MAS OYAMAS MESSAGE – 1981

I HOPE THIS TRUE STORY WILL CONVEY MY FEELINGS TO MEN AND WOMEN, WHO SUFFER A PHYSICAL OR MENTAL ILLNESS I HOPE THEY WILL LEARN THAT LIFE I S MORE THAN A BOTTLE OF PILLS.

I wish to extend greetings to all Branch-Chiefs, students and fans of Kyokushin. May 1981 be a grand successful year for you all. I would like to take this opportunity to announce the 12th All Japan Tournament which will be an “Open” tournament. Many Kung-Fu, Tae-Kwon-Do, kick boxer’s people will be fighting. The result of these fights will be very interesting. Approximately two years ago now, I took in 15 new Uchi Deshi to study Kyokushin Karate everyday for three years. I remember one such Uchi Deshi who was a special person.

My Uchi Deshi whose name will be Mr. S (to save him any embarrassment) came to my dojo two years ago with my personal friend and his mother, to ask if he can study Kyokushin Karate in Honbu.

Every year, I have to choose 6 or 7 people to enter the Honbu Ryo as new Uchi Deshi. It is very difficult to choose a few people from 60 – 70 applicants ever year. All of them are very serious. I make the decision by giving them all, a written paper test and then a personal interview. Even if I choose 10 new Uchi Deshi, most of them will leave before their 1000 days of training is completed. I expect out of the original 10 Uchi Deshi approximately two or three will eventually stay in the Ryo. The duration of their stay is limited to three years.

Whatever the reason is, I will not allow any Uchi Deshi to leave even if one of their parents dies, or both of them. They must be totally dedicated to Kyokushin Karate when they enter the Ryo. They are not allowed home under any circumstances. Whatever the reason. It’s like a dog barking from a distance. (A Japanese proverb which means, there is noise in the distance, ignore it, it doesn’t matter.) “If you can not obtain your original purpose, then this is because of your own lack of spiritual will.”

Many Uchi Deshi have left the Ryo in the past for their own particular reasons. Their future is in their hands and I can no longer help them. So I must say now that the Uchi Deshi that do remain here, I think are truly wonderful people, because of the hard life they have chosen, and the amount of dedication they have shown in training in Kyokushin Budo Karate.

Two years ago I refused to have Mr. S as a new Uchi Deshi, because he was an epileptic. I felt that his epi­lepsy would hinder his training. An epileptic is a person who suffers fits or convulsions that can sometimes lead to unconsciousness; he cannot stop or control the fit. A fit can occur at any moment with no warning. My personal friend and also a friend of Mr. S came to see me along with his mother, for Mr. S has no father. And his mother brought him up along with two other children. The three of them sat down in my room. First of all my personal friend asked and pleaded with me to have Mr. S as an Uchi Deshi. He even offered to guarantee Mr. S, and pro­mised to take full responsibility for him. This indeed impressed me. Then the boy’s’ mother made her son to make a pledge, to train constantly for the next three years and to never leave the Dojo Ryo.

In each home in Japan we have a little shrine often to pay respect to our dead mothers and fathers. And when a member of the family dies we place a wooden tablet in the shrine with an inscription on it The mother had taken it out of the shrine and brought it to my room, a thing never heard of in Japan, which is similar to holding the Bible in your right hand, and promising to tell the truth. With his dead father’s tablet in his hand he promised to train hard and never leave the Dojo Ryo. After he had made this vow to me, his mother then stood up and made a solemn vow that during his training, she would drink no tea, and eat no expensive food, and eat­ing only simple food. Mrs. S then said to her son, “If you ever leave the Dojo Ryo, you will no longer be my son.” I have never experienced in my life anything like this before. I changed my mind about Mr. S or rather his mother made me change my mind. The sincerity of these people made me feel very very refreshed inside. I knew that if he to be an Uchi Deshi I took him into the Ryo.

Since that time Mr. S has had many epileptic fits most of them very recently while a senior grade. Having a very hard life, living in a small dormitory with men, training everyday, the list never ends. But he has never given up, and will continue to fight in tournaments and competitions, putting his epilepsy behind him. His mother should be very proud of him. I am. The experience has taught me many things. I think it illustrates beau­tifully the will power of two people.

But I would advise any epileptic person to seek the medical advice of his doctor before doing any Karate or sport. Mr. S is a gentleman with a very kind nature. So at first it was very difficult for him to hit somebody full-contact. And because of this at one time he did not train so hard. I was very worried about this so I contac­ted his mother. Soon she arrived at the dojo. Her son was then brought to her and she explained that “for the past 1 1/2 years you have been training I have not drunken any tea, or eaten any expensive food. I am doing this for you, my son, because I love you, now you must show me that you love me by completing the promise you made on your father’s tablet.” From this day, he has been training very hard. With a woman like this behind him, I am sure he will never give up.

Hong Kong – 1958

 To fight well, basic technique’s have to be mastered.

I visited South East Asia for the first time in 1957. The most fruitful results of my travels was that I could met Mr. Chuan, a Kung Fu expert from Hong Kong. When I arrived in Hong Kong I began my search for this man. Having heard the rumor that a famous Kung Fu exponent had come to Hong Kong from the Kanton district of China after the Chinese revolution, I was anxious to find him and witness his Kung Fu. I mounted my search by asking every available person I met in Hong Kong. Eventually my wish to meet Mr. Chuan was fulfil­led. It seemed that Chuan had also wanted to see me, and he had taken the trouble to send one of his stu­dents to the hotel I was staying at to bring me to him.

Chuan’s house was located in the middle of the mountain in Hong Kong city. It commanded a fine view down to the harbor and I cannot forget the magnificent view that greeted me on that mild night when I at last met Chuan. Chuan’s house was not large compared to those of his neighbors, however, he had a small dojo located in his house which made it most attractive to me. Chuan must have been more than 60 years old at the time, and although at one glance I could see that he had undergone heavy training in younger days, his size and strength now seemed washed away by the years. He appeared before me as a quite old man, one size smaller than myself. Bidding me only a hasty welcome, he showed me to his dojo and instructed me to fight him. Because of his age, I was surprised at such a request; however, Chuan continued to surprise me again and again thro­ughout our meeting. Chuan again bid me to fight him and I was surprised and impressed by his quiet atti­tude. It is as important to read an opponent’s breathing patterns in a Karate match as it is in sword-fighting. Musashi Miyamoto, one of the greatest swords-men in Japan, also pointed to breathing as the secret to suc­cess. If one gains proficiency in reading an opponent’s breath, it should become unnecessary to move, even if the opponent attacks suddenly. I was surprised to find that I could not read Mr. Chuan’s breath – far from it – I could not even catch whether he took any breath at all!!

Eagerly putting my own breath in order, I edged forward little by little to make a short distance bet­ween us, but he had no intension of moving. He mere­ly stood there as calmly as if he was nothing but air in the dojo. Chuan’s figure seemed half transparent while I tried to execute every technique and art that I knew. But whenever I made any kick or punch attack, Chuan’s body would flexibly draw a circle, and using this circle drawn by his body, hands and legs, – he would wipe away my attack causing me to jump back like a spring to avoid the attack which came as a con­tinuation of his circle defense. Every time Chuan’s circle deflected my attack, it changed in to his attack to which I was hastily forced to avoid, – a situation which continued for about an hour. Karate has three fighting styles; attack, defense and a combination of the two. That is: if one blocks first, then counterattacks this is the defensive style; if one attacks first while defending with the other parts of the body, then this is the attack style. The combination, mixture style is when an attack or block is carried through without any break to perform the opposite technique. For example, a block to a kick is carried through with the same hand in a circular mo­tion to become a strike to the temple. This is defense and attack all in one motion.

Chuan’s skill was the extreme achievement of the combination style. Of course I was superior to him in strength and power, and had I fought him with no respect like that of a madman, I could have overcome him. However, in skill I realized that I was completely defeated so I conceded victory, the first and only time I have ever done so.

Chuan, smelling sweetly of Jasmine tea, commen­ted that my Karate was very strong indeed, contain­ing both speed and power, but that my style was on too straight a course.

“It is the secret of Chinese Kung Fu to draw a cir­cle centered on a dot. A line is accompanied with a circle” he said with a smile. Though it was not until later that I fully realized, understood and experienced this concept, I was able to grasp what he was trying to tell me by having just witnessed his fighting style. The circle that Chuan drew around himself would be better understood as a sphere radiating from all directions around the center of his body. Within this sphere, Chuan had mastery to defeat any opponent no matter from which direction the attack came. “Won’t you come to my dojo for a week or so, if you can spare the time, for I would like you to com­pletely master the secret of Kung Fu. It is indeed my pleasure to teach such a talented Japanese as your­self,” Chuan said.

I bowed low and replied that I would be very gra­teful-and happy to attend his teachings, and thanked him very much for his attention, knowing that had he not invited me, I would have asked voluntarily. After being in Chuan’s dojo for just over a week without missing a single lesson, I felt. that I had in­deed become much stronger and skillful than before, so paying due respects, I left Hong Kong for Japan. I incorporated my new learning intomy style to make it even .stronger and more proficient, and I am most grateful to Chuan for so openly and unselfishly extending his knowledge to me.

Osu

Mas Oyama

TAMESHIWARI – 1980

TAMESHIWARI (breaking) cannot be separated from Karate as a whole. When speaking of Karate, people generally associate Karate with Tameshiwari, believing that the value of Karate exists in Tameshi­wari skill and expertise. However, actually Karate’s true value exists in technique, the arts, and spirit, not in Tameshiwari. Breaking is only a part of Karate and the biggest error is to set a high value on it. In keeping with this, Karate-Ka must not give a wrong impression of Kara­te by centering too much on it.

I have travelled extensively throughout the world and many times I have felt quite strongly that there is too much emphasis place on Tameshiwari, and that therefore the misconceptions that Karate skill is in breaking things is too widely accepted. This is particularly so in USA where the word “Karate” immediately conjures up the now famous “Karate Chop”.

I cannot stress strongly enough that Tameshiwari is merely a part of Karate, not the whole of it. The essential idea and spirit of Karate is to develop and

complete ones personality, ones body, skill, mind and spirit. Tameshiwari is only one element used in seeking and completing the perfecting of these skills.

However, when considering the Karate boom around the world, I am forced to admit that Tameshiwari has played a large part in making Karate popular, as Tameshiwari generally seems very attractive to people. When the Korean War broke out in 1950, a Karate exhibition was held to which many foreign personal of the Armed Forces were invited. They were not at all interested in Kata and Kumite demonstrations but when Tameshiwari was performed, the hall became as quite as still water. They were fascinated by the per­formances, and thunder this applause arose over the hall.

There was a similar reaction in USA when I visi­ted 32 of that country’s States between the March and November of 1952. Kata, Kumite and Kihon, were also not welcomed. But, as soon as Tameshiwari began, even a noisy crowd of thousands were silenced in amazement, and later gave a thunderous applause.

However, regardless of Tameshiwari popularity, true Karate has not progressed greatly because of the impossibility of holding satisfactory fighting matches. No Martial Arts can properly develop without fight­ing matches. In the past all Martial Arts have develo­ped and progressed by means of fighting, whether in true battle or merely by competition. However, Karate has no true match and has thus been slow to truly develop in a unified way. Kata and Kumite without true battle or merely by competitions. However, Ka­rate has no true match and has thus been slow to truly developing in a unified way. Kata and Kumite without true fighting conditions is merely a sort of dance or physical exercise; it loses its Martial aspect styles that do not advocate full contact, it must be nearly impossible.

A Karate-Ka with speed does not always have strong power and grip, the Karate-Ka with strength does not always have speed, and the Karate-Ka with both is a rarity indeed.

For this reason, it is difficult to judge matches without contact. Judo can be judged by a fall, and Boxing by a knockout, but non-contact Karate has no such exact standard of judgment, matches usually being decided on superiority or inferiority. I believe this obscure judgment prevents Karate from develop­ment.

This is why contact and Tameshiwari have been entered in Kyokushinkaikan tournaments as a mea­sure of ability. It is true that tameshiwari  is a part of Karate, it is a barometer for Karate-Ka to judge abi­lity. A true Karate-Ka-should have three things; spirit, body and arts perfectly harmonious, and I look up to any Karate-Ka with such abilities.

Of course man is not God. However, I consider it man’s duty to engage in Martial Arts in order to make an effort to approach God. It is true indeed that man has sordid habits, but I think the value of man’s exis­tence is in the efforts and studies he makes to accom­plish his “way”.

Recently there have been many Championships in Karate, however, if a Champion could not break three 2 inch boards I would laugh at him. I claim that any Champion must have enough ability to kill a bull with a single blow. If he cannot do so, it would be doubt­ful if his punch is effective regardless of what ability he has to perform Kata and Kumite beautifully. A Karate-Ka must have more than just beautiful Kata and Kumite – he must have power.

Of course it isn’t the purpose of Karate to fight wild animals, but it is one way to develop Karate ability and test it, if there are no adequate matches

Speaking of Tameshiwari, there are more than 30 kinds, divided roughly into several divisions. Kumite and Tameshiwari are two sides of a coin, or the front and back covers of a book. Supposing that Kihon, Kumite and Kata are the parents, then Tameshiwari is the child.

It is as incorrect for a Karate-Ka to get caught in Kumite, Kihon and Kata and to neglect Tameshiwari as it is to neglect all in favour of Tameshiwari.

People equate Karate with Tameshiwari, and to, be sure, Tameshiwari is the greatest interest in Karate. Without Tameshiwari, Karate would not have progres­sed throughout the world. –

I should like to tell our readers that, Kihon, Ku- mite and Kata make 7 points out of a possible ten, Tameshiwari make ‘up the remaining three, and that all Karate-Ka should have all 4 abilities, plus spirit.

By Kancho Oyama