Osu No Seichin

In Kyokushin we call it the "Circle and Point", it is the basis of all we do. I will quote from two books by Sosai Oyama, the founder of Kyokushin. " As was previously mentioned, although many schools of karate stress linear motion, actually the most effective techniques are those that utilize circular movements. According to studies in kinetic energy, the greater the centrifugal force present the greater the distance is from a center. Therefore, the karateka should think of his hips as the center of a circle and perform his punches as though outlining the circumference of a large circle. This will make for much more powerful blows, than punches thrown in a direct linear fashion." l " All martial arts-more broadly speaking, all sports-employ the theory of the circle and point, but since their application is uaually unconscious, these two elements probably seem mysterious when expressed in words alone. On the other hand, karate's power and rationality derive, to a great extent, from the conscious emphasis on the circle and point." " In fact, all human movement depends largely on circular action. Although I have perhaps already illustrated my point sufficiently, I cannot overstate it because the concious use of the circle to all karate motions is of the greatest importance." There is much more than what I have written here, but I think you get the idea. I would suggest that if you want to learn more, get a copy of one of Sosai Oyama's books.

End: Congratulations on starting on the path of Kyokushin Karate. To answer your questions. Osu-The word OSU implies to push onself to the limit of ones ability. The word OSU is of ten thousand meanings expressing the willingnes to strive against all odds. To perservere on the COURTEOUS road to physical, mental and spiritual strength, a communication of RESPECT of ones seniors and a resposibility to ones juniors. I would suggest that you ask your instructor if he has a student handbook that your organization uses. If so purchase one and if it is of good quality it should answer your second question. If not search the net, i am sure what you are looking for will be somewhere out there. As far as other books or reference material, there are many books on Kyokushin, the best are very rare and unless you have deep pockets are very expensive. Your third question is a good one. I have a sign outside my dojo:' BUDO KARATE'. Budo translated means "the way of war" or "the way of the warrior" so having said that, Kyokushin is a martial art, a Budo Martial Art. I nor would any of my students ever think of calling one of our Sensei's or Shihan's by their first names inside or outside the dojo. Even when they are not present they are still refereed to with the title Shihan or Sensei. That is the way i was taught and that is the way my students are taught, yes we get some funny looks but to people who "get it" we get nothing but respect. They worked long and hard to get that title so they deserve to be called by it. I would suggest you address your Sempai as just that and if you ever get the opportunity to meet a Shihan or a Sensei then address him/her as such. You just might save yourself a whole lot of grieve. I have trained with the top Kyokushin instructors in the world and have never heard anyone ever refer to them inside or outside the dojo by their first name, it has always been and will always be Sosai, Kancho, Shihan or Sensei. Good luck and enjoy the training, maybe someday our paths in the Kyokushin world will cross and we will have the opportunity to train together, I will look forward to that day. OSU

I trust you are talking about the camp here in BC, and if so I am glad you enjoyed it. What was your favorite part of the training.

I am curious. What are your advanced kata? Then we can go from there to see how close they are to Kyokushin advanced kata.

The names IKO1,2,3.4.5.and so on were names that were made up by a guy who maintains a website in Australia. There is only one IKOK, it is headed by Kancho Matsui in Japan and the name stands for International Karate Organization Kyokushinkai. It is by far the strongest and largest Kyokushin Organizaton in the world.

The essence of Kyokushin is circular motion. To say that Kyokushin is to linear goes against all we are taught or teach. The whole theory behind our techniques is the circle and point. I suggest you go and find yourself a good Kyokushin instructor who really knows what they are doing or obtain some of Sosai Oyama's books and do some research. I still find it amusing that when people talk about Kyokushin it is all about the way we fight in tournaments. I have heard a senior Shihan state many times that tournament fighting is but 1% of your karate life if even that. I teach many classes where the whole emphazies is on grabbing, throwing, face punches, joint locks, arm bars and all the other techniques that everyone seems to think Kyokushin students don't do. Where did I learn them? From someone who was there at the start. And for those of you that seem to forget, Kyokushin was more than a couple decades old before the tournaments came along, so what did they train before that, come on down to the dojo one night and we will be happy to show you. Osu

Say hi to Shihan Bobbo from the guy's in Western Canada. I don't know a great deal about wing chun but i think you will find that the kicking drills of Kyokushin will compliment your hand ability quite nicely. https://www.kyokushin.ca Osu

Is such a false belief that in Kyokushin the head is not a target. We practice head punching and blocking every class, you must also remember that in tournaments the head is a target but only with the legs and knees. Sloopy hands, don't think so, you have to have your hands up and be so ready to block head kicks because they are coming fast and hard. If you don't think those guy's and girls don't hit hard with those hands, think again What would characterise Kyokushin, perseverence, hard training and spirit. I agree with the punisher, you have to train it and train it for a few years to truely understand it. A way of life? Has been mine for a few decades. Kyokushin is a worldwide family of people dedicated to making themselves and those they come in contact with better people, we do this through hard training and the spirit of Osu. Good luck and train hard. I have trained many times with NZ Kyokushin, especially Shihan Bob McCallum and have always found them to be great people dedicated to the spirit of Kyokushin. Enjoy OSU

I have met a few Aussies in my day, was at the 10th Australian open in Geelong and was at the Commomwealth Championships in Sydney. So who do you train with and what group are you with?

The biggest difference between Kyokushin and other styles of Karate? Circular motion. Most other Karate Styles are very linear in their movements and techniques, in Kyokushin we are very circular in our movements and techniques. By the way where are you located LoveKarate.

Have a look at our site here in Western Canada. Search through, there are a few good articles and alot of infromation on Kyokushin. https://www.kyokushin.ca Osu

What Shihan Lowe said was that the quality of Martial Arts in Hawaii is very high, but the percentage of people who train there compared to the population is very small. I have trained with Shihan Lowe many times and I assure you it is never an easy go. If you want to train Kyokushin the way it was meant to be trained then I suggest that you seek out some of Shihan's students, forget all you think you knew about Kyokushin and learn some very valuable lessons. I just spent three days at a seminar in the mountains and 90% of what we trained was taught to us by Shihan Lowe. Yes we did kata, yes we did basics, yes we did more kata, yes we did fight training, but mostly we did the hand reversals and grappling techniques that were taught to us by Shihan Lowe and I wonder who taught him.

I have trained Kyokushin for close to 30 years and have done "grappling" such as they have in judo and jujitsu since i first started. It is an intricate part of Kyokushin. We train grappling techniques in just about every class and have seminars devoted to the grappling techniques that are a part of Kyokushin. I suggest that maybe you expand your horizons and look to some who have trained Kyokushin before the World tournaments and who's focus is not on tournaments but on training Kyokushin the way it was meant to be trained. I also suggest you get a copy of Advanced Karate and study this text. There are some great websites out there and articles that you should read. Have a look at this one, some great articles here. https://www.kyokushin.ca Osu

I find this post quite interesting. What is there not to beleive? Kyokushin Karate students have been doing this since Kyokushin was first started. A typical testing schedule for our students is this. All dan candidates must attend our annual summer camp, training starts friday night with one maybe two trainings, at the senior instructors discression. Saturday: three to four trainings during the day and early evening, surprise training sometime saturday night. Sunday: two trainings before noon, then the fighting starts at 1 p.m. Sometimes the senior Shihan will require the candidates to attend a class just for them. So they may train more than just the 9 regularly scheduled trainings. The fighting happens like this, 1st dan 10 fights, 2nd dan 20 fights, 3rd dan 30 fights, and so on. After the fighting is over the candidates are then expected to teach a class that afternoon. Monday: one training in the morning. 99% of these people are not fulltime karate students, they all have jobs, families and other responsibilities, yet they still find the time to train and get themselves into the condition that is required to do this test. Candidates are expected to attend all trainings, injuried or not, to miss one is to fail. The spirit and emotion that is in that room during the fighting can not be described in words, it must be experienced. Yes it inspires all of us to go a little harder, to train a little longer and to perservere, because in the end when they put that new belt around your waist, its all worth while.

Read "The Kyokushin Way" by Sosai Mas Oyama...you can find it on e-bay once in a while or if you know someone who has trained Kyokushin for any length of time they may just have it. As close to an autobiography as you can get. The "Young Lions of Mas Oyama" is another good read. As to Jon Bluming, he was kicked out of Kyokushin by Sosai Oyama a number of years ago and has been trying to discredit him ever since. I agree with you "Yamesu" I have also trained with Senior Shihan's whom have trained with Sosai and they all say the same things, about his fighting ability, strength and his feats with bulls and such. In any large organization you will always get disgruntled members whom will try to discredit said organization or its leaders. Sad because in the end it just makes them look foolish. OSU