Kyokushinkai, in other transcriptions "kyokushin", "kyokushin", "kyokushinkan", is a style of full contact karate. The style was founded in the sixties of the twentieth century by the Japanese-Korean martial artist Masutatsu Oyama. The philosophy of Kyokushinkai is self-improvement, discipline and hard training.
Early biography of Masutatsu Oyama
The future founder of Kyokushinkai was born in the southern part of Korea during the Japanese occupation of the country. His parents named him Jung Ei Eun. As a young boy, he was sent to northeastern China to live with relatives, farmers. Here, at the age of nine, he begins to study martial arts. His first trainer was a Chinese man who lived on a farm named Li.
In 1938, fifteen-year-old Chong traveled to Japan to attend the Imperial Army Aviation School. Here he adopted the Japanese name Masutatsu Oyama. It is a Japanese synonym for the name of the ancient Korean state of Joseon.
Here in Japan, Oyama began to study karate. He attended a dojo (karate school) run by Gigo Funakoshi, the son of the founder of the shotokan (non-contact style) style, and of all modern karate, Gichin Fukamoshi. Then he trained for two years with Gichin Fukamoshi himself. Later, for several years he studied with So Nei Chu, a student of the founder of the goju-ryu style, Chiyago Mijun. The goju-ryu style combines hard and soft techniques.
In 1947 Masutatsu Oyama won the Japanese Karate Championship. However, the victory did not bring him satisfaction. After her, he went to the mountains, where he trained alone for 18 months.
The foundation of the Kyokushinkai style
In the early fifties, Masutatsu Oyama launches a powerful advertising campaign. He fights bulls with his bare hands in the ring. Kills them, cutting off the edge of the palm under the root of the horn. In 1952 he embarked on a tour of the United States, where he demonstrated incredible numbers. He smashed huge stones and bricks laid in 3-4 rows with his hand, punched thick ones with his feet and much more. Oyama's performances made a splash.
In 1953, Masutatsu Oyama opens his first dojo of his own. In his school, he begins to develop a new style of karate - kyokushinkai, which means "the ultimate truth". The new style was opposed to contactless karate and was created as a method of hand-to-hand combat.
In kumite (sparring fights), only minimal restrictions were left. Only blows to the head with an open palm were prohibited. Throws, grabs and even strikes to the groin were originally allowed. There was no leniency towards the students at the dojo, and the injury rate was very high.
Oyama took techniques that could help in real combat not only from other styles of karate, but also from other types of martial arts. He also introduced many personally invented techniques and tactics into the karate arsenal.
In 1963, Masutatsu Oyama published the book "What is Karate?", Which became a bestseller and is still considered the "bible" of this type of wrestling. In 1964 he founded the International Kyokushinkai Karate Federation. In the following years, he opened many schools around the world, where this style of karate is taught.