Karate Adventure: Chasing the American Dream – Saiko Shihan – Yasuhiko Oyama
This book chronicles the journey of one of the “original warriors” of Kyokushin Karate – Saiko Shihan Yasuhiko Oyama. At the age of fourteen he began training at Mas Oyama’s first dojo in Tokyo, Japan, when it was still a flimsy, tiny one-story shack.
In the subsequent years, Saiko Shihan Y. Oyama and his brother, Soshu Shigeru Oyama, played key roles in tranforming the Kyokushin Organization from a single dojo to the largest and most popular Karate organization in the world. They split from the organization in 1984 and founded World Oyama Karate.
In his 65+ years of training experience, Saiko Shihan Y. Oyama built a reputation as a superb tactician and trained many national and world full-contact Karate champions. This autobiography is an inspirational story of triumphs and setbacks that is sure to motivate anyone who reads it!
Karate Adventure: Bouncer – Saiko Shihan – Yasuhiko Oyama
Soshu Shigeru Oyama (1936 – 2016) was a 10th Dan Black Belt (Ju Dan) with over sixty years of training and teaching experience at the time of his passing on February 14, 2016. He was among the first generation of Kyokushin Black Belts that went on to spread the seeds of full-contact Karate across the globe. He shared the power of his Karate in awe-inspiring demonstrations, including catching a razor-sharp sword swung at full speed with his bare hands. He trained and taught numerous All-Japan and World full-contact champions.
In Japanese culture, an uchi deshi is someone who dedicates themselves to the study of Budo (Martial Arts) or traditional artisan crafts. This path requires complete dedication. An uchi deshi must give up ordinary pleasures and freedom to focus on training day in and day out. An individual needs immense passion and ambition to endure this type of regimen.
In the feudal age, becoming an uchi deshi was the most common way for ordinary people to get job training or master a martial art. However, in the 21st century, society has been flooded with countless choices and freedoms, making the uchi deshi system almost nonexistent.
Especially in today’s digital world, most young people would say you’d have to be out of your mind to want to live this way. This book is fiction, but based on the real-life experiences of my uchi deshi and my interactions with them.
In Japanese culture, an uchi deshi is someone who dedicates themselves to the study of Budo (Martial Arts) or traditional artisan crafts. This path requires complete dedication. An uchi deshi must give up ordinary pleasures and freedom to focus on training day in and day out. An individual needs immense passion and ambition to endure this type of regimen.
In the feudal age, becoming an uchi deshi was the most common way for ordinary people to get job training or master a martial art. However, in the 21st century, society has been flooded with countless choices and freedoms, making the uchi deshi system almost nonexistent.
This story is based on the real-life experiences of one young man who saw becoming an uchi deshi as his ticket to getting out of Japan and seeing the glorious beauty of America.
