Yes, this may not be directly related to Chinese Martial Science, but the lessons we can learn from their history will be very important for our development. Many people have heard of the legend of how Kyokushin Karate Founder Mas Oyama challenged and defeated the invincible Muaythai fighter "Black Cobra" in 1954 at Lumpinee Stadium, Bangkok for the very first time. It was said that he brought Black Cobra down with an elbow strike, followed by an "aerial triple kick"; but he admitted it was a very close fight. There are, strangely, no existing historical reports in Thailand to verify this. But that does not imply that the fight did not took place. Perhaps there was a news cover-up due to national pride; we might never know now that the parties involved are all gone.

Ten years later, in 1964, Oyama's senior disciple Kurosaki led another team of 3 Karateka to Lumpinee to challenge the Thais. Although the Karate team won 2 out of 3 bouts; Kurosaki, who was the leader, got KOed by middleweight champion "Reewai" 2 min 35 sec in the 1^st round with an elbow strike. That fight changed his life forever - he was to give up Karate and train himself in Muaythai, eventually becoming the Father of Japanese Kickboxing. His castle, the Mejiro Gym still stands strong today. But in the old Japanese martial art comics "Karate Baka Ichidai", this important episode in Karate history was not depicted at all, only vaguely mentioned. It appeared that the comics only glorifiied, sometimes exagerating the victories of Kyokushin, but not its defeats.

Finally in 1974, soon after the 5^th All Japan Open, Yoshiji Soeno, the "Tiger of Kyokushin" (paired with the equally famous Terutomo Yamazaki, known as the "Dragon of Kyokushin") decided to follow in the footsteps of Mas Oyama. With the blessing of Sosai Oyama, he embarked on a solo mission to Thailand to re-determine which is the ultimate striking art on Earth - Karate or Muaythai?

Upon arriving in Bangkok, Soeno went immediately to the Rachdamnern Stadium, and approached its Orgainizer, "Hasat" asking to fight. Hasat was unconvinced of Soeno's prowess, but Soeno proved it to him by a simple "test" involving an available Thai fighter who was there at the time. Hasat then asked Soeno to head to Chiang Mai, to make a name for himself in Northern Thailand before coming back to Bangkok again to fight.

And so Soeno flew to Chiang Mai and the Organizer there, "Osman", who already knew in advance he was coming, put him up to fight on that very night. Soeno ran into difficulty in the very first round, getting knocked down by a surprise flying knee kick (rebounding from the ropes) from his Thai opponent. In the second round he fought back, and using the very same tactics, managed to KO his opponent with a spinning kick to the head. After that match the jealous Organizer set him up, tricking him into reducing his weight to lightweight, then putting up a middleweight fighter to fight him. Soeno was much affected physically & as a result almost got killed in the subsequent match. It was his mastery of Judo (threw his opponent out of the Ring) and superhuman belief in Kyokushin Karate that saved his life and the match. In a dramatic reversal, when his opponent grabbed his leg & was bout to deliver a coupe de grace, he used a "Sutemi Waza" (sacrifice technique), completely stunning the Thai with an aerial roundhouse kick to the neck from that position.

That bout finally caught the attention of "Reiba", whom they call the "Dark Lord of Muaythai". Perhaps he was as strong as "Black Cobra" was, if not more so. Reiba's prowess struck fear deep into Soeno's heart. He too knew the aerial triple kick, which he first learned when he saw Oyama's fight with the Black Cobra 20 years ago. Osman wasted no time in arranging a fight between Soeno & Reiba's disciple "Mongkut Kalop", the "Dark Warrior". Preluded by a pompous press conference, this fight began with the high anticipation of all Muaythai fans in Chiang Mai. Soeno immedaitely felt the deadly force of Mongkut's kicks in the first round. But to amazement & shock of everyone present, he suddenly unleashed the "triangle leap attack" (again using the ropes) technique, knocking out the Thai with a powerful strike to the head in that very round. Reiba, shocked as he was, immediately gathered himself and asked Soeno to increase his weight to middleweight - he would take him on personally!

However Reiba's brother "Daya", a bandit chief (really!) intervened & said he would slaughter Soeno in his brother's place. So it was. This time, with live coverage on national TV, this fight would be seen by all of Thailand. Halfway through his "Wai Kru" dance, the wild Daya suddenly attacked Soeno, even before the starting bell was rung! He had no regard for rules & was like an animal, fighting using the "Pahuyuth" system that hit witth every physical weapon available. It was bloody & brutal, as both fighters fought with all the techniques & strength that they had. Finally in the 4^th round, when both of them were almost exhausted, Soeno leapt into the air and struck Daya with an elbow drop to the top of his skull - sending him flat on to the canvas unconscious instantly.

Reiba, already fuming by now, knew that only he himself could take this Karateka. But it was a fight that never was. Four days before the destined battle, Reiba was shot dead by a Thai gangster who was part of a mob to ambush him, controlled by the gambling syndicates. Ironically, not even the whole bunch of gangsters with weapons could take Reiba; he was shot by one of them whom he spared. In a grand funeral, the mighty Dark Lord disappeared forever into the darkness. Soeno returned to Bangkok soon after, fighting and winning the top fighters in Lumpinee, but in those victories he felt no joy; the death of Reiba had left an eternal void in his heart of what might have been.

After that episode, in the following year (1975) was the 1^st World Open, perhaps the most glorious moment of Kyokushin where all challengers from other fighting styles around the world were easily blown away. The eventual Champion was Sato, 1^st runner up Royama (a key pillar figure in IKO1 now) and 2^nd runner up Ninomiya, the founder of Enshin Karate. In that period other first generation disciples of Oyama also went out to challenge the best of the rest (including Muaythai, Kickboxing & Kungfu) & achieved awe-inspiring results. Kyokushin at that time was indeed the strongest karate on Earth, the ultimate striking art.

The <Book of Changes> say: "The proud dragon nurses regret. When something reaches fullnesss, it cannot last." In the 80s, Kyokushin started to close its doors to challengers, and it no longer sent fighters out there to challenge other styles. The later generation Karateka seemed content to rest easy on the fruits of the success & dominion left by their brave predecessors. Kyokushin turned inward, focusing only on its own tournaments and its own rules, so much so the whole style started to revolve around the tournament system of fighting. They were becoming in the words of Bruce Lee, "fixed to a pattern" of doing things. As a result, certain obvious flaws started to surface in the Kyokushin style, and when dissenting views was not accepted, cracks in the organization became inevitable. Off-shoots or sub-styles (like Ashihara, Shidokan, Daidojuku) started to form out of Kyokushin. Their differences were not only in combat efficiency, but many were also politically & financially motivated.

One of Kyokushin's weakness stem from its tournment rule that disallowed punching to the face. While the first generation fighters had to learn to defend their head because they challenged other styles, the later generation who focus only on their own tournaments completely ignored this important aspect of striking. In the tournaments they could stand close to their opponent and throw continuous low kicks without having to worry about an opponent punching them on their exposed face. This rule created a false sense of security in its fighters, & as it became a fixed pattern, they don't expect others out there to do otherwise either. Even Shokei Matsui, the chosen heir of Mas Oyama displayed such a weakness when he faced an Indian fighter in the 3^rd World Open (1984) who flouted this rule repeatedly - he was punched in the face & brought down several times. Even though Matsui won the bout because the Indian was disqualifiied, one cannot help but wonder - what if it was a real fight? Would the outcome still remain unchanged?

Another of Kyokushin's significant weakness is its banning of all aspects of grappling from their tournment fighting, even stand-up grappling. While most of the first generation fighters had a high degree of training in Judo before they learned Karate, the same could not be said for the later generations. Because in the past Judo in Japan was compulsary in school, that gave all Japanese fighters of old some experience on grappling more or less. Furthermore in the past, the rules on grappling was much relaxed, such that throws & take-downs could be seen quite often in early Kyokushin tournaments. But as time passed, to protect the later generation Japanese fighters who weren't as good in grappling from the heavyweight foreigners who were using grabbing to their advantage, the rules became very strict. That ensured that the Japanese keep their winning edge, but it also made the Kyokushin style less & less resistant against grapplers. And it is worse for those foreigners who learn Kyokushin fresh, without any prior grappling experience. The first foreign Kyokushin stylist to learn this the hard way was Gerard Gordeau, a Dutch Karateka, when he faced the then invincible Royce Gracie in the UFC 1 Final. He was impressive all the way until he met Royce the master grappler. Although Gerard had some fighting experience against other lesser grapplers, but against Royce he was took down and choked from the rear before he had a chance to throw a single blow! And it was the UFC that left the whole MA world in awe of Jujutsu.

Then in UFC 2, Daidojuku Karateka Minoki Ichihara from Japan was also to become cannon fodder for Royce's rise to glory. He lasted much longer than Gerard did, only because of the fact that Daidojuku was a hybrid off-shoot of Kyokushin that mixed some grappling & boxing into Karate. However, Minoki's 20% grappling was hardly sufficient against Royce's 90% grappling skills. All things being equal, winning and losing boils down to one's level of mastery in a certain field of combat, something that can easily be overtaken if not improved constantly. What more if that field is totally absent in a style? Even Royce Gracie became a has-been champion now because he did not continue to renew his Jujutsu techniques, nor put any effort into striking skills. Unlike his brother Rickson, Royce had remained stagnant. The <Classic of History> says, "The Mandate of Heaven does not remain forever." Thus no one style or person should take superiority for granted!

Around the same time we witnessed the birth of K1 Grand Prix, the highest arena for heavyweight strikers, & also the rise of two of Kyokushin's best heavyweight Karateka, Andy Hug & Francisco Filho. Although both of them started shakily due to weak boxing skills, they eventually adjusted to the K1 rules & went on to become World Champions in different years. In the case of Andy Hug, who left Kyokushin to join its off-shoot Seidokan (also the Organizer of K1), he trained intensively in Muaythai & Kickboxing in order to correct the weakness in his Karate skills. Even so, he had never given up his identity as a Karateka, Kyokushin or otherwise. As for Filho, he also had to put in a lot of effort to practice boxing. Without these additional training, both could not hope to do well in K1 with only their Karate. This tells us that even the best in Karate concede to being disadvantaged by the conventional Kyokushin system, how much more so for the ordinary man learning it? But now with Andy gone and Filho almost retired as a fighter, Kyokushin is surely losing its place to Kickboxing & Muaythai in the world arena of striking arts that is K1.

After Andy & Filho, Kyokushin had a new hope in the form of Nicholas Pettas, one of the last personal disciples of Mas Oyama. Although his boxing skills were inadequate like his predecessors were in the beginning, he nevertheless made up for it with his awesome kicking skills. His axe kicks were just as fast & powerful as Andy was, if not more so. He had already made a name for himself in previous Kyokushin World Tournaments, & his entry into K1 GP saw him rise swiftly through its ranks, only to claim the Championship title in Year 2001. Indeed he had reached his peak then, but his fall came soon after too. In last year's K1 Survival (06/02/2002), when Pettas fought Sergei Guru, he met with a freak accident in the 2^nd round of the bout. He threw a low kick at Sergei, which he blocked, and Pettas ended up breaking his own leg in the process. He fell immdeiately with a cry and could no longer get up. Nobody had expected such thing to happen, but since it did, a broken leg effectively ended the fightng career of the promising Pettas. With the unfortunate fall of Pettas, Kyokushin's hope of revival were dashed yet again.

Within Kyokushin-kai itself, the orgainization received yet another blow less than 2 months ago on 24/11/2002, when the its best native Japanese Karateka, Hajime Kazumi offcially quit the IKO1 to join a new splinter group led by Shihan Tsuyoshi Hiroshige. Hiroshige is formerly the proud master of Kyokushin's Jonan Branch, where many recent All Japan as well as World Champions came forth. Kazumi reason for quitting was to "pursue true Budo Karate", does that mean he thought that Kyokushin needed reform? There are other sensitive reasons as to why he left, but I shall not touch on them here. The latest news is that he broke away from Shihan Hiroshige also, to strike out on his own. Kazumi is now the new leader of a group of 6 independent Dojos. Perhaps he felt that he was famous & ebstablished enough in Japan not to be anybody's follower. So Kazumi would no longer be in this year's World Tournament 2003, & nobody would be able to stand in the way of Francisco Filho taking his 2^nd World Champion title (if he still particpates). As the saying in <Romance of the 3 Kingdoms> goes, "States fall apart & re-unite, Empires wax & wane". With Kyokushin-kai's continuous falling apart & with its world best fighters gone, it would appear that the mandate of heaven had truly deserted their organization. Perhaps Mas Oyama wanted his dominion to die with him; but is this the inevitable destiny of the vast international Karate empire passed down from Oyama to Matsui?

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