r/kyokushin

A personal look at Zen, mushin, meditation, kata, and awareness in Kyokushin. I also included a couple of experiences from my own training that helped shape how I understand mushin in practical terms.

​I’m 36 and recently decided to start a martial art. Ideally, I was looking for Judo or Freestyle Wrestling, but unfortunately, there are no schools offering those in my area. ​So, I’ve narrowed it down to Kyokushin Karate, as there are two local dojos available: ​Dojo A: Affiliated with the Honkyokushin International Karate Organization (HIKO). The head instructor also holds a black belt in Kudo (Daido Juku), so he incorporates more grappling, takedowns, and face punches into training. Naturally, this sounds a bit more appealing to me given my initial interest in wrestling/judo. ​Dojo B: Affiliated with Kyokushin-kan International (Japan Honbu). From what I understand, this is a legitimate Japanese organization with a strong history and direct lineage. ​My main question is: Is the lineage/prestige of the Japanese organization (Kyokushin-kan) something I should heavily consider

​Or should I just go with the instructor whose style and training focus (Dojo A with Kudo elements) align better with what I’m looking for?

A boxer will always beat a Kyokushin fighter because Kyokushin doesn’t allow punches to the face.

Right?

That claim gets repeated constantly, but it usually says more about the ruleset than the fighter. I take a look at head punches, bare-knuckle striking, boxing gloves, low kicks, bad habits, and what “realistic” training actually means.

Hello, I’m 19 and wanted to switch from 10 years of taekwondo into a full contact sport. Kyokushin seems like the real deal. I love that it keeps the martial art atmosphere with the gi and hard conditioning. However, I hate the fact that I’d have to learn kata from 0, when patterns were already my least favorite thing about tkd. Maybe in this case Kyo is not for me then, but again I love the karate culture. Opinions?

I’ve been thinking about giri — duty, obligation, and the responsibility created between teacher and student.

In the dojo, that responsibility is visible in the things we wear: the dojo patch that identifies where we come from, and the Kyokushin kanji that connects us to a much larger tradition.

What do you think we owe to the dojo, our instructors, our students, and the art we represent?

​

There’s a Kyokushin fighting competition coming up in less than a month, and my teachers asked if I wanted to participate.

I’m currently a green belt and I’m 26. I started karate about 4 years ago and have always treated it as a hobby alongside work and my other responsibilities. I competed once before, when I was a blue belt, mainly just to challenge myself, and I’m really glad I did it.

This time, though, I’m much more hesitant.

I’ll potentially be fighting higher belts, and while I regularly spar with my sensei, he’s very strong and definitely doesn’t go easy on us, I know that sparring with him is still controlled. A competition is different, and I’m honestly a bit worried about serious injuries. I have work and other responsibilities, so getting injured badly enough to affect those things is a bigger concern for me than simply losing a fight.

I asked my sensei if, since he spars with me regularly, he thinks I’m good enough/ready enough to participate. I was expecting some kind of advice or encouragement, but his response was basically: “That’s not my issue. You decide if you want to fight or not. And so what if you get kicked in the head?” 😂

He basically hates seeing us being hesitant, but to be honest I was genuinely asking for advice.

To be fair, that’s just his personality and he’s not very talkative, so I’m not taking it personally. But it didn’t exactly make the decision easier.

Part of me also worries that I’m using my age, work, and responsibilities as excuses not to do it. I keep telling myself, seriously, what’s the worst that can happen? I’ve already competed once, I know I’ll probably learn a lot from doing it, and I don’t want to look back and wish I had just gone for it.

At the same time, I don’t want to be reckless just for the sake of challenging myself.

For those of you who compete in Kyokushin, how would you approach this? Is being a green belt with 4 years of training enough reason to give it a shot, even if the other competitors may be higher belts? And how much should I realistically worry about injuries compared with regular hard sparring?

I’d especially appreciate perspectives from people who started competing as adults and have work/life responsibilities outside of karate.

Somos una academia de Karate Kyokushin de Costa Rica (Academia Ensō) y fuimos a representar al país al IV copa América en Panamá.Terminamos siendo los mejores de la delegación de Costa Rica. ¡Quería compartirlo con ustedes!"

For content, I do not do any sort of combat sport at all and I do not sports at all. However, I do go to the gym for weight and cardio training 4-5 times a week.

I don't have any combat experience at all, but I want to try something completely new in my life. Is there any equipment I should get beforehand as well?

¡Hola a todos! Me pueden llamar Warai Oni.

Llevo tiempo entrenando en casa de forma autodidacta, enfocado en el striking (buscando combinar Kyokushin y Muay Thai para un futuro ser un profesional en MMA). Hago lo que puedo con el espacio y las herramientas que tengo, porque en mi pueblo no hay dojos ni gimnasios de artes marciales.

Sé que al ser autodidacta debo tener muchísimos errores técnicos por corregir, así que me uno a la comunidad para aprender de ustedes, escuchar sus consejos y recibir críticas constructivas de mi progreso. ¡Un saludo a todos! OSU

Osu All. Kyokushin is one family. Wherever you go in the world - you can train somewhere. Just reach out to dojo and politely ask if you can join. I’ve done this for almost 30 years. I’ve trained everywhere from scandi to Australia

Good evening,
I’m a former taekwondo purple belt (13 years ago) and I’m looking into kyokushin. I found a dojo in Phoenix called Hioki Dojo. I wanted to get advice and see if there’s someone who goes to that dojo or a dojo in the valley. Thank you!