Knowing this, learn never to fear its demands.
No matter how popular it becomes, it is meaningless.” It is nothing more than a barbaric method of fighting or a promotional tool for the purpose of profit. Karate that has discarded Budo has no substance. For a long time, I have emphasized that karate is Budo, and if the Budo is removed from karate, it is nothing more than sport karate, show karate or even fashion karate – the idea of training merely to be fashionable. Its meanings, therefore, reach the profoundest levels of human thought. This means that it transcends the idea of winning and losing to become a way of thinking and living for the sake of other people in accordance with the way of Heaven.
Oyama fully understood the nature of Kyokushin Karate as budo karate, a path toward self-perfection though the practice of the martial arts: “Karate is the most Zen-like of all the Martial Arts. After 18 months he was confident in his ability to return and maintain control of his life.
Kiyozumi where he continued his rigorous training as well as studying the ancient classics on the Martial Arts, Zen and philosophy. Again he retreated to the mountains, this time to Mt. After many months he returned to civilization where he won the karate division of the first Japanese Martial Arts Championships. Minobu where he lived in isolation, training for 12 hours a day, standing under ice cold waterfalls, running and jumping over bushes and boulders as well as using trees as makiwara ( striking aides ). So suggested that Oyama retreat to a lone mountain for solace, to train his mind and body.įollowing his advice, Oyama traveled to Mt. It was So Nei Chu who encouraged the young Oyama to dedicate his life to Budo, or the Martial Way. A senior student of the founder of Goju-ryu Karate, Chojun Miyagi. One of Mas Oyama’s instructors was So Nei Chu. At the age of 15 he traveled to Japan and not long after continued his training. He began studying with a focus on judo and karate, eventually achieving 4th Dan Black Belt in Shotokan, 7th Dan Black Belt in Goju-ryu Karate, 4th Dan Black Belt in Judo. Returning to Korea when he was 12 he continued his training with local Korean martial arts. From a very early age he had great interest in martial arts, beginning with studying Chinese Kenpo (chuan fa) when he was 9 years old, while living on a farm in China. Sosai Masutatsu Oyama, the founder of Kyokushin Karate was born in Korea in 1923.