A history of the founder, the early dojo, the people who carried Kyokushin around the world, and the tradition they left behind.

I began training in Kyokushin in 1980. By then, many of the stories about Mas Oyama were already familiar to anyone who spent much time in a dojo. The years spent training alone in the mountains, the fights with bulls, the extraordinary feats of breaking, and the 100-man kumite were all part of the history we inherited.

But there is a difference between knowing the stories and knowing the history.

Some of the accounts were written while Oyama was alive. Others came from his students, people who knew him personally, or the organizations that developed from his teaching. Still others have been repeated online so often that it is sometimes difficult to determine where they originated. A repeated story is not necessarily an independently verified one.

My purpose here is to bring those accounts together and trace the development of Kyokushin as carefully as possible. Wherever practical, I have used Oyama’s own books, firsthand accounts, contemporary publications, and identifiable historical research. You’ll find references at the end, along with links to other articles where I have discussed individual subjects in greater detail.

This is a history of Kyokushin, not an argument about who owns it. I have my own background and affiliations, of course, but the history belongs to everyone who has been part of the art.

On this page

• Kyokushin at a Glance
• 1. Early Life in Korea and Manchuria
• 2. Japan: Shotokan, Goju-ryu, and the Other Influences
• 3. The Mountain Years: Minobu and Kiyosumi
• 4. The Reported 1947 All-Japan Tournament
• 5. The Bulls and the Name “Godhand”
• 6. The American Tours and the Togo Brothers
• 7. From the First Training Hall to the Oyama Dojo
• 8. Establishing the Kyokushinkaikan in 1964
• 9. What Makes Kyokushin Different?
• 10. Kyokushin Kata: Shotokan, Goju-ryu, and New Development
• 11. The 100-Man Kumite
• 12. The Tournaments That Built Kyokushin
• 13. The People Who Spread Kyokushin
• 14. Life as an Uchi Deshi
• 15. The International Expansion
• 16. Books, Magazines, Manga, and Film
• 17. Philosophy: Osu no Seishin, the Dojo Kun, and Budo
• 18. Mas Oyama’s Death and the Organizational Divisions
• 19. Kyokushin’s Influence Beyond Kyokushin
• 20. What We Can and Cannot Know From the Records
• 21. Timeline of Kyokushin History
• 22. Frequently Asked Questions
• 23. Sources and Further Reading

Kyokushin at a Glance

1. Early Life in Korea and Manchuria

Mas Oyama was born in Korea under Japanese colonial rule as Choi Young-eui (최영의), rendered Ch’oe Yŏngŭi in the McCune–Reischauer romanization system. For this history, I use June 4, 1921, the birth date adopted by Richárd Gábor Gottner in his 2025 research. Other documents give different dates, which deserve to be recorded alongside the one used here. [8]

Gottner cites research by Kazushi Kojima and Yoshiko Tsukamoto: relatives in Korea recalled June 4, 1921; an earlier Korean family register recorded June 4, 1922; and the Japanese family register gave July 27, 1923, the date most familiar from popular biographies. Gottner favors the 1921 family account in his historical discussion. Why the records differ remains uncertain. Delayed registration or a clerical error might explain some of the discrepancies, but neither is established as the cause. [8]

Accounts of Oyama’s childhood describe a period spent with relatives in Manchuria, where he began learning Chinese martial arts from a man usually identified as Mr. Lee or Yi. The familiar story has the teacher instructing him to jump over a growing plant each day, gradually increasing the height as the plant grew. Whether every detail can be documented today is another question, but it illustrates how Oyama later described the beginning of his physical training.

Before moving to Japan, Oyama also studied boxing and other fighting methods.

2. Japan: Shotokan, Goju-ryu, and the Other Influences

Oyama moved to Japan, commonly dated to 1938, to pursue aviation training. If that year is correct, he was approximately fourteen to seventeen years old at the time, depending on which birth record is followed and the month of departure. In Japan he continued his martial arts training, studying the karate traditions that later influenced Kyokushin.

Shotokan and the Funakoshi family

Oyama’s early karate training is generally associated with the Shotokan school of Gichin Funakoshi and his son Gigō (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi. Shotokan contributed the strong stances, linear striking methods, and long-range movement that remain recognizable in Kyokushin’s basics and kata.

In an interview reproduced by Yamaguchi Noboru and discussed by Gottner, Oyama recalled beginning karate at Takushoku University in 1942 and receiving his first dan in 1943 or 1944. Other biographies describe his shodan at fifteen and rapid advancement while still a teenager. Oyama had already practiced other martial arts before entering Japanese karate schools, so he did not necessarily begin as a complete novice. His earlier experience makes accelerated progress plausible, although the available accounts do not establish one agreed sequence of promotions. [8]

So Ne Chu and Goju-ryu

A major influence was So Ne Chu (1908–1996), also written So Neichu, So Nei Chu, and Soh Nei-Choo. Johnpaul Williams lists him among the practitioners who trained with Chojun Miyagi, dating his introduction to Miyagi to 1939 at the Ritsumeikan University Goju-Ryu Karatedo Kenpo Club. So Ne Chu later helped shape Oyama’s understanding of Goju-ryu. [7]

Goju-ryu brought a different emphasis to the training: close-range technique, circular movement, breath control, Sanchin and Tensho, and the relationship between tension and relaxation. Those elements became an important part of Kyokushin alongside the Shotokan influence.

Oyama also trained within Gogen Yamaguchi’s Goju-Kai. In Graham Noble’s interview with Goshi Yamaguchi, Gogen’s son recalled that his father awarded Oyama sixth dan in Goju-Kai. [9]

Judo and Sone Kōzō

Oyama studied judo at Sone Dojo under Sone Kōzō (曽根幸蔵), whom Gottner identifies in his historical research. Judo added throws, holds, and other grappling methods to the range of arts Oyama practiced. [8]

Oyama’s interest in grappling was not incidental. His books contain throws, joint controls, releases, and methods of self-defense that go well beyond the familiar image of Kyokushin competition. I’ve written about this in Kyokushin’s Forgotten Grappling Roots.

Kanbukan and training with protective equipment

Kanbukan, the predecessor of Renbukai, was a Tokyo dojo where karate practitioners sparred with protective equipment. Renbukai’s historical account lists Mas Oyama among its instructors. Historian Eric Madis also names Oyama, So Ne Chu, and Richard Kim among those associated with Kanbukan, and reports a fourth-dan promotion for Oyama. Kanbukan offers another link between Oyama’s early training and the development of full-contact karate. [17][18]

Full-contact karate did not emerge in isolation. Different schools were experimenting with methods of practical training after the war, and Kyokushin developed within that broader martial arts environment.

Kotaro Yoshida and the self-defense tradition

Kotaro Yoshida taught Daito-ryu jujutsu and was one of Oyama’s teachers. Oyama spoke highly of him in This Is Karate. Yoshida’s influence helps explain the throws, joint controls, and self-defense techniques found in Oyama’s earlier books. [1][8]

A particularly interesting piece of evidence is a scroll Yoshida gave Oyama. For years it was described as proof that Oyama received a menkyo kaiden, a license of full transmission in Daito-ryu. Gottner examined a high-resolution copy, transcribed and translated it, and found that it is a distinct scroll of Yoshida-style stick and parasol self-defense rather than a Daito-ryu menkyo kaiden. [8]

Yoshida was still Oyama’s teacher. The scroll simply turns out to be a different document from the one it was long said to be.

Taken together, these influences help explain why Kyokushin never fit neatly into a single older school. Oyama learned from different sources, but the system he developed was his own.

3. The Mountain Years: Minobu and Kiyosumi

Traditional accounts describe an initial retreat to Mount Minobu in 1946 and another period at Mount Kiyosumi beginning in 1948. The length of the first retreat changes from one telling to the next. That matters because the same biographies place Oyama at a tournament in Kyoto in 1947.

What makes the experience more than a legend is Oyama’s own description. In “My Way,” published in Kyokushin Karate Quarterly in 1978, he recalls a daily routine of physical training, running, makiwara work, breaking practice, meditation, and attempts to overcome the loneliness of isolation. He describes learning to confront both nature and his own state of mind. That installment does not name the mountain or give dates. [4]

Oyama also wrote about Miyamoto Musashi. In “My Way” he retells a story in which Musashi answers a question by drawing two circles at once, one with each hand. [4] Retellings online differ on what he read on the mountain. Some say Musashi’s Book of Five Rings, and others say Eiji Yoshikawa’s novel Musashi.

Tradition also credits Eiji Yoshikawa, author of the novel Musashi, with helping Oyama write the Kyokushin Dojo Kun.

The mountain years have sometimes been presented as an almost supernatural transformation. I find Oyama’s own account more interesting. He describes the work, the solitude, and the struggle to maintain his purpose. That is something any serious student of karate can understand.

For more on the training philosophy behind this period, see Discipline Isn’t a Feeling and The Real Meaning of Osu: Renma and the Spirit of Karate.

4. The Reported 1947 All-Japan Tournament

Traditional Kyokushin biographies say Oyama won an All-Japan karate tournament in Kyoto in 1947. The account also appears in Oyama’s Advanced Karate. [2] In the first edition of The Budo Karate of Mas Oyama, Cameron Quinn describes the event as the karate section of the first Japanese National Martial Arts Championships held after World War II. [24]

The Allied occupation restricted some Japanese martial arts because of their association with wartime militarism. Karate, however, was generally treated differently. It was relatively new in mainland Japan and less closely identified with the older martial traditions, so karate practice continued. Renbukai’s own history makes the same point. The occupation restrictions alone therefore do not rule out a karate tournament in 1947. [17][20]

What I have not found is a record from 1947 itself: a program, a roster, or a published result that identifies the tournament. Until one turns up, I treat the victory as what it is, part of Kyokushin’s traditional history and of the books published in Oyama’s lifetime.

5. The Bulls and the Name “Godhand”

Oyama became internationally famous for demonstrations in which he confronted cattle and reportedly broke horns with knife-hand strikes. The images and film associated with those demonstrations are part of the history of Kyokushin’s public reputation.

The figure repeated in most Kyokushin histories is fifty-two bulls, three of them killed and forty-nine left without their horns. Cameron Quinn gives that count in The Budo Karate of Mas Oyama. [24] What is not in doubt is that the demonstrations took place and were photographed and filmed.

Traditional accounts also describe Oyama suffering a serious injury during a bull encounter in Mexico in 1957. The episode became part of the story of how he tested his karate before the public.

There is another side to the story. Such demonstrations drew attention to karate at a time when most people outside Japan knew very little about it. Newspapers, magazines, television, and touring exhibitions introduced Oyama to audiences who would never have walked into a Japanese dojo. His performances were publicity, certainly, but publicity was also how an unfamiliar fighting art reached the public.

Readers today will have different reactions to the use of animals in those demonstrations, even though the animals were marked for slaughter. We can recognize their historical role without trying to justify them by today’s standards or exaggerate what happened.

6. The American Tours and the Togo Brothers

In 1952, Oyama traveled to the United States and took part in a touring program associated with professional wrestling. His companions included the Japanese judoka Endo and a professional wrestler known as Great Togo. The promotional act was billed as the “Togo Brothers.” [2][6]

Yasuhiko Oyama’s The Bouncer, written from his brother Shigeru’s recollections, provides unusually useful details about these early American appearances. The account dates Oyama and Endo’s arrival in Hawaii to March 29, 1952, and their arrival in Los Angeles to April 2. It says that Endo and Togo wrestled while Oyama demonstrated karate forms and breaking techniques rather than taking part in wrestling matches. [6]

This is worth distinguishing from later retellings that portray the entire tour as a series of challenge fights.

In the preface to Advanced Karate, Oyama himself recalls beginning his American demonstrations in Chicago and traveling through thirty-two states in 1952. His account emphasizes how unfamiliar American audiences were with karate, and how breaking demonstrations captured their attention. [2]

Oyama returned to the United States and traveled elsewhere during the 1950s. His own recollections in Advanced Karate and What Is Karate? do not always agree with the figures given in later organizational chronologies. [2][12]

Oyama also taught American servicemen at military installations in Japan. Christopher Caile recalled accompanying Oyama and Tadashi Nakamura on Sunday visits to Camp Zama to teach American soldiers. This is useful firsthand recollection of military-base instruction, although published accounts differ on the years Caile was in Japan and do not establish when the program began. Such contacts, along with students like Bobby Lowe in Hawaii, helped bring Kyokushin to Americans before the organization had an extensive overseas branch network. [15]

7. From the First Training Hall to the Oyama Dojo

The founding of a dojo seems like something that ought to have a single clear date. In this case, published sources give several.

For this history, I use 1955. The publisher’s biography accompanying Mas Oyama’s own This Is Karate gives that as the year his first training hall opened in Japan, using the later name “Kyokushin Kaikan” retrospectively. The dojo developed before the International Karate Organization Kyokushinkaikan was formally established in 1964. [1]

Johnpaul Williams’s Goju-Ryu Karate-Do Desk Reference dates Oyama’s first “official dojo” to April 1956 and notes its Goju-Kai association. [7]

Many Kyokushin histories, including later organizational chronologies, give 1953 and place the first dojo in Mejiro, Tokyo.

Yasuhiko Oyama adds an earlier, more personal detail. In Chasing the American Dream, he recalls that his older brother Hiroshi became Mas Oyama’s first student and trained with him in his yard before there was a dojo. [5]

By the mid-1950s, the growing group was training in a rented studio behind Rikkyo University. This was the Oyama Dojo period, before the establishment of the international organization.

The name Kyokushin was in use before the International Karate Organization was established in 1964. Later accounts often refer to a naming ceremony in 1957, but I have not found sufficiently specific contemporary evidence to insist on that date. The important distinction is that the system and dojo developed in the 1950s, while the international organization was formally established later.

8. Establishing the Kyokushinkaikan in 1964

By the early 1960s, Oyama’s teaching had grown beyond one training hall. Instructors were active abroad, books were reaching large audiences, and an international organization became increasingly necessary.

Construction of the new headquarters in Ikebukuro began in the early 1960s. The International Karate Organization Kyokushinkaikan was established in 1964, with Tokyo Honbu opening that year. [1]

Eisaku Satō served as honorary chairman. He would become Japan’s prime minister in November 1964 and receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974. His connection with Kyokushin is documented in the foreword he wrote for This Is Karate, dated February 1965 and signed with his organizational title. [1]

What does Kyokushin mean?

The kanji 極真 (Kyokushin) are usually translated as “Ultimate Truth.” Adding 会 (kai), meaning association or society, gives 極真会, Kyokushinkai. The fuller name 極真会館, Kyokushinkaikan, identifies the organization and its headquarters tradition.

The distinctive calligraphy worn on the chest of the dogi, the Kanku symbol, and their history are subjects in their own right. I’ve discussed them in Kyokushin Symbols.

9. What Makes Kyokushin Different?

Kyokushin is known above all for its approach to contact. Oyama wanted students to develop technique under pressure rather than merely demonstrate movements in the air. That philosophy shaped the dojo, the competition system, and the public image of the style.

But Kyokushin was never simply about standing in front of someone and trading punches. Its curriculum included basics, kata, self-defense, movement, conditioning, partner drills, and breaking. Oyama’s This Is Karate, Vital Karate, and Advanced Karate preserve that broader picture in thousands of photographs. [1][2][3] I’ve written about how the basics relate to fighting in If Kihon Is So Important, Why Don’t We Fight That Way?

Knockdown kumite

In the familiar adult knockdown format, competitors can deliver powerful punches to the body and kicks to the legs, body, and head. Hand strikes to the head are generally prohibited. Fighters traditionally compete with limited protective equipment, although rules vary by organization, division, and event.

That does not mean Kyokushin never teaches punches to the face. Oyama’s books show techniques aimed at the chin, face, throat, and other vital areas. The restriction belongs to the competition format, not to the entire technical curriculum. [1][3]

Gloves were considered, but Oyama wanted karate competition to remain bare-handed. Allowing full-power bare-knuckle punches to the face would have produced cuts, broken noses, and considerable bloodshed, especially in a sport trying to gain public acceptance. Knockdown competition therefore allowed bare-handed punches to the body and kicks to the head, while restricting hand strikes to the head. [16]

Some critics call that unrealistic because competitors cannot punch one another in the face. But neither is fighting with padded gloves realistic. No sporting ruleset reproduces an actual fight; every one of them sets limits. At least knockdown competitors strike with their bare hands, the way they would outside a tournament. This does not make knockdown a complete substitute for self-defense, and it does not mean facial punches are absent from Kyokushin training. It is one way to test karate under hard contact. I take up the comparison with boxing in Why a Boxer Will Always Win Against a Kyokushin Fighter.

A bout can be decided by ippon, a decisive winning score, or by waza-ari, a half-point, depending on the rules and the effect of the technique. Two waza-ari ordinarily combine into awasete ippon. Organizations vary in their scoring definitions, time limits, and referee procedures.

Conditioning and tameshiwari

Conditioning prepares students to perform under stress, absorb legal contact, and continue when tired. Breaking, or tameshiwari, tests focus, alignment, speed, and the application of power to a physical target. Both were central to Oyama’s approach.

A successful break does not prove that someone can fight. Neither does a strong kata performance. Each part of training has a purpose, and the value comes from bringing those parts together.

The connection between movement, position, and effective technique is something I explored more fully in Position Before Technique. I’ve written more about the principles of fighting in What Every Fighting Art Figured Out, The Value of Experience, and Kyokushin Was Never Just About Toughness.

10. Kyokushin Kata: Shotokan, Goju-ryu, and New Development

Kyokushin kata preserve important parts of Oyama’s Shotokan and Goju-ryu training. The familiar distinction between “northern” and “southern” kata is a useful teaching shorthand, but it should not be treated as a precise historical classification for every form.

The Taikyoku and Pinan series, Kanku, and Sushiho show the influence of the Shotokan tradition. Sanchin, Tensho, Gekisai, Seienchin, Saiha, and Seipai are associated with Goju-ryu and the broader Naha-te tradition. Some forms have less certain histories or entered Kyokushin through a more complex route.

Garyu is especially important here. The kata is generally attributed to Mas Oyama himself, rather than inherited from Goju-ryu. Gottner notes that Oyama’s Korean birthplace, Waryong-ri (臥龍里), would be pronounced Garyū-ri in Japanese. The first two characters, 臥龍, are also used to write Garyu, meaning “Reclining Dragon.” [8] Traditionally, Garyu is also said to have been Oyama’s pen name. Whether he deliberately chose the name as a reference to his birthplace has not been established.

The basic Kyokushin kata are recognizable across most organizations, though the syllabus order, required variations, and performance details differ. Some organizations teach Sokugi Taikyoku or ura versions at particular ranks, while others do not.

For the individual forms, their names, meanings, origins, and practice, see Kyokushin Kata: Names, Meanings, and History. I also discuss the place of kata in training in What Is the Purpose of Kata?.

11. The 100-Man Kumite

The hyakunin kumite, or 100-man kumite, is one of Kyokushin’s most demanding tests. A challenger faces a succession of opponents over one hundred rounds. It tests physical conditioning, technique, mental discipline, and the ability to continue fighting while exhausted.

Mas Oyama is traditionally credited with undertaking the challenge himself, on three consecutive days in most tellings. It then became a test for the generations that followed.

The early participants

Steve Arneil completed the 100-man kumite on May 22, 1965, the date he gave himself. Some International Karate Organization (IKO) chronologies list the date as May 21, 1965, likely due to early Western date-line conversion or transcription errors in retrospective master lists. Tadashi Nakamura’s completion is dated October 15, 1965, in historical research citing a March 1970 karate magazine. [21][22]

I heard Hanshi Steve Arneil tell the story of his 100-man kumite in person. The details here follow the account he gave Steve Rowe in 2000, along with two things I remember him saying. He walked into the dojo that morning and was told he would fight one hundred fights that day. He started at about ten o’clock and finished at about one, a little under three hours. I remember him saying he finished the first twenty as quickly as he could. He told Rowe he counted the fights up to twenty, and after that he was just fighting. His opponents included Shigeru Oyama and Tadashi Nakamura, and he remembered the fight with Nakamura as a very hard one. I also remember him saying that the best fighters came at the end, and that he was sure they did not want a foreigner to be the first to finish. As I understood it, others had attempted the test before him and none had completed it. When it was over he was given his certificate, and his wife, who had been told to come and fetch him, took him home covered in bruises. He did not train the next day and was back in the dojo the day after that. One line has stuck with me ever since I heard him say it: “You can save time if you knock them out.” [23]

Shigeru Oyama gives a different chronology from the organizational record. In The Bouncer, Yasuhiko explains that he wrote in Shigeru’s voice from Shigeru’s recollections. The book dates Shigeru’s flight from Japan to June 17, 1965, and places his 124 fights before that departure. An early published IKO list instead gives 1966. The account used here is Shigeru’s, because his memoir provides a specific departure date and a detailed recollection of the challenge; both versions are identified so readers can judge the evidence. [6][21]

Shigeru’s account also shows that this was not an organized test. He writes that he chose a night when Mas Oyama was out of town, fought his way through the class again and again until the count passed one hundred, and that Oyama heard about it the next day. [6]

Yasuhiko Oyama’s 1972 attempt

Yasuhiko Oyama gives a firsthand account of his own attempt in Chasing the American Dream. By his telling, it was the first 100-man kumite staged as a public event. The dojo was full of reporters, cameras, and invited guests, and his opponents were hand-picked. Yoshiji Soeno, Katsuaki Sato, Miyuki Miura, and Howard Collins were among them. He writes that Mas Oyama promised an immediate promotion to anyone who knocked him out. His first fight, against Soeno, went three hard minutes. His legs were shaking before he had finished ten, and by the fiftieth he describes himself as little more than a punching bag. He lasted 62 fights and could not move for days afterward. [5]

That is why his account belongs here. Yasuhiko was a senior instructor who had just fought in the All-Japan tournament, and he did not get two-thirds of the way. The 100-man kumite is more than a list of names beside the number 100. The people who did not finish show how hard it was as clearly as the people who did.

Other practitioners have completed the challenge since Mas Oyama’s death in 1994. Some later completions are disputed because the rounds, opponents, or recognition procedures are not documented to the satisfaction of every organization. That does not justify dismissing all later achievements, but it does make the conditions and evidence of each individual completion important. This history focuses on the early participants rather than attempting a definitive list of every claim.

12. The Tournaments That Built Kyokushin

The first All-Japan Open, 1969

Kyokushin’s first All-Japan Open Karate Championship was held in Tokyo on September 20, 1969. Terutomo Yamazaki won, with Yoshiji Soeno second and Kazuyuki Hasegawa third. The event brought together fighters from different backgrounds and became the foundation of Kyokushin’s open tournament tradition. [11]

Competition was important to Oyama’s vision because it gave the developing style a public test. The tournament format was not meant to reproduce every possible self-defense situation. It was a specific kind of contest in which fighters could demonstrate spirit, conditioning, technique, and the effect of their strikes. I’ve written about what competition teaches in We Win or We Learn, What Competition Really Teaches, and Reflections on Tournament Fighting.

The first World Open, 1975

In November 1975, Tokyo hosted the first World Open Karate Tournament. Katsuaki Sato won the championship, defeating Hatsuo Royama in the final. Competitors came from many countries, marking a significant stage in the international growth of Kyokushin.

The World Open gave Kyokushin a genuinely international stage and helped make its fighters recognizable far beyond Japan. Later championships followed in 1979, 1984, 1987, and 1991 during Oyama’s lifetime.

The 1991 World Open was the last held under Mas Oyama’s leadership. It was also part of the growing dispute between the IKO and Steve Arneil. In an interview published in Traditional Karate in July 2007, Arneil described objections to tournament draws and judging decisions that he believed favored Japanese competitors. These were his recollections and allegations, not a finding established by the tournament records. Arneil and the British Karate Kyokushinkai left the IKO in 1991; the International Federation of Karate was formally established in September 1992. [13]

A successful tournament alone cannot tell us whether an art is worth practicing. But there is no denying how much the All-Japan and World Open championships contributed to Kyokushin’s growth and international reputation.

13. The People Who Spread Kyokushin

Oyama built the organization, but he did not build it alone. The students who left Japan to teach in unfamiliar countries had to establish dojos, attract students, learn languages, and survive financially while representing a relatively new style of karate.

Bobby Lowe: Hawaii

Bobby Lowe met Mas Oyama in Hawaii in 1952 and traveled to Japan later that year. Accounts place his intensive training with Oyama from late 1952 until early 1954, around eighteen months. He is widely recognized as Oyama’s first uchi deshi, or live-in apprentice, long before the later formal Young Lions program. Lowe returned to Hawaii and opened a Kyokushin dojo in 1957, generally recognized as the first branch outside Japan. Oyama promoted him to 8th dan in October 1984. His publications helped preserve the self-defense techniques of the early dojo. [8][14] I trained with Shihan Lowe at a camp in late August 1996, where he taught self-defense applications drawn from Tensho. I’ve written about him in What Shihan Bobby Lowe Told Me.

Don Buck: California

Don Buck helped establish Kyokushin on the mainland United States, opening a dojo in the San Francisco area during the 1950s. His work is part of the early history of American full-contact karate.

Steve Arneil: Britain and Europe

Steve Arneil began training with Mas Oyama in January 1961 and completed the 100-man kumite in 1965. Oyama promoted him to 7th dan in 1977. He brought Kyokushin to Britain, helped establish the British Karate Kyokushinkai and, after leaving the IKO in 1991, founded the International Federation of Karate (IFK) in September 1992. His decades of teaching connected the original Honbu with generations of students outside Japan. [13][19]

Tadashi Nakamura: New York and Seido

Tadashi Nakamura was a senior Kyokushin instructor and an important figure in its early American expansion. He later founded Seido Karate in 1976. The work he did for Kyokushin before that is part of its history.

Shigeru and Yasuhiko Oyama: American Kyokushin

Shigeru Oyama arrived in the United States in June 1965, according to his recollections published by his brother Yasuhiko in The Bouncer. He taught in White Plains, New York, and Bridgeport, Connecticut, and became a major figure in American Kyokushin. Yasuhiko later joined him and established his own career as a teacher and organizer. [5][6]

Shigeru and Yasuhiko later founded World Oyama Karate in 1985, the date given in the organization’s own history. Yasuhiko’s memoir places the start in 1984. Their books preserve firsthand accounts of life at the early dojo, the challenges of building karate in America, and the relationships among the people who carried Oyama’s teaching overseas. World Oyama Karate became an independent system, but the brothers’ contributions remain part of Kyokushin history. [5][6]

The American history also includes those who maintained the Kyokushin tradition within the IFK. Shihan Mike Monaco, President and Country Representative of USA-IFK, has played an important role in its American leadership and in preserving the connection to Hanshi Steve Arneil’s lineage. His part in the modern development of USA-IFK deserves separate treatment in a fuller account of Kyokushin in the United States.

Loek Hollander, John Jarvis, Kenji Kurosaki, and other pioneers

Loek Hollander helped develop Kyokushin in the Netherlands and became a major figure in European karate. John Jarvis was central to its development in New Zealand. Kenji Kurosaki traveled to Europe in the 1960s and influenced both karate and kickboxing.

Other instructors carried Kyokushin into Australia, Brazil, the Middle East, Africa, and many more countries. Some established branches directly for the IKO. Others developed new organizations or fighting systems later. Their histories deserve recognition without requiring that everyone remain under the same organizational name forever.

14. Life as an Uchi Deshi

Uchi deshi generally means a live-in apprentice training closely under a teacher. Long before Kyokushin established a formal 1,000-day program, foreigners traveled to Japan and stayed for extended periods in order to train with Oyama. Bobby Lowe, who trained with him in the early 1950s, is widely recognized as his first uchi deshi. Those earlier apprenticeships should not be judged by the requirements of the later Young Lions program. [14]

The Young Lions program later gave this live-in training a formal structure. Students lived at the Honbu, followed a 1,000-day course, trained intensively, and shared the daily work of maintaining the dojo.

Judd Reid graduated in 1993 as the first foreigner to complete that formal 1,000-day Young Lions course. He tells the story of those years in The Young Lions and of what came after in The Ronin Years. [10]

Nicholas Pettas also completed the program while Oyama was alive. His later career in kickboxing made him one of the best-known graduates.

The physical training is only part of what makes these recollections interesting. They describe discipline, relationships, responsibility, homesickness, and the challenge of trying to understand the culture of a Japanese dojo from the inside.

15. The International Expansion

By the end of the 1960s, Kyokushin had moved far beyond Tokyo. In the original preface to Advanced Karate, dated October 1969, Oyama looks back on the remarkable international growth since his first American tour. [2]

The book is also a valuable historical artifact because it contains an international directory of dojos and instructors. Unlike a modern website that may have been edited repeatedly, a printed directory captures the organization at a particular moment in time.

By the 1970s, Kyokushin was established across North America, Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The 1975 World Open showed how far that network had developed in a relatively short period.

Not every branch followed the same path. Some instructors built national organizations. Others remained closely connected to Japan. Some eventually left to establish different styles.

16. Books, Magazines, Manga, and Film

Oyama was an unusually effective communicator for a martial arts teacher of his time. His books reached people who had never seen a Kyokushin dojo, while photographs of breaking and full-contact training helped define the style’s public image.

His major English-language instructional works include:

What Is Karate? (1958), Oyama’s early presentation of his techniques and teaching. [12]

This Is Karate (1965), a large illustrated work covering the technical and philosophical breadth of the system.

Vital Karate (1967), a more compact instructional manual. In his preface Oyama describes it as a response to requests for a book suitable for self-study. [3]

Advanced Karate (1970), which places additional emphasis on advanced techniques, self-defense, and Oyama’s thinking about karate. [2]

Those books matter for more than publication history. They allow us to see what Oyama actually taught and emphasized at different points during the development of Kyokushin.

The manga Karate Baka Ichidai, serialized beginning in 1971, made an enormous contribution to Oyama’s celebrity in Japan. Film and television followed, including The Strongest Karate, documenting the first World Open, as well as dramatized stories associated with his life.

Popular entertainment is not reliable as a literal biography. But it played a major part in creating the public image that introduced millions of people to Kyokushin.

17. Philosophy: Osu no Seishin, the Dojo Kun, and Budo

The physical demands of Kyokushin are immediately visible. The philosophy behind the training is sometimes harder to explain.

Oyama believed that karate should develop the individual, not simply create a stronger fighter. His books repeatedly return to character, discipline, humility, and the responsibilities that come with the ability to hurt another person. I’ve written more on this in What is Budo Karate?

The familiar word Osu is used throughout Kyokushin as a greeting, acknowledgment, and expression of determination. Within Kyokushin, it is traditionally explained through oshi shinobu, to push and endure. From that comes Osu no Seishin, the spirit of perseverance.

But perseverance is not only about enduring a difficult workout. It is also the willingness to return to the same basics year after year and continue improving. That idea is closely related to renma, the constant polishing of technique and character.

As I discussed in The Real Meaning of Osu: Renma and the Spirit of Karate, the movements may be familiar long before we have learned everything they can teach us.

The Kyokushin Dojo Kun expresses the same tradition in seven statements concerning training, character, courtesy, humility, wisdom, and lifelong commitment. Oyama’s Eleven Mottos offer another way to understand his philosophy.

Kyokushin’s name means “Ultimate Truth,” but that does not mean the people who practice it have found every answer. Serious training should make us more capable, certainly. It should also remind us of how much we still have to learn.

18. Mas Oyama’s Death and the Organizational Divisions

Mas Oyama died in Tokyo on April 26, 1994. His death left an international organization without the one person whose authority had held its many branches together.

Disputes over succession and leadership followed, and the original IKO divided into competing organizations. The most familiar groups include the IKO associated with Shokei Matsui and the organization that became the World Karate Organization Shinkyokushinkai. Other organizations developed separately.

The divisions did not begin in 1994. Tadashi Nakamura had founded Seido Karate in 1976, and Shigeru and Yasuhiko Oyama founded World Oyama Karate in 1985. Steve Arneil and the British Karate Kyokushinkai left the IKO in 1991, with the IFK formally founded in September 1992. These developments differed in purpose: some were separate karate systems, while the IFK continued to teach Kyokushin outside the IKO. [5][6][13]

There were legal proceedings concerning succession and organizational authority. Those decisions have their own history, but this article does not need to become a detailed account of the litigation. The essential point is that no single organization thereafter represented everyone who continued to practice Kyokushin.

I trained in the original IKO before joining the IFK, so this is not simply an abstract part of the history to me. I have discussed what organizational division has meant to the wider community in Whatever Happened to the Kyokushin Family?.

The people in these organizations may disagree about governance and history. They also share far more in their training than some of those disputes would suggest. I think that’s worth remembering.

19. Kyokushin’s Influence Beyond Kyokushin

Kyokushin’s influence extends beyond organizations that still use the name.

Tadashi Nakamura founded Seido Karate. Hideyuki Ashihara developed Ashihara Karate, with its emphasis on sabaki, the use of movement and angles. Joko Ninomiya later established Enshin Karate, and Takashi Azuma developed Daido Juku, subsequently known as Kudo. Yoshiji Soeno founded Shidokan Karate.

Kazuyoshi Ishii, who trained in the Ashihara tradition, founded Seidokaikan and went on to establish K-1 in 1993. That is one of the clearest lines connecting the Japanese full-contact karate movement to modern professional kickboxing.

Kyokushin-trained fighters, and competitors who developed from its related systems, also appeared in K-1 and other combat sports. Andy Hug, Francisco Filho, and Glaube Feitosa are familiar examples. Georges St-Pierre has spoken about the value of his Kyokushin background in mixed martial arts.

It is important to distinguish these relationships. Seido, Ashihara, Enshin, Shidokan, and Kudo are not simply alternative Kyokushin organizations. They developed their own identities and technical approaches. Their origins nevertheless belong to the larger history of Oyama’s influence.

20. What We Can and Cannot Know From the Records

Historical research is not improved by treating every published claim as equally reliable, but neither is it improved by rejecting every account that cannot be confirmed by another source.

Oyama’s books tell us what he and his publishers presented during his lifetime. The accounts of his students and contemporaries tell us what they remember seeing, doing, and hearing. Organizational records show what an organization documented at a particular point in time. Modern researchers can compare those accounts with documents that may not have been available to earlier writers. Sometimes those accounts agree, and sometimes they do not.

This article uses 1955 for the first training hall because that is the date recorded in the publisher’s biography accompanying This Is Karate. The published 100-man records are presented alongside Shigeru Oyama’s own account because they disagree. The reported 1947 tournament victory is described as a traditional account because its precise status remains uncertain.

That is not an attempt to start an argument with anyone else’s history. It’s simply a matter of documenting the sources used here and allowing readers to examine them.

21. Timeline of Kyokushin History

22. Frequently Asked Questions

Who founded Kyokushin Karate?

Masutatsu Oyama founded Kyokushin and was widely known as Mas Oyama or Sosai. Sosai (総裁), roughly “president” or “director-general,” was the title associated with his leadership of the organization. He developed Kyokushin through Shotokan, Goju-ryu, judo, other martial arts, and his own teaching and experimentation.

When did Kyokushin begin?

The system developed through Oyama’s teaching in the 1950s, and this article dates his first training hall to 1955. The International Karate Organization Kyokushinkaikan was formally established in 1964.

Where was Mas Oyama born?

In Korea, then under Japanese rule. This history uses June 4, 1921, following Gottner’s research, while recording the different dates in Korean and Japanese registers. [8]

What does Kyokushin mean?

Kyokushin means “Ultimate Truth.” Kyokushinkai adds the meaning of association or society.

Why are punches to the head prohibited in knockdown competition?

Gloves were considered, but Kyokushin kept bare-handed competition. Repeated bare-knuckle punches to the face would have caused serious injuries and bloodshed, so competition rules restricted hand strikes to the head while allowing full-power body punches and legal head kicks. No competition ruleset is completely realistic, including one that uses padded gloves. Knockdown retains bare-handed contact, while facial punches remain part of Kyokushin’s wider curriculum. [16]

What is the 100-man kumite?

A challenge in which a karateka faces one hundred consecutive rounds against successive opponents. It is associated with extraordinary physical conditioning and determination. Historical records differ about some dates and recognition, so individual accounts are cited above.

Did Mas Oyama win an All-Japan karate championship in 1947?

That victory appears in traditional Kyokushin biographies, including material published during Oyama’s lifetime. I have not found a record from 1947 that identifies the tournament.

What happened after Mas Oyama died?

The original international organization divided amid disputes over succession and leadership. Some independent Kyokushin organizations and separate styles had already been established before his death.

Is Kyokushin still practiced worldwide?

Yes. Kyokushin continues through multiple organizations, national associations, independent dojos, and related karate systems in many countries.

23. Sources and Further Reading

Firsthand accounts are identified as such. Where sources disagree, the disagreement is noted in the relevant section.

[1] Oyama, Masutatsu. This Is Karate. Japan Publications, first edition March 1965; later revised edition consulted. See publisher’s “About the Author” text on the inside jacket for the 1955 training hall date; foreword dated February 1965 by Eisaku Sato; chapters on technical training and the origins of karate.

[2] Oyama, Masutatsu. Advanced Karate. Japan Publications, first printing January 1970. See Oyama’s preface dated October 1969 and the international training-hall directory.

[3] Oyama, Masutatsu. Vital Karate. Japan Publications Trading Company, first edition March 1967. See preface and technical contents.

[4] Oyama, Masutatsu. “My Way, Part 1: Mountain Training.” Kyokushin Karate Quarterly, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1978), pp. 24–25. Translated by Shigehiro Sugikawa and arranged by Christine Wilby. Original pages reproduced at https://nakko.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/My-Way-1.pdf.

[5] Oyama, Yasuhiko. Chasing the American Dream. 2021. First-person recollections of the Oyama family, early dojo, American karate, and Yasuhiko’s 1972 kumite attempt.

[6] Oyama, Yasuhiko. The Bouncer: The Autobiography of Soshu Shigeru Oyama. 2021. Written in Shigeru’s voice from his recollections, as explained in Yasuhiko’s introduction. See “My Adventure Starts” and “100-Man Kumite (Fight).”

[7] Williams, Johnpaul. Goju-Ryu Karate-Do Desk Reference, Vol. 1: Introduction & Historic Chronology, third edition, 2022, pp. 225 and 238. So Ne Chu’s dates (1908–1996) and introduction to Miyagi on p. 225; entry dated April 1956 on p. 238 describing an “official dojo” and Goju-Kai association.

[8] Gottner, Richárd Gábor. “The Self-Defence Scroll of Kyokushinkai Karate: Analysing the Mokuroku Ōyama Masutatsu Received from Daitō-ryū Aikijūjutsu Master Yoshida Kōtarō.” Journal of East Asian Cultures 17, no. 1 (2025): 99–147. DOI: 10.38144/TKT.2025.1.5. Includes discussion of Oyama’s birth records, Sone Kōzō, and Yoshida’s scroll. Read the paper.

[9] Noble, Graham. “An Interview with Goshi Yamaguchi.” Firsthand testimony concerning Oyama’s Goju-Kai affiliation and rank. Read the interview.

[10] Reid, Judd, with Anton Cavka and Norm Schriever. The Young Lions: An Epic Story of Perseverance, Chasing Your Dream and Never Giving Up. 2016. Title as given on the title page; the cover subtitle reads “1000 Days of Training Under a Karate Legend and the 100-Man Kumite.” Reid’s firsthand account of his uchi-deshi years and his 100-man kumite. See also The Ronin Years: Mas Oyama’s Young Lion (2021), which opens with his 1993 graduation as the first foreigner to complete the formal program and covers the years that followed.

[11] Kyokushinkaikan. “The First All-Japan Karate Championship, September 20, 1969.” Original competition results, including the top placements. See the tournament record.

[12] Oyama, Masutatsu. What Is Karate? Japan Publications, 1958. Early English-language presentation of Oyama’s training and teaching; consult the edition cited for page-level references.

[13] “Steve Arneil: Kyokushin Man,” Traditional Karate, Vol. 20, No. 11 (July 2007), pp. 22–25 (interview first conducted in 1996). Arneil’s firsthand account of tournament judging, his relationship with Oyama, and leaving the IKO. https://members.karateacademy.co.uk/doc/Karate0707.pdf

[14] Lowe, Bobby. Mas Oyama’s Karate as Practiced in Japan (1964); also see Gottner (2025), discussion of Lowe as Oyama’s first foreign uchi deshi. Dates of the 1952–1954 apprenticeship reported in later biographical accounts.

[15] Caile, Christopher. “A Half Century of Budo, Part 1.” FightingArts.com. First-person recollections of accompanying Mas Oyama and Tadashi Nakamura to teach U.S. military personnel at Camp Zama. https://fightingarts.com/a-half-century-of-budo-part-1/

[16] Stewart, Bill. “Gloves in Kyokushin?” Kyokushin Karate Blog, May 25, 2026. Discusses the historical development of knockdown rules and points to the revised 1966 What Is Karate?, p. 169, and later editions of This Is Karate for Oyama’s consideration of gloves. https://kyokushinkarateblog.com/gloves-in-kyokushin/

[17] Japan Karatedo Federation Renbukai. “History of Renbukai.” Institutional account of Kanbukan, armor-protected sparring, and its instructors, expressly including Mas Oyama. https://jkfrenbukai.com/history/

[18] Madis, Eric. “Storming the Fortress: A History of Taekwondo, Part Three: The First Korean Schools: The Shudokan Schools.” FightingArts.com. Names Mas Oyama, So Ne Chu, and Richard Kim as Kanbukan practitioners and reports a fourth-dan promotion for Oyama, citing a 1956 interview involving Gogen Yamaguchi. https://fightingarts.com/storming-the-fortress-a-history-of-taekwondo-part-three/

[19] USA-IFK Kyokushin Karate. “Kaicho Hatsuo Royama (1948–2026).” Biographical article noting that Steve Arneil began training under Oyama in January 1961. https://uskyokushin.com/kaicho-hatsuo-royama-1948-2026

[20] Perrottet, Tony. “The Centuries-Old Sport of Karate Finally Gets Its Due at the Olympics.” Smithsonian Magazine, July 2021. Includes Raúl Sánchez-García’s explanation of why karate was treated differently under the Allied occupation. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/centuries-old-sport-karate-history-olympics-180977941/

[21] SuperKarate.ru. “100 Fights (Hyakunin Kumite) during the Lifetime of Masutatsu Oyama: Clarifying the Record,” May 26, 2019. A historical review citing the March 1970 Gendai Karate reports of early 100-man kumite challenges. https://superkarate.ru/article/10643-100-man-kumite.html

[22] Rowe, Steve. Interview with Steve Arneil, conducted in 2000. Arneil’s firsthand account of his training under Oyama and his 100-man kumite.

[23] Quinn, Cameron. The Budo Karate of Mas Oyama: Philosophical Foundations of Japan’s Strongest Fighting Art. Written and illustrated by Cameron Quinn. Coconut Productions, first edition, 1987. ISBN 0 7316 1119 5. See p. 41 for the 1947 championship and p. 46 for the bull demonstrations. An account by a longtime student, interpreter, and participant in Kyokushin history.

Additional references used or worth consulting

Kojima, Kazushi, and Tsukamoto, Yoshiko. Ōyama Masutatsu Seiden (2006). Japanese biographical research cited by Gottner. Cited through Gottner (2025); not independently consulted for this article.

Collins, Howard. The Absolute Karate (1995), and The Shodan (2003). Accounts by an early senior practitioner, including the history of the kanji and training traditions.

A final note on sources

If you’ve read another date or another version of an event, that may simply mean you’ve encountered another source. The references here show which accounts this article uses.

Osu!

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