“Kyokushin doesn’t punch to the face.” What? Really? I’ve heard or read this about Kyokushin many times over the years and I always shake my head. That was not the experience I had coming up. It certainly wasn’t something anyone would have been saying if they visited our dojo in Orlando back in the 80’s and 90’s!
I don’t have a ton of photos from that time period. Surprising, I know, to those who know I worked in photography for 20 years. Unlike today though, we didn’t always have a camera on our person. This particular photo, that I featured above, brings back many memories. A certain amount of nostalgia too.
One of the things I always loved about photography was how it could literally freeze a moment in time. I look at this photo now, 35 years later, and it all comes rushing back. The heat, the smell, the sweat, the exhaustion, and the determination we all felt. The determination to keep going no matter what. I’m reminded of the quote:
“If you do not overcome your tendency to give up easily, your life will lead to nothing”. – Mas. Oyama
You’ll notice our training area included a wall-to-wall wrestling mat. Throws, sweeps, and takedowns were all allowed. People will notice also that we’re all wearing lightweight padding over the hands and feet, but with open palms to facilitate grabbing.
In our school, if you didn’t keep your hands up when we were sparring with gloves, you definitely got tagged in the face! If you couldn’t defend yourself against being grabbed, you could find yourself flat on the mat after being thrown or having your feet kicked out from under you. The sweat and looks of exhaustion on our faces are signs of how hard we were pushing that day.
That didn’t mean that we didn’t also spar without gloves. We did that often also, similar class rules, just no face contact when sparring bare knuckle. If someone threw a kick and didn’t snap it fast enough they were going to get their foot grabbed and end up on the mat. We sparred knockdown rules if we were preparing to fight knockdown. The rest of the time sparring was more realistic. Self-defense was our focus. In real life, people will grab you and you’re likely to need to defend getting punched in the face too.
Kyokushin became known for its knockdown tournaments back in the late 60’s and 70’s. So well known that many believe to this day that we don’t train to punch the face! It’s as if people have forgotten that knockdown is a SPORT! Knockdown is a RULESET! There is MUCH more to Kyokushin than knockdown. Having said that, my teacher used to tell us that, “To be Kyokushin meant being able to fight anyone, anywhere, under any rules… and win”.
“I have not permitted myself to be ignorant of any martial art that exists. Why? Such ignorance is a disgrace to someone who follows the path of the martial arts” – Mas Oyama
Shihan Cameron Quinn on his YouTube channel has often mentioned (I’m paraphrasing a bit) that first and foremost, Kyokushin was designed for REAL LIFE. Sosai did not teach knockdown—he taught BUDO Karate! Shihan Quinn has also mentioned that an examination of Sosai’s three main books—What is Karate, This is Karate, and Advanced Karate—shows that a full 70% of the self-defense techniques in those books are within standup grappling range.
In the early days of Kyokushin, punching to the face was allowed, as was grappling and throws during sparring. It was only when the “sport” of knockdown was created and people started training specifically for it that some Kyokushin dojos got away from face-punching, choosing instead to focus on competition.
Our dojo never went that route. I suspect that much of this perspective on Kyokushin was instilled in us by our teacher who had started his Kyokushin training in 1967.
How Did Knockdown come to be?
Sosai Oyama was working hard to spread karate around the world. One method he adopted was by developing sporting aspects of the art, much as Jigoro Kano had done with Judo. When the rules were being decided on, gloves were considered, as was padding, but ultimately decided against as unrealistic. (Yes, I know an argument can be made that not punching the face is unrealistic too.)
There was a genuine worry back then that there would be too much blood if punching the face were allowed. They wanted to avoid the possibility of negative perceptions by the Japanese public. Many believed that if punching to the face were allowed, there would be deaths!
My teacher was fond of saying that, “Anytime you take a martial art and turn it into a sport, you weaken it”. That didn’t mean that he was against competition. There are valuable aspects to competition that can help us develop as martial artists. The Kyokushin approach to training tends to turn out tough fighters. The creation of a system of rules for this type of competition is a good thing, I think. It helped with the growth of Kyokushin as it spread around the world. But we should never forget that the sport is just one aspect of the art.
The full art of Kyokushin—as Sosai Oyama taught it—includes punches to the face, grappling, throws, and all the messy, chaotic reality of actual self-defense. That’s what we trained in Orlando. That’s what BUDO Karate is about.
What are your experiences with face punching in Kyokushin? Did your dojo train with it? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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Learn more about Bill Stewart and Texas Kyokushin Karate, where we continue the Kyokushin tradition in Texas.Connect with me:
Follow Kyokushin Karate Blog on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
Be sure to visit Kyokushinkai Karate, our Facebook group — one of the largest and most dedicated Kyokushin communities online.
Learn more about Bill Stewart and Texas Kyokushin Karate, where we continue the Kyokushin tradition in Texas.
