Day: May 16, 2024

Masutsu Oyama was born on July 27th 1923 in a village in Southern Korea. At the age of 9 whilst staying on his sister’s farm in Manchuria, he first learnt the Martial Arts, studying the southern Chinese Kempo form known as “eighteen hands”. In 1938 Mas Oyama traveled to Japan with the desire to enter an aviation school and become a fighter pilot, but he was forced to abandon his dream and find work. He continued practicing Judo and boxing and his interest in Martial Arts led him to the Dojo of Gishin Funakoshi and thus, he started practicing Okinawa Karate.

 

With his dedication, Mas Oyama progressed quickly and by the time he was 20 years old he obtained his fourth Dan. It was at this time that Mas Oyama entered the Japanese Imperial Army and began studying judo in the hope of mastering its holding and grappling techniques. By the time he stopped training in Judo, after about 4 years, he had gained a fourth Dan.

 

In 1950, Mas Oyama began his famous battles with bulls’ partly to test his strength and also to make the world sit up and notice the power of his Karate. All together, Oyama fought 52 bulls, killing 3 instantly and taking the horns of 49 with knife-handed blows. Mas Oyama opened his first “Dojo” in 1953 in Meijiro, Tokyo. This was the time that Mas Oyama’s karate strength was at its peak so the training was severe. Many students were members of other styles and Mas Oyama would compare styles and build on his own karate. He would take what he felt were the best techniques and concepts from any Martial Art and gradually fit them into his training; therefore, laying the foundation of Kyokushin Karate.

Karate is two words together— ‘Kara’ means empty and ‘Te’ means hand.

Seido comes from the Japanese words ‘Sei’ and ‘Do’ meaning sincere way.

kaicho tadashi nakamura was born 22 February 1942. Kaicho Nakamura began his karate training in 1953 at age eleven. His first experiences were in the Goju style under the instruction of Kei Miyagi Sensei, the son of the founder of the style. In 1956, he began studying with Masutatsu Oyama, the founder of Kyokushin Karate, and in 1959 he earned his shodan rank. At the time, he was the youngest Kyokushin student in Japan to earn a black belt.

In 1961, at age nineteen, Nakamura debuted on the tournament scene with a first place triumph in the All-Japan Student Open Karate Championship. The following year, he became a Japanese national hero by knocking out a Thai kickboxing champion in a match to determine which nation had the superior martial art. Nakamura would win many more tournaments throughout his competition career.

In 1966, Nakamura was personally selected by Masutatsu Oyama to help bring the true spirit of karate to America. He moved to New York City and began teaching at a small dojo in Brooklyn. He served as the American head of Kyokushin Karate for a decade, before respectfully withdrawing in 1976. The same year, he established the World Seido Karate Organization, which reflected his own beliefs about the true meaning of karate. With the principles of love, respect, and obedience as a foundation, Nakamura created Seido (“sincere way”) to ensure that his students would develop spiritually and morally, as well as physically. Today, Seido Karate has thriving branches in 18 countries with more than 20,000 students worldwide, and the New York Honbu is one of the largest martial arts schools in the world.