An early start
Masutatsu (Mas) Oyama was born Yong I-Choi on the 27th of July,
1923, in a village not far from Gunsan in Southern Korea. At 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 Kempo called Eighteen hands from a Mr.
Yi who was at the time working on the farm. When Oyama returned to
Korea at the the age of 12, he continued his training in Korean
Kempo.

In 1938, at the age of 15, he travelled to Japan to train as an
aviator, to be like his hero of the time, Korea's first fighter
pilot. Survival on his own at that age proved to be more difficult
than he thought, especially as a Korean in Japan, and the aviator
training fell by the wayside.


Gichin Funakoshi
He did however continue martial arts training, by participating
in judo and boxing, and one day he noticed some students training in
Okinawan Karate. This interested him very much and he went to train
at the dojo of Gichin Funakoshi at Takushoku University, where he
learned what is today known as CyberDojo home pages.

His training progress was such that by the age of seventeen he
was already a 2nd dan, and by the time he entered the Japanese
Imperial Army at 20, he was a fourth 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.


So Nei Chu


The defeat of Japan and the subsequent indignity of Occupation
almost proved to be too much for Mas Oyama, who nearly despaired.
Fortunately for all of us, So Nei Chu came into his life at that
time. Master So, another Korean (from Oyama's own province) living
in Japan, was one of the highest authorities on Goju Ryu in Japan at
the time. He was renowned for both his physical and spiritual
strength. It was he who encouraged Mas Oyama to dedicate his life to
the Martial Way. It was he too who suggested that Oyama should
retreat away from the rest of the world for 3 years while training
his mind and body.


Mountain Training
When he was 23 years old, Mas Oyama met Eiji Yoshikawa, the
author of the novel Musashi, which was based on the life and
exploits of Japan's most famous Samurai. Both the novel and the
author helped to teach Mas Oyama about the Samurai Bushido code and
what it meant. That same year, Oyama went to Mt. Minobu in the Chiba
Prefecture, where Musashi had developed his Nito-Ryu style of
swordfighting. Oyama thought that this would be an appropriate place
to commence the rigours of training he had planned for himself.
Among the things he took with him was a copy of Yoshikawa's book. A
student named Yashiro also came with him.

The relative solitude was strongly felt, and after 6 months,
Yashiro secretly fled during the night. It became even harder for
Oyama, who wanted more than ever to return to civilisation. So Nei
Chu wrote to him that he should shave off an eyebrow in order to get
rid of the urge. Surely he wouldn't 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-ka in Japan.

Soon however, his sponsor informed him that he was no longer
able to support him and so, after fourteen months, he had to end his
solitude.


A few months later, in 1947, Mas Oyama won the karate section of
the first Japanese National Martial Arts Championships after WWII.
However, he still 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 Mt. Kiyozumi, also
in Chiba Prefecture. This site he chose for its spiritually
uplifting environment.

This time his training was fanatical — 12 hours a day every day
with no rest days, standing under (cold) buffeting waterfalls,
breaking river stones with his hands, using trees as makiwara,
jumping over rapidly growing flax plants hundreds of times each day.
Each day also included a period of study of the ancients classics on
the Martial arts, Zen, 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 his society around him. (Though it is probably
safe to say that his circumstances were also probably never again as
traumatic!)


Bulls, Challengers, and the Godhand
In 1950, Sosai (the founder) Mas Oyama started testing (and
demonstrating) his power by fighting bulls. In all, he fought 52
bulls, three of which were killed instantly, and 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 just 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 and break
off his horn. He was bedridden for 6 months while he recoverd from
the usually fatal wound. Today of course, the animal rights groups
would have something to say about these demonstrations, despite the
fact that the animals were already all destined for slaughter.

In 1952, he travelled the United States for a year,
demonstrating his karate live and on national televison. During
subsequent years, he took on all challengers, resulting in fights
with 270 different people. The vast majority of these were defeated
with one punch! A fight never lasted more than three minutes, and
most 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, you 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 warriors' 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 Mas
Oyama met Jacques Sandulescu, a big (190 cm and 190 kg of muscle)
Romanian who had been taken prisoner by the Red Army at the age of
16, and sent to the coal mines as a slave labourer for two years.
They quickly became friends and remained so for the rest of Oyama's
life, and Jacques still trains and acts as advisor to the IKO(1) to
this day. You can read a short biography of his on this site or read
his autobiography at http://donbas.com.


Oyama Dojo
In 1953, Mas Oyama opened his first "Dojo", a grass lot in
Mejiro in 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 drop-out rate due to the
harshness of training.

Practitioners of other styles came to train here too, for the
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 Mas Oyama's karate evolved. He took techniques
from all martial arts, and did not restrict himself to karate alone.

The Oyama Dojo members took their kumite seriously, seeing it
primarily as a fighting art, so 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 till one
person loudly conceded defeat. Injuries occurred on a daily basis
and the drop out rate was high (over 90%). They had no official do-
gi and wore whatever they had.


Bobby Lowe
In 1952, Mas Oyama gave a demonstration in Hawaii. A young Bobby
Lowe saw him and was stunned by the power Oyama demonstrated. It was
not as though Bobby Lowe was inexperienced in martial arts. Though
still quite young, his achievements to date were not much less than
those of Mas Oyama himself. 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 yondan in judo, nidan in kempo,
shodan in aikido, and a highly regarded welterweight boxer.

It was not long before Bobby Lowe became the first Kyokushin
uchi deshi or "live-in student" of Mas Oyama's. He trained daily
with Mas 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, Bobby Lowe returned to Hawaii to open the first School
of Oyama outside Japan.


The beginning of Kyokushin
The current World Headquarters were officially opened in June
1964, where the name Kyokushin, meaning "Ultimate truth" was
adopted. In the same year the International Karate Organization
(IKO) was established. From then, Kyokushin continued to spread to
more than 120 countries, and registered members exceed 10 million
making it one of the largest martial arts organisations in the
world. Among the the better known Kyokushin yudansha (black belts)
are Sean Connery (Honorary shodan), Dolph Lundgren (sandan, former
Australian heavyweight champion), and President Nelson Mandela of
South Africa (Honorary hachidan), and most recently (June 1988), the
Australian Prime Minister, John Howard (Honorary godan) who was
awarded the grade at the official opening of the Sydney Kyokushin
dojo.


The End?
Sadly, Sosai Mas Oyama died, of Akiyoshi Matsui in charge of the
organisation. 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 Shotokan now appears to have done, with each group claiming to
be the one-and-only true heir of Mas Oyama's Kyokushin, either
spiritually or even financially. It has even been suggested, not
entirely in jest, by one Kyokushin writer in Australia (Harry
Rogers) that maybe Oyama created the turmoil on purpose, because he
didn't want Kyokushin to survive without him! It is however
reasonably certain that all Kyokushin groups, regardless of their
ultimate allegiance, will still maintain the standards set by Mas
Oyama.


Maybe a Kyokushin diaspora will be a good thing, since in all
good families, some of the children eventually do leave home and
start their own families. Some of the splinter groups may remain
faithful to the Kyokushin principles, such as Hanshi Steve Arneil in
Great Britain did in 1991. Many others, such as Shigeru Oyama in the
U.S., have taken it further by developing their own style based on
Kyokushin.

Today, the IKO, headed by Kancho Shokei Matsui, is the largest
karate organization in the world with over twelve million members in
135 countries


Mas Oyama's Brief History


July 27th, 1923, born in Southern Korea.

Learns Chinese Fist of Chakuriki in the land of Manchuria. He was 9
years old.

1938, becomes student under Master Gichin Funakoshi of Shotokan
Karate.

1946, enters the mountain for training.

1947, becomes the champion of All Japan Karate-do Tournament.

He studies Goju-ryu Karate extensively under Master Gogen Yamaguchi,
and becomes Vice Chairman in the organization, holding 9th Dan
degree.

1948, enters the mountain alone for 18 months of training.

1950, starts training against the live bulls, living beside the
cattle butchery. Out of 47 bulls, 4 killed in instant.

1952, visits America for Karate instructions and demonstrations in
32 locations. Has 7 times of real matches.

1953, visits America, he fights against a bull in Chicago, where he
breaks its horn by Shuto strike (knife hand).

1955, goes all around South America and Europe with Bepford Davy,
President of Chrysler Corp. He fights numerous mix matches.

1956, starts small Oyama Dojo at an old ballet studio.

1957, fights against a bull in Mexico City.

1958 January, publishes "What is Karate" which becomes a best seller
of 500,000 copies.
September, invited by FBI in Washington D.C. for Karate instructions
and demonstrations.
October, invited by West Point Military Academy for Karate
instructions and demonstrations.

1964, Thai Boxing challenges Karate-do, where Oyama Dojo alone
accepts. 3 matches 2 wins.

1971, though a popular comic book series "Karate Baka Ichidai," and
the movie "World's Strongest Karate" in 1975, his name and of
Kyokushin become known all over Japan.

1975, helds Kyokushin Kai's First World Karate-do Open Tournament.

April 26, 1994. Dies of lung cancer at the age of 70.

In addition to described above, he visits elsewhere researching
and fighing real matches against other Martial Arts of the world.
Kyokushin as the largest Karate organization, he has students
numbered 12,000,000 in 140 nations worldwide. He is also noted for
starting the Full-Contact, Bare-Knuckle tournament system.

from http://www.masutatsuoyama.com/