History of Kyokushin
By: Shihan Adnan Tarsha
Sosai Oyama and Kyokushin:
Adnan Tarsha
and Oyama in Tokyo in 1982 |
Sosai Masutatsu
Oyama was born on July
27, 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 had 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.
When he stopped training in judo, after about 4 years, he gained a
fourth Dan. Following the defeat of Japan after the second world war,
Oyama like all other young Japanese, was thrown into a personal
crisis. He found a way out of his despair by training with So Nei
Chu, a Korean Master of Goju-Ryu Karate. This great teacher,
renowned for the power of his body, and deep spiritual inclination
had a profound influence on young Mas Oyama. |
Master So taught him the inseparability of budo
and the spiritual fundamentals of Buddhism. After a few years of training,
Master So advised Mas Oyama to make a firm commitment to dedicate his life to
the Martial Way and retreat to a mountain hideout and train his mind and body.
In 1946, Mas Oyama went into training, at a remote spot, on the Mt.
Kiyosumi in Chiba Prefecture. He was accompanied by one of his students named
Yashiro and a friend Mr. Kayama brought them food supplies every month. Through
vigorous training, Mas Oyama learnt to overcome the mental strain caused by
solitude but Yashiro could not bear it and fled after 6 months. About fourteen
months later Mr. Kayama told Mas Oyama that due to unforeseen circumstances he
could no longer sponsor Mas Oyama's retreat in the mountains and thus Mas
Oyama's original plan of remaining in solitude for three years was brought to an
end.
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-hand blows.
Mas Oyama opened his first "Dojo" in 1953 in Mejiro, 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 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 foundations of Kyokushin Karate. The first "School of Oyama" outside Japan was opened in 1957 by
Shihan Bobby Lowe in Hawaii. In 1952, Mas Oyama gave his first demonstration in
Hawaii. After the demonstration Shihan Bobby Lowe met Mas Oyama and arranged to
train with him. Bobby Lowe's father was an instructor of Kung Fu so he had done
much training in the Chinese Martial Arts. He had participated in any fighting
Art he could; by the time he was 23 he had earned his 4th Dan in judo, 2nd Dan
in Kempo, shodan in Aikido but Mas Oyama's powerful demonstration had stunned
him. Mas Oyama invited Bobby Lowe to Tokyo to train with him and Bobby Lowe did
and trained for over a year and a half. In this way Shihan Bobby Lowe became the
first "uchi-deshi" of Kyokushin, a tradition that later grew to be known as the
"Wakajishi" or Young Lions of Mas Oyama, where a select few are chosen each year
to devote themselves to Karate for one thousand days. The building of the World Headquarters started in 1963 and was
officially opened in 1964. It was at this time that Mas Oyama adopted the name
Kyokushin "The Ultimate Truth". Kyokushin had started its spread around the
globe and at present is one of the largest martial art organization in the
world. It goes without saying that
a style is only as strong as the students who represent it. This is why it is
the responsibility of all those who have chosen to follow Sosai, to train hard
and forge and indomitable spirit so that the tradition of strength in Kyokushin
Karate may be recognized by all for many years.
Kancho Matsui and Kyokushin:
Sensei Adnan Tarsha (3 Dan) and Senpai Matsui (2 Dan)
in Tokyo 1982 |
It was with much sadness that in
late April of 1994, the Kyokushin family across the globe learnt
that its founder Sosai Masutatsu Oyama had died in a Tokyo hospital.
He is missed by not only the masses who have followed in his
footsteps but by the Martial Arts Community as well. His successor
Kancho Shokei Matsui (8 Dan) was named by Sosai himself
to carry on the task of building and preserving the name of
Kyokushin. Kancho Matsui was born in 1963, and commenced his
illustrious Karate career at the age of 13. He quickly established a
firm reputation for being a Karate man of exceptional skill and
ability, with a highly individual, technically superior style of
fighting. He took the basics he learnt in the dojo, and through
intense and dedicated training, he made these techniques work for
him. Students around the world continue to try and capture some of
the essence of Kancho's style of fighting in their own training.
His exceptional tournament record,
over three successive years in particular, led Sosai Oyama to call
him "a true champion"; in 1985, at the age of 22, he won the 12th
All Japan Open Tournament; in 1986, he won the 13th All
Japan Open Tournament; and in 1987, he won the 4th World Open
Karate Tournament. Additionally, in 1986 he succeeded in the 100 man
kumite, achieving the highest rate of knockdowns and wins in this
ultimate challenge, which only a select few have managed to
complete. Ultimately, the stature of the man is confirmed in his
designation as Sosai Oyama' successor in Sosai's last will, and he
now heads arguably the largest Karate organization in the world. |
Shihan Adnan Tarsha and Kyokushin:
Shihan
Adnan Tarsha |
In Lebanon:
Adnan Tarsha is a Kyokushin instructor from the city of
Tripoli in
northern
Lebanon. Has started his way in
Martial Arts in 1972.
The beginning was to learn the art of
Tae Kwon Do with the Lebanese Instructor
Ahmad Abu Khazaal, and because his perseverance
and dedication to training therein;
has taken quick progress
and became better than the students
began months earlier,
then he became the instructor in
the absence of the instructor
while
is still in the Green Belt.
Then made Demonstration in Tripoli and France
in 1973
[1].
His
instructor traveled to Japan to learn the
style of Kyokushin with Master Oyama the founder of this
fighting style,
then
returned to Lebanon as a branch chief of
this
new fighting style which
has been approved by all the students to change to
it and
began intensive training
for this new fighting style.
The instructor stopped coming to Tripoli from Beirut and appointed Tarsha as
representative of this style. In this time he was in
Brown
Belt, he began
teaching his students in
various outdoor places. He have been invited to present
Kyokushin
demonstrations
on various
occasions attended by many
audiences. A person enthused and presented to him a place to
train in it, so he opened a training hall and began his activities there. |
At the same time, he
continued his training with his instructor in
Beirut until he got his
Black Belt (1
Dan)
certificate from Japan in 1974. Then his
fame increases
day after day in Tripoli and a different
authorities
invites him to present
Kyokushin demonstrations
in their festivals, until he could organize by himself the biggest
Kyokushin festival on the biggest theater in Tripoli in 1975, were he
presented
a series of difficult and dangerous demonstrations which
delighted the audience and raised
their interaction. A number of newspapers and magazines published
interviews with him and reports about him
[2], and several authorities
requests from him to train in their places.
Then in 1975
he participated by a team of his
students in the
Lebanon Championship
on the theater of UNESCO in Beirut, and
presented a demonstration
in this championship,
as well as
took the role of
judge.
Founder of Kyokushin in Saudi Arabia:
In the year 1976, and after the fame of Adnan Tarsha
increased
[3]
in the world of
Kyokushin and Karate
[4]
he informed
his students that he will travel for three weeks
to
perform Umrah. He traveled to Makkah and
performed Umrah with
some friends who took him
to the city of Riyadh
which
God preordained to him to remain there
instead of Lebanon. He met
several times with
Prince Faisal bin Fahd
General President of Youth Welfare
who
enthused and
supported him and introduced him to Prince Salman
bin Abdulaziz Governor of Riyadh region, and
also
provided him with a letter to the
President of the Saudi Karate Federation to
cooperate with him in the training field. This
federation was established only few months ago in
1975.
In the same period, Adnan Tarsha
met the President of the
Federation who
explained to him that the federation does not
allow more than one style and
their official style is
"Shotokan" and therefore can not accredit his style
"Kyokushin"
so that there isn't two different
styles.
The meetings repeated between the two men
several times, and in one of the times the President of the
Federation
invited him to join the training of the new
Japanese instructor, to experiment
his training with the other instructors and students; He joined the training with the Japanese who had been
fought the instructors and students and
hit them strongly and
defeated them all to prove his strength and skill
in front of the audiences. When the turn came to Tarsha to fight with
him,
it happened what the Japanese didn't expect,
while it expect their
fight to be for a few seconds then
to change with another player, but
the duration of their fight
was for a long time which made the other players
to stop fighting and sit
down for a rest and to follow up their
fighting. The Japanese failed to
defeat him and
repeating what he has done with the others where
he faced a different way in the fighting
prevented him from achieving what he wants and
made him initiative to stop and
to end the fighting that drew the attention of
audiences.
God
Almighty
preordained the fighting of
the Japanese
with him to be a reason to open a new and very
important way in his life;
among those presents there was a
prince of the Saudi royal family who
joined the training with the Japanese; left
the training with him and asked Adnan
Tarsha to train him in a private
lesson in his palace,
and another three princes joined this lesson. Since
then he began
his way in the private lessons and teaching princes and the other
people, and
began to spread his style "Kyokushin" which was
not known nor practised in Saudi Arabia;
thus became
the founder of Kyokushin in Saudi Arabia and the first
person who introduced it in this country
and taught it
in 1976.
At the same time and with the fact that the Saudi Karate Federation was
not accredit
"Kyokushin"
style, but
Shihan Adnan Tarsha
remained coordinate with
the federation and with its President
Mr.
Muhammad Alqellaish.
He participated by
teams of his students in the Kingdom Open
Championships,
issuings the certificates and cards for
his students from the federation as he is an accredited instructor
in it.
In 1981
he began to give a unique private
Kyokushin
lesson where
Prince Abdulaziz bin
Sattam son of the deputy
governor of Riyadh region asked him to give him a
Kyokushin
lesson in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia where
he started his studying at King Fahd University; so
he
started to travel by plane two flights every
week from and to Riyadh to give this lesson which lasted
several years
until Prince
graduated from the university and continued his training with him in Riyadh.
In Japan:
In
1982 he traveled to Japan to train with Master Masutatsu Oyama
founder of
"Kyokushin". Master
Oyama received him in the
headquarter in Tokyo in a very well reception, and organized a
Special Welcome
Demonstration
on his honor where a number of Japan and world
champions like
"Royama",
"Nishida" and others
performed
a
Kyokushin
demonstrations.
An Arabic
[5],
English
[6]
and Japanese
[7]
Magazines wrote about this
event and made interviews with him
[8].
He stayed
in Tokyo more than a month
training with Master
Oyama
who also ordered
Japan champion Senpai Matsui (2 Dan) to train
with
Tarsha
in a private
lessons alone in addition to the black belt class
where both of them were training together with Master Oyama.
(Matsui
became in 1987 the World Champion, then became the successor of master Oyama
after his death in 1994). In this training trip Adnan Tarsha
got the (3 Dan) in Black Belt,
which
was supposed to get it some years ago, but circumstances did not allow it.
When he decided to
travel from Tokyo, Master
Oyama prepared a
Farewell Ceremony
for him and presented several gifts
to
him.
Master Oyama chosen his successful
Kyokushin
picture and published it on a
large full page in the
1983 year calendar
of
the International Karate Organization "I.K.O."
which distribute to the branches of the
organization around the world.
Master Oyama continued sending him a special
invitations to attend the
World Tournaments
in Tokyo as a special guest, and nominated him in 1990 to be the
chairman of
"I.K.O."
in the Middle East in addition to being
a "Branch Chief" of this organization
and has published his photo in the
Kyokushin Power Map
in the world as a candidate for the chairmanship
of group of Middle East branches chiefs.
And also has
published
his photos for the second time in the
1990 year calendar.
In 1996 Adnan Tarsha was appointed
as
"I.K.O."
Advisor in the Middle East, and In 2003 was
appointed by
"I.K.O."
as the Middle East Team Manager to the World
Tournament in Japan.
Various Activities:
On the other hand,
and in 1983,
Adnan Tarsha produced the
first sport work of its kind in the Arab World
[9],
where he produced
two programs
of exercises
[10]
on video tape
[11]:
One for all kind of people and the other for
pregnant woman
[12].
Then in 1988 he
began presenting his program
"Come and Train"
in the Saudi
Arabian Television,
and was also the first exercises program of this kind in the Saudi TV
[13].
The instructor Adnan
Tarsha is teaching Kyokushin in different public and
private
places, and organizes
camps
and
championships.
He and his sons
are also presenting
Kyokushin
demonstrations
on different occasions,
participates by teams of his students in the local, regional and
international
championships. He is the
Supreme Judge or Chairman of
Judges Committee
or a member of Supreme
Committee in the
championships in different countries. In 2001,
he
has published his own
website
www.adnantarsha.com
which is about his variety of activities such as:
His published Islamic books, his activities
in
Kyokushin, his video programs of exercises, his sport program in the
Saudi
Television, his movie films,
a various video clips and scenes about these different activities
and various other topics
[14].
Shihan Adnan Tarsha
(8 Dan) is now a
Branch Chief by Japan since 1982, and the Advisor of
"I.K.O."
in the Middle East. He is known as the oldest
Kyokushin
Instructor in the Middle East, and
Founder of Kyokushin in the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia in 1976
[15],
and has three sons
teaching
Kyokushin in different places:
Muhammad
Tarsha,
Abdullah
Tarsha,
Abdulaziz
Tarsha. |