Sosai oyama biography of abraham

If you blocked a rib punch, your arm was broken or dislocated. If you didn't block, your rib was broken. Mas Oyama became known as the Godhand, a living manifestation of the Japanese warriors' maxim Ichi geki, Hissatsu or, "One strike, certain death". To him, this was the true aim of technique in karate. The fancy footwork and intricate techniques were secondary though he was also known for the power of his head kicks.

It was during one of his visits to the United States that Mas Oyama met Jacques Sandulescu, a big cm and kg of muscle Romanian who had been taken prisoner by the Red Army at the age of 16, and sent to the coal mines as a slave labourer for two years. They quickly became friends and remained so for the rest of Oyama's life. Jacques still trains and acts as advisor to the IKO - Matsui to this day.

In , the first real Dojo was opened in a former ballet studio behind Rikkyo University, meters from the location of the current Japanese honbu dojo headquarters. By there were members, despite the high drop-out rate due to the harshness of training. Sosai Oyama Practitioners of other styles came to train here too, for the jis-sen kumite full contact fighting.

One of the original instructors, Kenji Kato, has said that they would observe those from other styles, and adopt any techniques that "would be good in a real fight". This was how Mas Oyama's karate evolved. He took techniques from all martial arts, and did not restrict himself to karate alone. The Oyama Dojo members took their kumite seriously, seeing it primarily as a fighting art, so they expected to hit and to be hit.

With few restrictions, attacking the head was common, usually with the palm heel or towel-wrapped knuckles. Grabs, throws, and groin attacks were also common. Kumite rounds would continue till one person loudly conceded defeat. They had no official do-gi and wore whatever they had. A young Bobby Lowe saw him and was stunned by the power Oyama demonstrated.

It was not as though Bobby Lowe was inexperienced in martial arts. Though still quite young, his achievements to date were not much less than those of Mas Oyama himself. His father had been a Kung Fu instructor, and he had participated in any fighting art he could find. By the age of 23, he was yondan in judo, nidan in kempo, shodan in aikido, and a highly regarded welterweight boxer.

After six months however, Mr. A friend, Mr. However, after fourteen months Mr. Kayama announced that he was unable to continue this arrangement. In , a few months after his return to society, Oyama won the first Japanese National Karate Championship. One of his students named Yashiro accompanied him, but after the rigors of this isolated training, with no modern conveniences, the student snuck away one night, and left Oyama alone.

With only monthly visits from a friend in the town of Tateyama in Chiba Prefecture , the loneliness and harsh training became grueling. Oyama remained on the mountain for fourteen months, and returned to Tokyo a much stronger and fiercer karateka. Oyama greatly credited his reading of The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi a famous Japanese swordsman for changing his life completely.

He recounts this book as being his only reading material during his mountain training years. He was forced to leave his mountain retreat after his sponsor had stopped supporting him. Months later, after he had won the Karate Section of Japanese National Martial Arts Championships, he was distraught that he had not reached his original goal to train in the mountains for three years, so he went into solitude again, this time on Mt.

Kiyosumi in Chiba Prefecture , where he trained for 18 months. The senior instructors under him were T. Nakamura, K. Mizushima, E. Yasuda, M. Ishibashi , and T. He also developed a reputation for being 'rough' with his students, as the training sessions were grueling and students injuring themselves in practice fighting kumite was quite common. Oyama believed in the practical application of karate and declared that ignoring 'breaking practice is no more useful than a fruit tree that bears no fruit.

Many of the eventual senior leaders of today's various Kyokushin-based organisations began training in the style during this time. In connection with this, he also formally founded the 'International Karate Organization Kyokushin kaikan ' commonly abbreviated to IKO or IKOK to organise the many schools that were by then teaching the kyokushin style.

In , at the All-Japan Student Open Karate Championship, one of Oyama's students, Tadashi Nakamura, at 19 years old made his first tournament appearance, where he was placed first. World championships have been held at four-yearly intervals since. After formally establishing Kyokushin-kai, Oyama directed the organization through a period of expansion.

Oyama and his staff of hand-picked instructors displayed great ability in marketing the style and gaining new members. In this way, the instructor would soon gain a few students for his new dojo. After that, word of mouth would spread through the local area until the dojo had a dedicated core of students. Oyama also sent instructors to other countries such as the United States, Netherlands, England, Australia and Brazil to spread Kyokushin in the same way.

Oyama devised the man kumite which he went on to complete three times in a row over the course of three days. He was also known for fighting bulls bare-handed. He battled 52 bulls over the course of his lifetime, supposedly cutting off the horns of several and killing three instantly with one strike, earning him the nickname of "Godhand". Oyama is said to have had many matches with professional wrestlers during his travels through the United States.

Never again would he be so heavily influenced by his society around him. Though it is probably safe to say that his circumstances were also probably never again as traumatic! In , Sosai the founder Mas Oyama started testing and demonstrating his power by fighting bulls. In all, he fought 52 bulls, three of which were killed instantly, and 49 had their horns taken off with knife hand blows.

That it is not to say that it was all that easy for him. Oyama was fond of remembering that his first attempt just resulted in an angry bull. In , at the age of 34, he was nearly killed in Mexico when a bull got some of his own back and gored him. Oyama somehow managed to pull the bull off and break off his horn. He was bedridden for 6 months while he recoverd from the usually fatal wound.

Today of course, the animal rights groups would have something to say about these demonstrations, despite the fact that the animals were already all destined for slaughter. In , he travelled the United States for a year, demonstrating his karate live and on national televison. During subsequent years, he took on all challengers, resulting in fights with different people.

The vast majority of these were defeated with one punch! A fight never lasted more than three minutes, and most rarely lasted more than a few seconds. If he hit you, you broke. If you blocked a rib punch, you arm was broken or dislocated. If you didn't block, your rib was broken. He became known as the Godhand , a living manifestation of the Japanese warriors' maxim Ichi geki, Hissatsu or "One strike, certain death".

To him, this was the true aim of technique in karate. The fancy footwork and intricate techniques were secondary though he was also known for the power of his head kicks. It was during one of his visits to the United States that Mas Oyama met Jacques Sandulescu, a big cm and kg of muscle Romanian who had been taken prisoner by the Red Army at the age of 16, and sent to the coal mines as a slave labourer for two years.

They quickly became friends and remained so for the rest of Oyama's life, and Jacques still trains and acts as advisor to the IKO 1 to this day. In , the first real Dojo was opened in a former ballet studio behind Rikkyo University, meters from the location of the current Japanese honbu dojo headquarters.

Sosai oyama biography of abraham

By there were members, despite the high drop-out rate due to the harshness of training. Practitioners of other styles came to train here too, for the jis-sen kumite full contact fighting. One of the original instructors, Kenji Kato, has said that they would observe those from other styles, and adopt any techniques that "would be good in a real fight".

This was how Mas Oyama's karate evolved. He took techniques from all martial arts, and did not restrict himself to karate alone.