Kyokushinkai Karate Port Macquarie

What is Kyokushin?

Karate is both an art and a philosophy.

Because each person has a different personality and physical capability, this is reflected in his or her interpretation of Karate. Therefore the Karate Masters founded their own schools over the ages, teaching their own style of ryu. Kyokushinkai is the name given to our ryu, which originated with the legendary Master Masutatsu Oyama – a man of tremendous physical strength and mental resources.

Kyoku – means ultimate
Shin – means truth or reality
Kai – means to meet, join or associate.

It takes time to fully understand the meaning. The symbol of Kyokushinkai is the kanku. The kanku is derived from the kanku kata – the sky gazing form. In this kata the hands are raised to scan the sky, and so the symbol is formed. The points of the kanku represented by the fingers imply the peaks or ultimates. The thick sections represented by the wrists, imply power. The centre represents infinity, implying depth. The whole kanku is based on and enclosed by a circle, representing continuity and a circularity – the basic physical and spiritual principles of Kyokushinkai.

Kyokushin Philosophy

The Kyokushin philosophy is based on the rigid discipline of the practitioner’s acts, on the understanding of the limitations of companions and opponents, on the respect to parents and superiors, and on the loyalty to its ideals. The practitioner of Kyokushin must not measure efforts to improve him/herself and must not compare him/herself with the less favoured to justify his/her failings. He/she must not only know, but also practice all his/her knowledge.

Learning Kyokushin requires 1000 days, but to understand all its essence, at least 10,000 days are required. Who opts for Kyokushin must have the strength to surpass any obstacle, without change of mind, until he/she reaches his/her objective. A good example for the practitioner to follow is that of the tea-kettle with water: When the fire heats the water to the boiling point, we have to keep it lighted with the same intensity, because if we reduce its flame, the water gets cold. It is not enough to boil the water, we have to keep it boiling all the time.

Sosai Masutatsu Oyama (1923 - 1994)

The founder of Kyokushin Karate, Masutatsu Oyama, was born in 1923, began studying kempo at the age of nine and had attained the first level of proficiency (shodan) by his second year in middle school. In 1928, while enrolled at the Yamanashi Youth Aviation Institute, he began studying at the martial-arts hall called the Shotokan, which was headed by Gichin Funakoshi. At the age of seventeen, he had attained second dan. In 1941, he matriculated to Takushoku University and, in 1943, began studying with So Nei Chu, a leading figure in the Goju karate world of the time. By the age of twenty, he was fourth dan. In 1945, he volunteered for service in the perilous special attack corps of the Japanese army and was sent south, where the fighting was taking place. But soon World War II ended.

In 1946, he isolated himself in a temple on Mount Minobu and trained karate for a full year. After having taken first place in the initial postwar all-Japan championship tournament, he decided to devote the rest of his life exclusively to this martial art. In 1948, he constructed a crude hut for himself on Mount Kiyozumi, in Chiba Prefecture, and once again trained strenuously, this time for a year and eight months, during which he fed himself on grasses and berries. After coming down from the mountain, in 1949, in order to train in breaking horns from bulls, he took up residence not far from a slaughter yard. During his stay there, he broke the horns from fifty bulls.

In 1952, together with Kokichi Endo, an outstanding judo expert, he traveled to the United States, where he gave 270 exhibition matches and appeared on television 7 times. Such things as his ability to break whiskey bottles with his bare hands surprised the Americans and earned him the nickname “The Divine Fist.” He was challenged by two American professional boxers and one professional wrestler and beat them all. Since that time, he has traveled extensively teaching and giving lectures in America, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
In 1953, Sosai Oyama opened his first “Dojo”, a grass lot in Tokyo. By 1957 there were real facilities and 700 members, despite the high dropout rate due to the intensity of training. The World Headquarters were officially opened in June 1964, where the name Kyokushin, meaning “Ultimate truth”, was adopted. From that point forward, Kyokushin continued to spread to more than 120 countries around the world, and registered members exceeding 10 million, making it one of the largest martial arts organisations in the world.

In 1977 Sosai Oyama visited Australia for the first time to attend the first Australian full contact tournament held at the Sydney Town Hall.

Sadly Sosai Oyama passed away on April 26 1994 at the age of 70 due to lung cancer. According to his wishes, as expressed to many of his senior students, Shokei Matsui was made Kancho (Director) of the International Karate Organisation.