Hiya,

So I was wondering, was Kyokushin karate founded in Okinawa?

Regards,

Mr Nice.

Masutatsu Oyama (often called simply Mas Oyama) founded Kyokushin in Japan.

Mas oyama was a Korean that moved to Japan, and as far as I can tell he never went to Okinawa prior to founding Kyokushin.

Oyama started his training with the university clubs, and most were rather well known. He trained up to Shodan and then went to train with Gigo Funakoshi as well. Some say he did not have alot of contact with the Funakoshi's however and a cute story that Taiji Kase tells about Oyama bragging that he was a Kodokan Black belt ...when he knew he was not...and then calling him on it was rather telling. Some also say he was not a black belt at all but a Ikkyu. Logically to me I would think he reached about Nidan based on his time in and training, In shotokan.

He then stopped training in Shotokan and began training in Goju karate with a Korean that had trained with Chojun Miyagi. He may or may not have received a Shodan in this art as well.

He left for 3 years and trained in the mountains to build his body and to melt his Shotokan and Goju systems into a personal form he called Kyokushin.

I respect the heck out of Kyokushin people, not my style but its a good style and Oyama knew his stuff....so it does not matter to me if he got Yondan in all three arts he says he did, he brought a cool sport style of Karate to the table and those who want to train full contact are lucky he did.

I respect the heck out of Kyokushin people, not my style but its a good style and Oyama knew his stuff.

Definitely, I would recommend picking up any of his books (although I might start with Essential Karate) regardless of what you practice.

Mas oyama was a Korean that moved to Japan, and as far as I can tell he never went to Okinawa prior to founding Kyokushin.

Oyama started his training with the university clubs, and most were rather well known. He trained up to Shodan and then went to train with Gigo Funakoshi as well. Some say he did not have alot of contact with the Funakoshi's however and a cute story that Taiji Kase tells about Oyama bragging that he was a Kodokan Black belt ...when he knew he was not...and then calling him on it was rather telling. Some also say he was not a black belt at all but a Ikkyu. Logically to me I would think he reached about Nidan based on his time in and training, In shotokan.

He then stopped training in Shotokan and began training in Goju karate with a Korean that had trained with Chojun Miyagi. He may or may not have received a Shodan in this art as well.

He left for 3 years and trained in the mountains to build his body and to melt his Shotokan and Goju systems into a personal form he called Kyokushin.

I respect the heck out of Kyokushin people, not my style but its a good style and Oyama knew his stuff....so it does not matter to me if he got Yondan in all three arts he says he did, he brought a cool sport style of Karate to the table and those who want to train full contact are lucky he did.

Solid post