How good is Kyokushin

[IronWarrior]

How do I feel about Kyokushin? Well I've been in the Martial arts for almost 23 years and if I knew then what I know now..... I would have started in 'Kyokushin!' Its a hardcore style of karate, no frills,, kinda like a slap in the face that makes you feel good! But you got to find a school that dos'nt water it down and bring 'sport' karate into it like many other dojos do now.

[ssnr350]

Hi, I live in the sacramento area as well, and the one organized kyokushin class I know of around is run out of the rio linda parks and recreation. Sensei Willie Hernandez 3rd Dan(916)991-5929. I haven't tried the number but found it on the us kyokushin website. If you can't reach him just call the parks and rec. I used to attend years ago when Sensei Crabtree was teaching and it met 2x a week and was very reasonably priced. Not sure what it would be now, but it's a kyokushin class in your area. Also it is true about what everyone says about being a full-contact karate. To find out if the old school style is taught you might ask if they do conditioning(forearms, sciatic nerve, knuckles etc...) and the full contact sparring(no punches to the head though).When I was in it that was what was taught. Good luck!!! jon

[McNerny]

Hey,

Shotokan is a great style too but you are not likely to find one that fights bareknuckle with full contact. In my school we wear gloves and but in the higher classes we can punch and kick to the body with full contact. It isn't quite as extreme as Kyokushin but I like it way more than no contact.

McNerny

[Shito Ryu kitten]

I love Kyokushin. My school is sort of 1/2 mixed. Shito Ryu, but my sensaei had a major Kyokushin past. I actually prefer it if that helps. Im only going for 4 years now though.

[AceKing]

Hi, I live in the sacramento area as well, and the one organized kyokushin class I know of around is run out of the rio linda parks and recreation. Sensei Willie Hernandez 3rd Dan(916)991-5929. I haven't tried the number but found it on the us kyokushin website. If you can't reach him just call the parks and rec. I used to attend years ago when Sensei Crabtree was teaching and it met 2x a week and was very reasonably priced. Not sure what it would be now, but it's a kyokushin class in your area. Also it is true about what everyone says about being a full-contact karate. To find out if the old school style is taught you might ask if they do conditioning(forearms, sciatic nerve, knuckles etc...) and the full contact sparring(no punches to the head though).When I was in it that was what was taught. Good luck!!! jon

Thanks alot for the help, ill go check it out sometime.

[KenpoDenz]

I grew up in Hawaii and currently stationed there. I have had the privilege to watch and listen to Shihan Bobby Lowe. After meeting Mas Oyama in Hawaii, he moved to Japan to learn Kyokushin (english translation "ultimate truth") directly from Oyama Sensei. Lowe Sensei was the first to open up a Kyokushin dojo out side of Japan. Lowe Sensei has been teaching Kyokushin for over 50 year in Hawaii and has published a few books about the system. Kyokushin is a very good system that requires endurance, tolerance and patience. I highly recommend it to anyone out there looking for a good, challenging system.

[Meguro]

I heard that Shihan Lowe complained to my buddy that the problem with doing Martial Arts in Hawaii, and particularly Kyokushin, is that the weather is so fine, the scenery is so beautiful, and life is so easy that nobody trains hard enough. Seriously, wouldn't you rather be on the beach with your gf than inside a sweaty dojo getting bruised-up?

[KenpoDenz]

Okay...so you heard from a friend that Shihan Lowe complained about Hawaii being to nice for Martial Arts or something like that and that nobody trains hard enough.

I've been to many dojos in Hawaii (includeing Shihan Lowe's) and I can reassure you that we are not half way Martial Artist. Some of the greatest Martial Arts Masters have traveled into Hawaii and influenced the Martial Arts culture in Hawaii.

The beach is something that's there all the time. When you grow up with it in your front or back yard, you see it everyday and it becomes nothing more than just another beach. If Martial Arts is truely your passion, the beach is not going to stop you from training just has hard as anywhere else in the world. Honestly, I think your buddy has mis-quoted Shihan Lowe. I've spoken with him on many occasions and he has never knocked the Martial Arts community we share in Hawaii.

[Meguro]

I'm not knocking the Hawaian martial arts community. It's just that whenever I go to Hawaii, it's not for martial arts. If I were to settle down in Hawaii, the fact that there is an active martial arts scene is a plus.

[shogeri]

Kyokushin, traditionally is goju ryu and shotokan combined into one system with a more combative skill training syllabus.

It's the training methods that make Kyokushin what it is meant to be, and that sets it apart.

One merely has to add those same methods to Goju Ryu, along with Internal Concepts as taught in the Chinese Martial Arts, and POOF! ~

~ one is left with the ultimate Traditional Style.

Now I am just kidding.

But the point is that it's not always the style or system itself, but the; how, where, when and why it is taught ~ that truly shows what said system is about.

When I say system, I meant in respect to this thread, which is traditional.

Kyokushin, since it takes from two, and combines it into one, is a traditional system, since those original two are based upon Chinese Kempo, Naha/Shuri/Omari Te, Quan Fa or some combination thereof.

The basics of most traditional systems are usually twofold, but at some point, tend to merge into one path.

Most of us have a grasp on the basics of Japanese Karateka, or Okinawan Naha Te or Karate-Do.

These basics, are the same. It's the principles of application that separate one person's technical training from another.

I would say that if Kyokushin is taught as it is traditionally intended then those using such would be formidable opponents.

But then again, I could say the same about Goju Ryu practitioners, Jujutsu-ka, Aikido, Taijiquan Chinese Boxing, and so on.

It's the experience of practicing Kyokushin that makes it important.

So go for it!

p.s

I agree with Meguro about the Hawaiian scene.

p.s.s

If I have to do it all over again, I would have went to Okinawa to train, or I would have went to Australia and learned Traditional Taijiquan Pressure Point Fajing-Quan Chinese Boxing.