Many Aspects of Kyokushin Karate

Below is an excerpt from a post that appears at The Martial Way. The full post may be read here.

At its core Kyokushin Karate is a martial art that focuses on power (also partly the reason why Sosai Oyama fought bulls was to market his style as an art that focuses on power).

In Kyokushin there are typically many different styles at work, generally speaking there are:

1. Technical
2. Power
3. Stamina
4. Pressure
5. Outside
6. Counter
7. Inside

Most Kyokushin fighters who fight in Knockdown tournaments are usually a combination of some of these. It is notoriously difficult to analyse every style at work in Kyokushin because there are numerous, for example there are many technical fighters but there is no one style to define a technical orientated Kyokushin fighter, since they all fight technically but in their own unique ways, so I will focus on the styles I have seen & have knowledge of & have had success in Kyokushin tournaments.

1. Efficiency style – this style incorporates principles introduced by one of the premier martial artists from the 20th century: Kenichi Sawai:who founded the martial art Taikiken. Taikiken is the Japanese name for the Chinese martial art – Yiquan founded by Wang Xiangzhai. Kenichi Sawai for those who do not know, was a great martial artist from the early-mid 19th century – he was a 5th dan judoka, kendo & Iaido master. The art focuses on ‘developing natural movement and fighting ability through a system of training methods & concepts, to improve the perception of one’s body, it’s movement, balance and force.