seconds. His fighting principle was simple — if he got through to you, that was it. If he hit you, you broke.

If you blocked a rib punch, your arm was broken or dislocated. If you didn't block, your rib was broken. He became known as the Godhand, a living manifestation of the Japanese warrior's maxim 'Ichi geki, Hissatsu' or 'One strike, certain death'. To him, this was the true aim of technique in Karate. The fancy footwork and intricate techniques were secondary (though he was also known for the power of his head kicks).

It was during one of his visits to the United States that Sosai Masutatsu Oyama met, a big Romanian (190 cm tall and 190 kg of muscle) who later on became very well known in Kyokushin. They quickly became friends and remained so for the rest of Sosai Oyama's life. Shihan Jacques still trains and acts as advisor to the I.K.O.(1) to this day.

Sosai's First DojoIn 1953, Sosai Masutatsu Oyama opened his first 'dojo', a grass lot in Mejiro, Tokyo. In 1956, the first real dojo was opened in a former ballet studio behind Rikkyo University, 500 meters from the location of the current Japanese Honbu Dojo (headquarters). By 1957 there were 700 members, despite the high dropout rate due to the extreme nature of the training. Practitioners of other styles came to train here too, in particular for jis-sen kumite (full contact fighting). One of the original instructors, Kenji Kato, has said that they would observe those from other styles and adopt any techniques that 'would be good in a real fight'.

This was how Sosai Masutatsu Oyama's karate evolved. He took techniques from all martial arts and did not restrict himself to karate alone. The students of Sosai Masutatsu Oyama took their kumite seriously because this was a full contact style. They expected to hit and to be hit. With few restrictions, attacking the head was common, usually with the palm heel or towel-wrapped knuckles. Grabs, throws and groin attacks were also common.

Kumite rounds would continue until one person loudly conceded defeat. Injuries occurred on a daily basis and the dropout rate was high (over 90%). They had no official dogi and wore whatever they had. Bobby Lowe - Sosai's First Uchi DeshiIn 1952, Sosai Masutatsu Oyama gave a demonstration in Hawaii.

A young (seen at left taking a head kick from Mas Oyama) saw him and was stunned by the power Sosai Masutatsu Oyama demonstrated. It was not as though Bobby Lowe was inexperienced in martial arts himself.

Though still quite young, his own achievements to date were not much less than those of Sosai Masutatsu Oyama. His father had been a Kung Fu instructor and he had participated in any fighting art he could find. By the age of 23, he was in Judo, Nidan in Kempo, Shodan in and a highly regarded welterweight boxer. It was not long before Bobby Lowe became the first Kyokushin uchi deshi or 'live-in student' of Sosai Masutatsu Oyama. He trained daily with Sosai Masutatsu Oyama for one and a half years. Eventually, an uchi deshi's time became '1000 days for the beginning'. These uchi deshi became known as Wakajishi or the 'Young Lions' of Mas Oyama, and only a few of the hundreds of applicants were chosen each year for the privilege of training full-time under the Master.

In 1957, Shihan Bobby Lowe returned to Hawaii to open the first School of Oyama outside Japan. The Beginning Of KyokushinThe current World Headquarters were officially opened in June of 1964 and that was where the name, meaning 'Ultimate Truth', was adopted.

From that point onwards, Kyokushin has continued to spread to more than 120 countries with registered membership exceeding 10 million, making it one of the largest martial arts organizations in the world. Among the better known Kyokushin Yudansha (black belts) are Sean Connery (honorary Shodan) and Dolph Lundgren (Sandan and former Australian heavyweight champion). Also some adepts claim that Nelson Mandela, the President of South Africa, has an honorary 8th Dan which was given to him by the Kyokushin Organization on June 1, 1995. However they fail to mention that Nelson Mandela never accepted this belt. Many believe that the reason for this was because Kyokushin in South Africa supported the Regime.

Sosai Passes OnSadly, Sosai Masutatsu Oyama died of lung cancer (as a non-smoker) at the age of 70 in April of 1994, leaving a confused organization which split into three major groups: the IKO1 under the leadership of Shihan Akiyoshi Matsui, the IKO2 under the leadership of Shihan Yukio Nishida, and the IKO3 under the leadership of Shihan Yoshikazu Matsushima. These three groups have the difficult task of keeping the spirit and the teaching of Kyokushin alive. This has had many political and economic ramifications throughout the Kyokushin world which are still being resolved. In the end, the result may well be a splintering of Kyokushin much like what appears to have happened to Shotokan, with each group claiming to be the one-and-only true heir of Mas Oyama's Kyokushin, spiritually and even financially. However it is reasonably certain that all Kyokushin groups, regardless of their ultimate allegiance, will still maintain the standards set by Sosai Masutatsu Oyama. Maybe a Kyokushin dispersal will be a good thing, since in all good families, some of the children eventually leave home to start their own families. Some of the splinter groups may remain faithful to the Kyokushin principles, like in Great Britain did in 1991.

Many others, such as in the United States, have taken it further by developing their own style based on Kyokushin.

Contents.Early life Mas Oyama was born as Choi Young-Eui ( 최영의) in,. At a young age he was sent to, Northeast China to live on his sister's farm. Oyama began studying at age 9 from a Chinese farmer who was working on the farm. His family name was Lee and Oyama said he was his very first teacher. The story of the young Oyama's life is written in his earlier books.In March 1938, Oyama left for Japan following his brother who enrolled in the Yamanashi Aviation School aviation school. Sometime during his time in Japan, Choi Young-Eui chose his Japanese name, Oyama Masutatsu ( 大山 倍達), which is a transliteration of Baedal ( 倍達).

Baedal was an ancient Korean kingdom known in Japan during Oyama's time as '.One story of Oyama's youth involves Lee giving 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.' The writer, Ikki Kajiwara, and the publisher of the comics based the story on the life experience Oyama spoke to them about – thus the title became 'Karate Baka Ichidai' (Karate Fanatic).In 1963, Oyama wrote What is Karate which became a best seller in the US and sold million copies all over the world. It is still considered by many to be the 'Bible' of Karate to this day. It was translated into, and English.Post-World War II In 1945 after the war ended, Oyama left the aviation school.

He finally found a place to live in. This is where he met his future wife whose mother ran a dormitory for university students.In 1946, Oyama enrolled in School of Education to study sports science.Wanting the best in instruction, he contacted the (Karate school) operated by, the third son of and founder. He became a student, and began his lifelong career in Karate. Feeling like a foreigner in a strange land, he remained isolated and trained in solitude.Oyama attended in Tokyo and was accepted as a student at the dojo of. He trained with Funakoshi for two years, then studied karate for several years with So Nei Chu ( 조영주 / 曺（曹）寧柱, 1908–1995), a senior student of the system's founder,. So was a fellow Korean from Oyama's native province.Around the time he also went around Tokyo getting in fights with the U.S.

Military Police. He later reminisced those times in a television interview, 'Itsumitemo Haran Banjyo' (Nihon Television), 'I lost many friends during the war- the very morning of their departure as pilots, we had breakfast together and in the evening their seats were empty. After the war ended, I was angry- so I fought as many U.S. Military as I could, until my portrait was all over the police station.' Oyama retreated to a lone mountain for solace to train his mind and body.

He set out to spend three years on Mt. Oyama built a shack on the side of the mountain. One of his students named Yashiro accompanied him, but after the rigors of this isolated training, with no modern conveniences, the student snuck away one night, and left Oyama alone. With only monthly visits from a friend in the town of Tateyama in, the loneliness and harsh training became grueling. Oyama remained on the mountain for fourteen months, and returned to Tokyo a much stronger and fiercer Karateka.Oyama gave great credit to reading by, a famous Japanese swordsman, to change his life completely. He recounts this book as being his only reading material during his mountain training years.He was forced to leave his mountain retreat after his sponsor had stopped supporting him. Months later, after he had won the Karate Section of Japanese National Martial Arts Championships, he was distraught that he had not reached his original goal to train in the mountains for three years, so he went into solitude again, this time on Mt.

Kiyosumi in Chiba Prefecture, and he trained there for 18 months.Founding Kyokushin In 1953 Oyama opened his own, named Oyama Dojo (form of Gōjū-ryū), in Tokyo but continued to travel around and the world giving martial arts demonstrations, which included knocking live bulls unconscious with his bare hands (sometimes grabbing them by the horn, and snapping the horn off). His dojo was first located outside in an empty lot but eventually moved into a ballet school in 1956. The senior instructors under him were T. Mizushima, E. Ishibashi, and T. Oyama's own curriculum soon developed a reputation as a tough, intense, hard-hitting but practical style which was finally named (Japan Karate-Do Kyokushinkai), which means 'the ultimate truth,' in a ceremony in 1957.

He also developed a reputation for being 'rough' with his students, as the training sessions were grueling and students injuring themselves in practice fighting (kumite) was quite common. Along with practice fighting that distinguished Oyama's teaching style from other karate schools, emphasis on breaking objects such as boards, tiles, or bricks to measure one's offensive ability became Kyokushin's trademark. Oyama believed in the practical application of karate and declared that ignoring 'breaking practice is no more useful than a fruit tree that bears no fruit.' As the reputation of the dojo grew students were attracted to come to train there from inside 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 ' (commonly abbreviated to IKO or IKOK) to organise the many schools that were by then teaching the kyokushin style.In 1961 at the All-Japan Student Open Karate Championship, one of Oyama's students, at 19 years old (1961) made his first tournament appearance, where he was placed first. Nakamura later became Mas Oyama's Chief Instructor as referenced in Mas Oyama's book, 'This is Karate.' In 1969, Oyama staged the first All-Japan Full Contact Karate Open Championships which took Japan by storm and became the first champion, which have been held every year since. In 1975, the first World Full Contact Karate Open Championships were held in Tokyo.

World championships have been held at four-yearly intervals since. 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, whereupon the instructor would move to that town, and, typically 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, and to spread Kyokushin in the same way. Oyama also promoted Kyokushin by holding The All-Japan Full Contact Karate Open Championships every year and World Full Contact Karate Open Championships once every four years in which anyone could enter from any style. Active Interest Media.

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– via YouTube. Oyama, Masutatsu (December 1, 1982). Entrance Guide for Kyokushin Karate. Tokyo, Japan: International Karate Organization/Kyokushin Kaikan. Retrieved 2014-05-21.

Oyama, Masutatsu (1967). Vital Karate (First ed.). Tokyo, Japan: Japan Publications Trading Co., Ltd. P. 13. Oyama, Masutatsu (May 10, 1979). Challenge to the Limits.

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Retrieved on 2011-05-30. Archived from on 2012-03-21. Retrieved 2011-01-18. Retrieved 2011-01-19. Retrieved 2011-01-19.External links. (in English).