The Origin of Kyokushinkai

Origin

The following is a brief overview of the early life of Masutatsu "Mas" Oyama, although several prominent karate leaders, including Jon Bluming, one of the original students of Mas Oyama, openly question the veracity of certain elements of this story:

The founder of Kyokushin, Masutatsu Oyama, was born Choi Yeong-eui on 27 July 1923 in South Korea. As a young child, Oyama studied Chinese and Korean Kempo. In 1938, he emigrated to Japan and studied Judo and Okinawan Karate under Gichin Funakoshi. He attained upper rank or "dan" status in both disciplines. He would eventually attain 4th Dan in judo, and 2nd dan in karate under Funakoshi. He would also train under Yoshida Kotaro, a famous Daito-ryu jujutsu/yanagi-ryu Aikijujutsu master. Although details are unknown, Kotaro presented Oyama with a "Menkyo kaiden" - an older form of grade, a scroll signifying mastery. Also, at this time he took his Japanese name, Masutatsu Oyama, in order to better assimilate into Japan. Masutatsu, or simply, Mas, Oyama was the name he would primarily use for the rest of his life. After World War II, Oyama trained in Goju Ryu karate under a Korean master- So Nei Chu. He would finally attain 8th Dan in Goju ryu karate, the final grades given to him by the Japanese Goju ryu legend Gogen Yamagushi. During this time, he retreated into the mountains for almost three years to train in solitude. Oyama engaged in intense, full-time martial arts training during this period and also traveled to the U.S. to engage in exhibition bouts with professional wrestlers.

In 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 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 organizations 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 headquarter. In connection with this he also formally founded the organization "International karate organization kyokushinkaikan" (commonly abbreviated to IKO or IKOK), to organize the many schools that was by then teaching the kyokushin style.

1964 to 1994

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 and Brazil to spread Kyokushin in the same way. Upon Oyama's death, the International Karate Organization (IKO) splintered into several groups, in part due to conflict over who would succeed Oyama as chief and the future structure and philosophy of the organization. It was reported that Oyama named Matsui as his successor from his death bed, even though Matsui was junior to many others in the IKO organization. Some of the other senior members accepted Matsui as the new chief, and some didn't and left the organization. Matsui claimed that he and IKO owned the intellectual rights to all Kyokushin trademarks, symbols, and even the name Kyokushin. However, the Japanese legal system has recently ruled against Matsui and IKO in this matter.