Mas Oyama — The Strongest Karateka in History

Overview

Masutatsu Oyama is a legend of the martial arts — a man whose deeds sound so extraordinary they border on myth, yet are historically well documented. He knocked down 52 bulls with bare hands — three killed outright, 49 with their horns sheared off. He spent 18 months in mountain isolation, using only rocks and trees as training partners. He created Kyokushin (the ultimate truth), the first Karate style to establish full body contact as a core principle. His life’s work revolutionized modern combat sports thinking.


Birth name	Choi Yeong-eui (崔永宜)
Japanese name	Masutatsu Ōyama (大山倍達)
Born	July 27, 1923, South Chungcheong, Korea
Died	April 26, 1994, Tokyo, Japan
Martial art	Kyokushin (founder), Goju-ryu, Shotokan, Boxing, Judo
Teachers	Gichin Funakoshi (Shotokan), So Nei Chu (Goju-ryu)
Notable students	Bobby Lowe, Jon Bluming, Howard Collins, Shokei Matsui

Early Life and Training

Oyama was born in Korea — as Choi Yeong-eui — and was sent at age 9 to his sister’s farm in Manchuria, where a Chinese farmworker taught him his first Kung Fu fundamentals. In 1938 he followed his brother to Japan, trained in Judo and Boxing, and eventually began studying Shotokan under Gichin Funakoshi.

The decisive influence came from So Nei Chu, a Goju-ryu master who understood Oyama’s Korean identity and hunger for intensity. Oyama earned his 4th Dan in Shotokan and 7th Dan in Goju-ryu.

Turning Points

After World War II — unsettled and directionless — Oyama decided to dedicate everything to training. He retreated to Mount Minobu (the same mountain where Miyamoto Musashi is said to have developed his style) and trained in complete isolation for 18 months: daily techniques against rocks, trees, and waterfalls.

In 1950 he began his bull-fighting demonstrations. Over years of intense public appearances, he defeated 52 bulls — a spectacle that brought him worldwide fame and established Kyokushin as the world’s hardest Karate.

In 1964 he formalized Kyokushin under the name Japan Karate-Do Kyokushinkai and built a worldwide network active in over 120 countries by 1994.

Techniques and Principles

Kyokushin is known for its extreme physical demands:

Feature	Description
Full contact	Unrestricted body contact without protective equipment
Tameshiwari	Breaking of materials (wood, stone, ice)
Deep breathing	Breath training and kime (power focus)
100-man Kumite	Extreme training: 100 consecutive bouts
No face punches	Competition rule — allows hard sparring safely
Osu	Greeting and expression of readiness to endure

Philosophy

Oyama’s philosophy was direct and unadorned: “Martial art means suffering.” He believed true strength — physical and mental — grows only through consistent endurance of pain and exhaustion.

He was influenced by the samurai ideal of Bushido and by Miyamoto Musashi’s Go Rin No Sho, which he claimed to have read a hundred times. His major work “This is Karate” (1965) is a mixture of technical manual and life philosophy.

Kyokushin’s motto: Osu no Seishin (The Spirit of Perseverance) — Osu is both greeting and creed.

Students and Legacy

Shokei Matsui — Successor as Kancho (Director) of the IKO
Jon Bluming — Brought Kyokushin to Europe
Bobby Lowe — Canada’s first black belt in Kyokushin
Semmy Schilt — Later K-1 World Champion

After Oyama’s death the Kyokushin organization fragmented — today there are multiple competing organizations.

Connections to Other Arts

Oyama studied Shotokan under Funakoshi and Goju-ryu under So Nei Chu — both flow into Kyokushin. His full-contact approach directly inspired K-1 Kickboxing, Muay Thai hybrids, and many MMA fighters. Knockdown Karate as a category was created by Kyokushin.

Today

Kyokushin has over 15 million practitioners worldwide. The 100-man Kumite remains a mythical ideal — fewer than 20 fighters have officially completed it. Oyama’s legacy lives in K-1, kickboxing, and in every combat sports athlete who understands full contact as the test of truth.