Kyokushin

"Kyokushin" redirects here. For the airline, see Kyokushin Air.

Kyokushin Kaikan

Focus	Striking
Hardness	Full-contact; Competitions include kicks to the head, but not hand strikes to the head
Country of origin	Japan
Creator	Masutatsu Oyama (Choi Yeong-Eui)
Famous practitioners	Andy Hug, Bas Rutten, Georges St. Pierre, Dolph Lundgren, Glaube Feitosa, Francisco Filho, Bobby Lowe, Hajime Kazumi, Sean Connery, Flemming Jensen, Mariusz Pudzianowski, Tiger Schulmann, Shokei Matsui, Semmy Schilt, Ewerton Teixeira,Glen Murphy
Parenthood	Various, mainly Goju Ryu, also including Shotokan, Daito Ryu.

Kyokushin kaikan (極真会館) is a style of stand-up, full contact karate, founded in 1964 by Masutatsu Oyama (大山倍達, Ōyama Masutatsu) who was born under the name Choi Yong-I (최영의). Kyokushinkai is Japanese for "the society of the ultimate truth." Kyokushin is rooted in a philosophy of self-improvement, discipline and hard training. Its full contact style has had international appeal (practitioners have over the last 40+ years numbered more than 12 million).

Kyokushin has influenced many of the "full-contact" schools of karate, emphasizing realistic combat, physical toughness, and practicality in its training curriculum. The Knockdown karate competition system pioneered by kyokushin has been adopted by many different karate styles and organizations. Other martial arts organizations have "spun-off" from Kyokushin over the years, with some adding additions, such as grappling techniques, but continuing with the same philosophy of realistic and practical training methods.

History

Origin

The following is a brief overview of the early life of Masutatsu "Mas" Oyama.

The founder of Kyokushin, Masutatsu Oyama, was born Choi Yong-i on 27 July 1923 in Il-Loong, Korea, during the long period of Japanese occupation. As a young child, Oyama enjoyed fighting and watching others fight. In 1938, he emigrated to Japan and studied Okinawan Karate under Gichin Funakoshi, eventually gaining 2nd dan. Later, Oyama also trained under Yoshida Kotaro, a famous Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu/Yanagi-ryu Aiki-jujutsu master, from whom he received his menkyo kaiden - an older form of grade, a scroll signifying mastery, from Kotaro. This scroll is still on display at the Honbu dojo in Tokyo.

Also, upon the advice of his mentor and a member of the National Diet, Matsuhei Mori, around this time the young master took his Japanese name, Masutatsu Oyama, the name he would use for the rest of his life. After World War II, Oyama began his training in Goju Ryu karate under a Korean master in Japan, So Nei Chu, who ran a dojo in Tokyo along with the renowned Goju teacher, Gogen Yamaguchi. He would finally attain 8th Dan in Goju Ryu Karate. Another influence from the Goju school was Masahiko Kimura, although also a assistant karate instructor at the karate dojo Oyama trained at, Kimura was primarily a famous champion of judo who defeated Hélio Gracie. Kimura encouraged Oyama to take up judo so that he would have an understanding of the art's ground techniques. Kimura introduced Oyama to the Sone Dojo in Nakano, Tokyo, where he trained regularly for four years, eventually gaining his 4th Dan.

It was after this time that Oyama first retreated into the mountains for one of his well-known solitary training periods, yamagomori. He completed two such retreats for a total of almost three years of solitary training in accord with the ascetic traditions of many of the great warriors of Japan through the centuries. During this period of isolated training, Oyama engaged in intense shugyo, or spiritual discipline. In the early 1950s, Oyama traveled to the USA visiting 32 states.

File:Sosai3.jpg

Founder of Kyokushin Karate, Masutatsu Oyama.

In 1953, Oyama resigned from Goju ryu and opened his own independent karate dojo, named "Oyama Dojo" in Tokyo, but continued to travel around Japan and the world giving martial arts demonstrations, including bare-handed challenges. His first 'Oyama dojo' was a vacant lot in Mejiro, Tokyo. In 1956, Oyama moved the dojo into the ballet studio attached to Rikkyo University. Oyama's own curriculum soon developed a reputation as a tough, intense, hard-hitting, and practical style which he named "Kyokushin" in a ceremony in 1957. As the reputation of the dojo grew, students were attracted to come to train there from Japan and beyond and numbers grew.

In 1964, Oyama moved the dojo into a building he refurbished not far from the ballet studio at Rikkyo. Oyama also formally founded the "International Karate Organization Kyokushinkaikan" (commonly abbreviated to IKO or IKOK), to organize the many schools that were by then teaching the Kyokushin style. This dojo at 3-3-9 Nishi-Ikebukuro, in the Toshima area of Tokyo, remains the world headquarters for one of the current Kyokushin karate factions.

1964 to 1994

After formally establishing the Kyokushinkaikan, Oyama directed the organization through a period of expansion. Oyama hand-picked instructors who displayed ability in marketing the style and gaining new members. Oyama would choose an instructor to open a dojo in another town or city in Japan. The instructor would move to that town and usually demonstrate his karate skills in public places, such as at the civic gymnasium, the local police gym (where many judo students would practice), a local park, or conduct martial arts demonstrations at local festivals or school events. In this way, the instructor would soon gain 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 Netherlands (Kenji Kurosaki), Australia (Shigeo Kato), the United States of America (Tadashi Nakamura, Shigeru Oyama and Yasuhiko Oyama, Miyuki Miura) and Brazil (Seiji Isobe) to spread Kyokushin in the same way. In 1969, Oyama staged the first 'All Japan Full Contact Championships' which took Japan by storm and Terutomo Yamazaki has become the first champion. Also in 1975, the First Open Full Contact World Karate Championships. Occasionally, world championships have been held at four-yearly intervals, although under the current confusion of self-proclaimed representative organizations, there are up to five so-called "world championships" claiming to represent Kyokushin.

Upon Oyama's death, the International Karate Organization (IKO) splintered into several groups, primarily due to conflict over who would succeed Oyama as Chairman and the future structure and philosophy of the organization. As a supposed will was proven to be invalid in the family Court of Tokyo in 1994, any claim to that will indicating the true intention of Oyama was nullified. Before his death, Oyama named no one as his successor although many now claim to be the rightful leader of his organization. One of these, a young and skilled student of Oyama's named Akiyoshi Matsui claimed that he personally owned the intellectual rights to all Kyokushin trademarks, symbols, and even the name Kyokushin. However, the Japanese legal system subsequently ruled against Matsui in this matter (as he had nothing at all to prove his false claim), returning the ownership of Oyama's intellectual property to his family. To this day, Matsui and his followers continue to claim he is the successor although this claim is backed by nothing but the hearsay of a handful of (coincidentally) Matsui's business partners and followers.

The only organization that remains loyal to Oyama's original Kyokushin Honbu Dojo (school) and Oyama's family (who inherited Oyama's intellectual property) is the IKO Kyokushinkaikan based at that dojo, identified as the IKO Sosai (see [1]).

Kyokushin Today

Existing as a single organization under the leadership of the founder, Mas Oyama, the Kyokushin organization, after the Master's passing, broke down into various groups, each claiming their own authority as representing the original Honbu. Many of these groups use identical names or minor variations thereof. As a result there is much confusion and political (and legal) rivalry between the groups.

Various other organizations have stemmed from Kyokushin and teach similar techniques but go by different names. Also, numerous dojos throughout the world claim to teach a Kyokushin curriculum without formal connection to the organization. Although difficult to quantify, it is conjectured that the number of students and instructors involved in learning or teaching the style or one of its close variations around the world is significant and numbers in the millions.

Oyama's widow died in June 2006 after a long illness. According to the Japanese legal system the Custodian of Oyama's intellectual property and legacy is the youngest of his daughters, Kikuko (also known as Kuristina) who now operates the original IKO Honbu.

Techniques and Training

Kyokushin training consists of three main elements: (1) technique, (2) forms, and (3) sparring. These are sometimes referred to as the three "K's" after the Japanese words for them: kihon (technique), kata (forms), and kumite (sparring).

Technique (kihon)

The Kyokushin system is based on traditional karate like Shotokan and Goju-ryu, but incorporates many elements of combat sports like boxing, Muay Thai and kickboxing in kumite. Many techniques used in Kyokushin Karate are not found in other styles of karate.

In this form of karate the instructor and his/her students all must take part in hard sparring to prepare them for full contact fighting. Unlike some forms of karate, Kyokushin places high emphasis on full contact fighting which is sometimes done without any gloves or protective equipment. This apparent violence is tempered because bare-handed punches and strikes to the head are not allowed. This reduces the risk of both immediate and long-term head injury. Whilst knees and kicks to the head and face are allowed, owing to the nature of these techniques, injuries are rare and long-term brain damage common to boxing and kickboxing is virtually non-existent. This makes the Kyokushin style of training very popular amongst professionals.

In the earliest Kyokushin tournaments and training sessions bare knuckle strikes to the face were allowed but resulted in many injuries, and, thus, students were forced to withdraw from training. Oyama believed that wearing protective gloves would detract from the realism that the style emphasizes. Therefore, it was decided that hand and elbow strikes to the head and neck would no longer be allowed in training and competition. Furthermore, many governments don't allow bare knuckle strikes to the head in sanctioned martial arts competitions. The vast majority of Kyokushin organizations and "offshoot" styles today still follow this philosophy.

Technically, Kyokushin is a point and circle style, incorporating a successful blend of the linear techniques of the powerful Shotokan karate and the more circular movements of Goju-ryu with its strong Chinese influence. Shotokan and Goju-ryu were the two styles of karate that Oyama learned before creating his Kyokushin Karate. However, Oyama studied Shotokan for only a couple of years before he switched to Goju-ryu where he got his advanced training under his primary mentor, So Nei Chu. This is reflected in Kyokushin where the training and kata for early ranks closely resembles Shotokan but gradually becomes closer to the circular techniques and strategies of Goju-ryu the higher you advance in the system.

Kata

Kata is a form of ritualized self-training in which patterned or memorized movements are done in order to practice a form of combat maneuvering. According to the highly-regarded and best known Kyokushin text, "The Budo Karate of Mas Oyama" ([2]) by Cameron Quinn, long time interpreter to Oyama, the kata of Kyokushin find their origins as follows:

Northern

The northern kata stems from the Shuri-te tradition of karate, and are drawn from Shotokan karate which Oyama learned while training under Gichin Funakoshi. Some areas now phase out the prefix "sono" in the kata names.

• Taikyoku sono ichi
• Taikyoku sono ni
• Taikyoku sono san

• Pinan Sono Ichi
• Pinan Sono Ni
• Pinan Sono San
• Pinan Sono yon
• Pinan Sono Go

• Kanku Dai
• Sushiho
• Bassai-dai

Unique

• Sokugi Taikyoku sono ichi
• Sokugi Taikyoku sono ni
• Sokugi Taikyoku sono san

These three kata were created by Oyama to further develop kicking skills and follow the same embu-sen (performance line) as the original Taikyoku kata.

Southern

The southern kata stems from the Naha-te tradition of karate, and are drawn from Goju Ryu karate, which Oyama learned while training under So Nei Chu and Gogen Yamaguchi.. Two exceptions are "Tsuki no kata" which originates from Seigokan goju ryu where it was created by Seigo Tada under the name "Kihon tsuki no kata", and the Kata "Yantsu" which originates with Motobu-ha Shito ryu, where it is callen "Hansan" or "Ansan".

• Sanchin
• Gekisai Dai
• Gekisai Sho
• Tensho
• Saifa (Saiha)
• Seienchin
• Seipai
• Yantsu
• Tsuki no kata
• Naihanchin (Tekki in Shotokan)

Unique

The kata Garyu is not taken from traditional Okinawan karate but was created by Oyama and named after his pen name, which is the Japanese pronunciation of the characters 臥龍, the name of the village (Il Loong) in Korea where he was born.

Ura Kata

Several kata are also done in "ura", which essentially means all turns are the the back. The URA, or 'reverse' kata were developed by Oyama as an aid to developing balance and skill in circular techniques against multiple opponents.

• Taikyoku sono ichi ura
• Taikyoku sono ni ura
• Taikyoku sono san ura

• Pinan sono ichi ura
• Pinan sono ni ura
• Pinan sono san ura
• Pinan sono yon ura
• Pinan sono go ura

Sparring (kumite)

Sparring, also called kumite, is used to train the application of the various techniques within a fighting situation. Sparring is usually an important part of training in most Kyokushin organizations, especially at the upper levels with experienced students.

In most Kyokushin organizations, hand and elbow strikes to the head or neck are prohibited. However, kicks to the head, knee strikes, punches to the upper body, and kicks to the inner and outer leg are permitted. In some Kyokushin organizations, especially outside of a tournament environment, gloves and shin protectors are worn. Children often wear head gear to lessen the impact of any kicks to the head. Speed and control are instrumental in sparring and in a training environment it is not the intention of either practitioner to injure his opponent as much as it is to successfully execute the proper strike. Tournament fighting under knock-down karate rules is significantly different as the objective is to down an opponent. Full-contact sparring in Kyokushin is considered the ultimate test of strength, endurance, and spirit.

Self defense

Also known as Goshin-jutsu, the specific self defense techniques of the style draw much of their techniques and tactics from Mas Oyama's study of Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu under Yoshida Kotaro. These techniques were never built into the formal grading system, and as kyokushin grew increasingly sport oriented, the self defense training started to fall into obscurity. Today it is only practiced in a limited number of dojos.

Culture

Grading

Kyokushin Karate Belt Order
White MUKYU
Orange 10 & 9 KYU
Light Blue 8 & 7 KYU
Yellow 6 & 5 KYU
Green 4 & 3 KYU
Brown 2 & 1 KYU
Black All DAN grades

Colored belts have their origin in Judo, as does the training 'gi', or more correctly in Japanese, 'dōgi'. In Kyokushin the order of the belts varies in some breakaway groups, but according to the Honbu of Oyama, the kyu ranks and belt colors are as follows:

• White Mukyu (lit: "no grade")
• Orange 10th Kyu
• Orange with one stripe 9th Kyu
• Light Blue 8th Kyu
• Light Blue with one stripe 7th Kyu
• Yellow 6th Kyu
• Yellow with one stripe 5th Kyu
• Green 4th Kyu
• Green with one stripe 3rdh Kyu
• Brown 2nd Kyu
• Brown with one stripe 1st Kyu
• Black 1st Dan and up

Each colored belt had two levels, the second being represented by a stripe on through the belt. The white belt however, does not represent any level and is only meant to hold the 'gi' in place. As such, the white belt is used by practitioners who are not yet graded. In some variations of Kyokushin, the orange belt is replaced by a red belt. The belt system under Oyama followed this order for the last 30 or so years of his life with the exception of the orange (red) belt, which was incorporated only in the last year of his life.

Whilst some groups also use red belts for high dan grades, Oyama himself did not follow this practice in his dojo or organization and always wore a wholly black belt himself.

There are many ideas of how the belt colours in the martial arts came to be, some more romantic than others. One quaint tale says that students of a karate school would be given a white belt. The students' belts would gradually become stained darker from use and eventually a person who was of a high standard and who had trained for a long time would then have a black/brown/dirt coloured belt. This is an inspiring way to encourage students to train harder, and might have its basis in truth since martial arts practitioners as a general rule don't wash their belts after training. However, no evidence exists of this, so there is no hard and fast rule according to the Japanese and romantic notions of the belt containing the training spirit and hard toil of years of training are generally invented in the West. The tradition of only sparingly washing the belt is more likely based on the more practical reason that belts tend to lose their colour if washed too often.

Perhaps the most widely read and respected interpretation of the fundamental psychological requirements of each level is found in the book, The Budo Karate of Sosai Masutatsu Oyama, written by former interpreter to Sosai Masutatsu Oyama, Cameron Quinn. Kyokushin karate has a belt grading system similar to other martial arts. The requirements of each level vary from country to country, some far stricter and more demanding than others. For example, in some countries in Europe, the grading for each level requires the student to complete the entire requirements for each level up to the rank being tested. So the student attempting first degree black belt will do all the Orange belt requirements, THEN all the blue belt requirements and so on. The free fighting (kumite) requirements for first degree black belt also ranges from twenty rounds to forty rounds, depending on the region, usually at a very high level of contact and with no protective gear other than a groin guard and mouth guard. It is not so much the number of fights but the intensity of the effort that defines the grading. Some areas don't even have formal gradings per se, instead presenting the student with their new rank in training after the instructor feels that he/she has reached that level and is capable of all the requirements.

The belt assigned to each student upon commencing training is a white belt. With each successful grading attempt the student is awarded a kyu ranking, and either a stripe on his current belt or a new belt colour altogether. Grading, or promotion tests, include calisthenic and aerobic training, kihon (basics), ido geiko (moving basics), goshinjitsu (self defence), sanbon and ippon kumite (three and one step sparring), kata (prescribed series of movements/forms, sometimes described as a form of moving meditation), tameshiwari (board, tile or brick breaking) and kumite (contact free fighting). Achieving a 1st dan black belt, or shodan, can take anywhere from four but often six to ten years of training. A belt may be awarded only by a teacher after a grading, some lower grades, eg, white & red, can be assesed in a local dojo by an instructor, after 2 or 3 grades, you will have to wait until a "grading" usually only performed approximately 4 times a year or at martial arts camps where there are shodan and above gradings, and 50 man kumite also are performed on rare occasions. At the highest ranks (6th dan and above) tests are performed by international committee, or, as is more common in the post-Mas Oyama era, presented honorarily.

Each belt has a different number of fights required for the rank sparring for grading starts at white belt. Of all aspects, it is the strong and spirited contact kumite that most defines the Kyokushin style, and it is this aspect that has always brought the style the most respect. The one thing that usually defined the Kyokushin black belt was the spirit, strength and courage of the kumite.

The number of rounds required may increase or decrease after Shodan, again depending on the region. 40 rounds of hard contact sparring is required as part of a grading or as part of a special training requirement, is no easy feat and involves non-stop fighting of one and a half hours or more. It is a test of fortitude as well as skill.

Competition and Tournaments

Tournament competition is an important part of Kyokushin, and most Kyokushin organizations sponsor local, national, and international competitions. Kyokushin tournaments are held throughout the year on every continent in the world, but the largest are held in Japan where they are televised on Japanese television and draw crowds of thousands. Tournaments are organized as either weight category or open tournaments. The Kyokushin World Tournaments are known as the Karate Olympics.

Kyokushin culture believes that accepting a "challenge" represents a Kyokushin practitioner's commitment to the principles of the art. One way to participate in a challenge, in which a Kyokushin student tests his/her courage and desire to defeat one's adversary, is through tournament competition.

Most Kyokushin tournaments follow "knockdown karate" rules in which points are awarded for knocking one's opponent to the floor with kicks, punches, or sweeps. Grabbing and throwing are generally not allowed in Kyokushin tournaments. When they are, they are legal only if performed in less than a second. Hooks are usually legal if performed for a 'split second.' Arm or hand strikes to the head, face, neck or spine are usually not permitted, but kicks to the head are allowed. If, however, the opponent turns his back while the opponent is throwing a technique, there is no penalty. Outside of Japan straight kicks to the front of the knee are usually disallowed. Knock-outs do sometimes occur and minor to moderate injuries are common, but serious injuries are rare. The most common injuries are concussions, broken clavicles, and fractured limbs and sternums. Many Kyokushin tournaments follow an "open" format that allows competitors from any martial arts style, not just Kyokushin, to enter and compete.

Many Kyokushin practitioners tend to express concerns about influence of "Japan knockdown" rules on martial art students . The rules were designed with purpose of maintaining relatively low level of injuries by greatly reducing amount of strikes into competitor's head (only kicks into the head should happen, and they are not exactly common given proper guard). They, however, resulted in highly specialized and barely relevant style of sparring, which is often seen during modern Kyokushin championships, particularly outside of Japan. Specifically, both opponents tend to maintain high upright stance with little or no guard for the head/neck area, make little or no movement and throw a continuous stream of punches into opponent's mid-section and kicks into thigh/knee area. Since many Kyokushin dojos encourage their students to compete, they tend to ingrain this fairly artificial method of combat, while abandoning realistic framework of Kyokushin. The impact of Kyokushin rules upon martial art students has been criticized for a long time, yet there is little indication of possible changes on a worldwide scale, as resorting to protective gear is considered to be against spirit of Kyokushin, and imposing restrictions on contact hardness may result in just a variation of Shotokan competitions. The amount of Kyokushin "spin-off" schools that try to overcome the situation is still growing.

Multi-man Sparring

In addition to the number of rounds of kumite as mentioned above in the Grading section, a special tradition of Kyokushin has been the 50- and 100-man kumite. The 100-man kumite was designed as a special test for advanced practitioners of the art. In these extreme examples of kumite, the subject of the test fights 50 to 100 opponents (depending on the test) in rapid succession, usually two-minute bouts separated by one-minute rest periods. The subject has to "win" (i.e., not get knocked-out) in at least 50-percent of the bouts in order to be deemed as passing the test. One example of someone who successfully completed the 100-man fight is Miyuki Miura. Reportedly, only 16 people have successfully completed the 100-man fight. There is a trend these days of dojos and organizations around the world to run their own 100-Man Kumite in their own country with their own students as opponents. Only 100-man kumite tests conducted by Honbu are recognized and recorded. Masutatsu Oyama is reported to have completed a 300-man fight over 3 days. See Sosai or Masutatsu Oyama., .

Influence on other Knockdown Styles

Kyokushin has had a big influence on many other styles, and the knockdown karate competition format is now used by a large number of styles. As a group these styles are called knockdown styles, or knockdown karate styles. Most other karate styles that originated in Kyokushin, such as Ashihara Karate, Budokaido, godokai, Enshin Karate, Seidō juku, Musokai, Shidōkan and Seidokaikan (the style that originated the K-1 kickboxing tournament) are also knockdown styles and use slight variations of the competition rules. A few other styles such as Kansuiryu Karate and Byakuren are also knockdown karate styles, but originated independently of Kyokushin, having simply adopted the competition format.

Some styles originating in Kyokushin such as Jushindo, and Daido Juku and its derivative, Japanese Zendokai, has also been strongly influenced by Kyokushin technique and traditions, but has chosen to abandon traditional Knockdown karate sparring for more Mixed martial arts influenced competition rules.

Other styles, such as Kokondo, are derived strongly from Kyokushin, albeit with removal from the knock-down format, focusing on real-life fighting, but steering away from tournaments and competitions. Seirenkai and Shoshin Ryu are also Karate systems with foundations in the dynamics and power of early Kyokushin, but with an emphasis on practical self-defense rather than knockdown kumite.

In popular culture

Videogames

Ryu and Ken from Capcom's "Street Fighter (series)" move set are based on Kyokushin. And Ryu is said to be based on Yoshiji Soeno, a student of Mas Oyama. In Namco's Tekken series the hero Jin Kazama is said to travel to Brisbane, Australia to learn karate [3]. At the time of Tekken's creation, well-known instructor of Kyokushin Karate, Mas Oyama's interpreter and author of The Budo Karate of Mas Oyama, Cameron Quinn[4], was teaching students such as Garry O'Neill and Walter Schnaubelt at his well-known Kyokushin dojo in the city of Brisbane.

Tekkenpedia [5] says: "Brisbane, Australia... a city crowded with buildings, new and old. Nestled amongst the towering buildings of this city was a small dojo. A young man trained there, his face covered by the hood of his jacket. This young man trained there quietly...

... The young man was Jin.

Day after day, Jin trained in the traditional art of karate. Ever since Heihachi's betrayal, Jin loathed everything about himself. His Mishima bloodline, his fighting style, the Devil Gene in his blood, everything. He unlearned the Mishima-ryu fighting style, thanks to the dojo master's training, and he mastered traditional karate."

The Wikipedia Tekken reference [6] also refers to the Brisbane Kyokushin Dojo as follows: Locating a secluded dojo in Brisbane, Australia, he spent two years unlearning the Mishima style he had used up to that point and mastered "traditional" karate thanks to the help of the dojo master.

Jin uses the art of Kyokushin Karate in Tekken 4, Tekken 5, Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, Tekken 6 and Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion. He can be seen practicing Yantsu and Pinan Sono Yon Kata in various demonstration modes in the Tekken series. Also some of Paul Phoenix's moves are derived from Kyokushin Karate. Kadonashi Shotaro and his students from Namco's Urban Reign video game uses the art of Kyokushinkai. Hitomi from Tecmo's Dead or Alive series uses the art of Kyokushin Karate in Dead or Alive 3 and Dead or Alive 4. She can be seen practicing the kata Pinan Sono Yon in various demonstration modes in Dead or Alive 3 and Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball. While Hitomi's style of karate is never explicitly stated in-game, the ending credits of Dead or Alive 3 indicate the only karate martial arts consultant for the game is a practitioner of Kyokushinkai.

Solara from Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects is said to practice Kyokushin.

Kyokugenryu Karate is a fictional martial art from SNK Playmore's Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury and King of Fighters series. Kyokugenryu (lit. 'the extreme style'), which is practiced by Ryo Sakazaki, Robert Garcia, Yuri Sakazaki, Takuma Sakazaki and Marco Rodriguez/Khushnood Butt, is heavily based on Kyokushin Karate.

Movies

A trilogy of films starring Sonny Chiba and directed by Kazuhiko Yamaguchi were produced in Japan between 1975 and 1977: Champion of Death, Karate Bearfighter and Karate for Life. Chiba plays Master Oyama who also appears in two of the films.

The James Bond movie "You Only Live Twice", starring Sean Connery, was filmed largely in Japan and featured a karate demonstration by a number of well-known Kyokushin students, including Shigeo Kato (who introduced Kyokushin to Australia and was the original teacher of Shokei Matsui) and the well-known Fujihira who was one of the three fighters who took up the Muay Thai challenge in 1964 and who fought in the ring for many years under the name of Noboru Osawa.

Fighter in the Wind (Korean: 바람의 파이터) is a 2004 South Korean film. It is based on the same title Korean Comic book "Fighter in the Wind" by Hak-gi Bang which is a fictionalised account of karate competitor Choi Yeung-Eui (최영의) who went to Japan during World War II to become a fighter pilot but found a very different path instead. He changed his name to Masutatsu Oyama (大山倍達) and went across the country, defeating martial artists one after another. This film concentrates on the period when he is still young, and developing his famous karate style, Kyokushin.

TV

Kyokushin was featured on Fight Quest on Discovery Channel as the Japanese Martial Arts Style. Kyokushin was the style of karate featured in an episode of Human Weapon.

Notable practitioners

• Terutomo Yamazaki(山崎照朝, Yamazaki Terutomo), the first champion of the First All-Japan Full Contact Championships
• Sonny Chiba
• Shihan Bobby Lowe, 9th Dan Black Belt and oldest student who is belonging Matsui faction of Kyokushin Kaikan now.
• Donald Buck, last United States Branch Chief appointed by Mas Oyama, founder of American Kyokushin Karate Organization
• Hideyuki Ashihara
• Steve Arneil, in-charge of Kyokushin Branch in Great Britain
• Andy Hug, the only K-1 fighter ever to be rewarded an honorary samurai title by K-1 founder Kazuyoshi Ishii
• Peter Chong, International Committee Member (IKO1) and Asia/Middle East Chairman
• Dolph Lundgren
• Michael Jai White
• Miyuki Miura
• Tadashi Nakamura
• Hajime Kazumi
• Joko Ninomiya
• Paul Arel, founder, Kokondo Karate (1970)
• Georges St. Pierre, Current and 2-time UFC Welterweight Champion
• Jason Jones, Team USA 6th World Tournament, filmmaker and humanitarian
• Mariusz Pudzianowski, 5-time World's Strongest Man
• Bas Rutten, former UFC Heavyweight Champion
• Katsuaki Sato
• Sam Greco
• Glaube Feitosa
• Ewerton Teixeira
• Francisco Filho
• Kaicho R. David Farzinzad, founder of the International Kyokushinkai Union
• Howard Collins
• John Jarvis
• Nicholas Pettas
• Semmy Schilt, 3-time K-1 World Grand Prix Champion, reigning K-1 Super-Heavyweight Champion
• Tomasz Kucharzewski, 3-time Polish national champion
• Peter "The Chief" Graham, professional Australian kickboxer
• Sam Greco, retired Australian kickboxer and mixed martial artist
• Itzik Ashkenazi, Official representative in Israel of the IFK, President of the IFK organization in Israel.
• Gong Han, Official representative in China of the All Japan Kyokushin Union and 5th degree black belt.
• Jaffer Panezai, 2nd Degree Black Belt and Muay Thai kickboxer
• Glen Murphy MBE 1st dan

See also

• Full contact karate
• List of kyokushin techniques
• Comparison of karate styles
• Masutatsu Oyama