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About Kyokushin Karate
The founder of Kyokushinkai karate was Masutatsu Oyama. Born in 1923 in south Korea, 'Mas' Oyama studied Chinese Kempo from the age of nine. After moving to Japan at the age of twelve he studied Judo and became a pupil of Gichin Funakoshi. By the age of 17 has had achieved 2nd Dan and was awarded 4th Dan at 24.
In 1947 Mas Oyama won the All Japan Karate Championship and it was at this point that he decided to devote his life to improving his knowledge of karate. As a result the next year was spent living alone in the mountains and temples where he spent his days practising karate and meditating on Zen precepts in the pursuit of enlightenment. His training routines were extremely rigorous and resulted in him being able to break trees and rocks with his bare hands.
Upon returning to society, Mas Oyama began to demonstrate his karate skill by fighting bulls and defeating all challengers and by travelling to various corners of the globe. His reputation began to spread and many people wanted to learn his style of karate. Today, Kyokushinkai dojos can be found all over the globe.
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