I started my karate training at the behest of my pediatrician, at the ripe young age of 11 years old. Having a visual impairment (a lazy eye) and some bad kinesthetics, I was an easy target for bullies… and in my neighborhood there was no shortage of bullies. Though I lost many fights I would not backdown, resulting in repeated trips to the doctors office until the doctor recommend I learn to fight. For the record, that was the best prescription any doctor ever gave me.
I had the great fortune to begin training in 1971 under ‘Soshu’ Shigeru Oyama at his dojo in Scarsdale NY. At first the emotional impact of the training was difficult for me and I wanted to quit. But my parents insisted that I continue until I had finished all the lessons they paid for. I don’t know what changed in me, but their wise insistence paid off. That was the start of my love affair with karate and kata. Sticking with Soshu’s program embedded Karate deep into my soul, and I have practiced it for fifty years as a result.
That original instruction and the concepts instilled in me have served me well in life. The hard training that I endured on the mat gave me a confidence that, frankly, got me out of many situations without a fight. Imagine that, training to fight kept me safe without throwing a single punch! But there’s more. The hard austere training, the key ingredient to our style, is a essential principle for understanding self-defence. There is any easy way to being able to defend yourself; you have to work hard for it. The multi faceted effects of this hard mindset, ranging from good physical and mental health, confidence and charisma served me well even when I couldn’t make it to class. To the Kyokushin man no challenge is too steep, whether that is fighting 10 men in a row or facing fierce competition in the job market.
At Ookun no Yama we do things a little differently than other Kyokushin dojos.
I have been on a quest in my karate life to understand kata. Not just how to do them, but to make them serve the student in what the old masters sought to teach: civilian self defense. Kata overall is supposed to be a pneumonic device to prepare us against common violent encounters. In most dojos though, kata practice has become a tradition, and most of the time nothing more. We at Ookun-no-Yama Dojo may be breaking from tradition here, but I don’t care. It used to be that after Shodan (a first degree black belt) you begin Bunkai training, or learning what the exotic movements of kata are supposed to do. But my experience as a Shodan had no influence, nor did it prepare me to understand Bunkai any better then when I was a white belt! Who’s to say what a movement is? Occasionally an instructor will make the attempt to give meaning to the kata movements, and some are good, but others are downright silly. We at Ookun-no-yama do not claim any special insights or secret knowledge for the katas. Instead, we seek to be pioneers, discovering the uncharted territories of fighting, ground work, self defense and personal health that, we believe were embedded into each movement when the kata were designed. As we develop it, our hope is to build a rank based syllabus with kata at the center of the study. We are striving to make Kyokushin into a complete and dynamic art it was always intended to be. As always Kyokushin Strong! Osu!