The Kyokushin Way-Mas. Oyama's Karate Philosophy

by Masutatsu Oyama

1979

Library's review

Masutatsu Oyama, who was bornin 1923, began studying kempo at the age of nine and had attained the first level of proficiency (shodan) by his second year in middle school. In 1928, while enrolled at the Yamanashi Youth Aviation Institiute, he began styding at the martial arts hall called the
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shotokan, which was headed by Gichin Funakoshi. At the age of seventeen, he had attained second dan. In 1941, he matriculated into Takushoku University and, in 1943, began studying with Sodeiju, a leading figure in the karate world of the time. By the age of twenty, he was fourth dan. In 1943, he volunteered for service in the perilous special attack corps of the Japanese army and was sent south, where the fighitng was taking place. But soon Wrolld War II ended.

In 1946, he isolated himself in a temple on Mount Minobu and trained in karate for a full year. After having taken first place in the initial postwar all-Japan championship tournament, he dediced to devote the rest of his life exclusively to this martial art. In 1948, he constructed a rude hut for himself on Mount Kiyozumi, in Chiba Prefecture, and once again trained strenuously, this time fro a year and eight months, during which he fed himself on grasses and berries. After coming down from the mountain, in 1949, in order to train in breaking horns from bulls, he took up residecne not far from a slaugher yard. During his stay there, he broke the horns from fifty bulls.

In 1952, together with Kokichi Endo, an outstanding judo expert, he traveled to the United States, where he gave 270 exhibition matches and appeared on television 7 times. Such things as his ability to break whiskey bottles with his bare hands surprised the Americans and earned him the nickname 'The Divine Fist.' He was challenged by two American professional boxers and one professional wrestler and beat them all. Since that time, he has traveled extensively teaching and giving lectures in America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Today, as chairman of Kyokushin-kaikan, known the world over as the mightiest of all schools of karate, he operates branch training halls in fifty-five nations.

For the sake of trainees all over the world, in 1958, he wrote What Is Karate? (which has sold 120 thousand copies); in 1964, This Is Karate (which sold 60 thousand copies in 2 years, and in 1970 Advanced Karate.

In November, 1975, he sponsored the first World Open Karate Championship Tournament, which proved conclusively that karate is the most powerful of the martial arts and that Kyokushin-kai karate is the most powerful kind of karate.

Contents

Preface
Aspirations
Diligence
Courage
Success demands courtesy
Parents
Reasons for fighting
Karate and zen
Breath control and mind control
Love and marriage
Keeping money in its place
Liberation, the ultimate truth
Significance today
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ISBN

870404601

Publication

Japan Publications,Inc. Tokyo, Japan
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