Masutatsu Oyama Sosai
A Unique Life...
Masutatsu Oyama Sosai (1923 - 1994) was born in a village near Seoul in what is now South Korea on July 27, 1923. Accounts of Sosai's life do vary slightly, but a broad outline of his life can be summarized as follows:
At around the age of nine, he was sent to live on his sister's farm in what was then Manchuria in Southern China. At this young age, he first came into contact with the Martial Arts in the form of Kempo, through a Chinese farm hand who was also working on the farm at this time. He returned to Korea several years later and continued his Kempo training.
Sometime between 1936 and 1938, Oyama Sosai travelled to Japan, either following in the footsteps of his brother, or to start out a career in Japan. Later he did indeed join the Japanese Imperial Army's aviation school, as his brother had done. In approximately 1941 the young Oyama enrolled in Takushoku University. He also received his second dan in Gojyu karate.
At the end of World War Two, Oyama Sosai left the aviation school. The American occupation of Japan, the loss of many of his aviation school friends during the war, the political and ideological struggles brewing in his homeland of Korea and the difficulties of being a foreigner in Japan all affected him deeply.
While studying sports education at Waseda University, he came into contact with Shotokan karate through Funakoshi Giko. He trained under Giko for several years, before moving on to Gojo Ryu and achieving his 8th dan by the head of that school in Japan. Oyama had already tried to set up his own karate school at the end of the war, but quickly realised that the difficulties of being a foreigner in Japan meant he would have to achieve his dreams by a different path.
During his training in Tokyo, Mas Oyama met two people who would have a profound impact on his life: So Nei Chu, a master of Gojo Ryu karate, and Eiji Yoshikawa, the author of a biography on Musashi Miyamoto, arguably the greatest swordsman that ever lived in pre-modern Japan. Both men taught Oyama about the Bushido Way and Oyama decided to train and meditate in solitude on Mount Minobu in Japan's Yamanashi Prefecture - the same place where Miyamoto had perfected his sword skills hundreds of years earlier.
The Way of the Warrior does not include other Ways...
but if you know the Way broadly, you will see it in everything.
- Miyamoto Musashi
Oyama Sosai spent over a year on the mountain, enduring harsh conditions whilst training and meditating. After 14 months, finding it difficult to endure the loneliness and now without the support of his original sponsor, Oyama Sosai returned to Tokyo. Already greatly advanced in his physical and mental abilities, he went on that year to win the All Japan Martial Arts Championships (Karate entry).
Distressed at not having completed the three years training time in solutide that he had set as his original goal, he then went to Mount Kiyosumi in Chiba Prefecture and spend the next 18 months continuing his training. By this time, Mas Oyama had clearly decided that his life would be dedicated to spreading the knowledge of karate. He eventually returned to Tokyo and opened the "Oyama Dojo". Information on the resulting style of Kyokushin karate can be found here.
Sosai spent the following years expanding his school both nationally and internationally, showing a skill for business and leadership equal to those he posessed in karate. That is a story for another time...
References and Further Information:
Miyamoto, Musashi "The Book of Five Rings"
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