What Is Kyokushin Karate? The Ultimate Truth

What the name means

Kyokushin was founded by Mas Oyama, and the name is commonly translated as “ultimate truth.” In the clip above, Kancho breaks it down. “Kyoku” means extreme or ultimate. Karate-do is a “do,” and Kyokushin “was founded as a do, which is a way.”

Most people stop at the first meaning. Ultimate sounds like an outcome: bam, it’s real, somebody went down. Kancho says the deeper meaning is personal. “You individually, respectively, we’re the ultimate,” in mind, body and spirit. “We should be able to look in the mirror and not lie to ourselves. What is the truth for you? What is the truth for me? And that’s how you get better.”

That is the part I want every new student to hear. The truth in Kyokushin is not a slogan. It is the honest look at your own training. Did you drop your hands? Did you lean on that punch? Did you stop moving after the kick? Nobody has to tell you. You know, and if you’re honest about it, you get better.

Full contact, bare knuckle, bare shin

Kyokushin is known for its full-contact knockdown format. In our dojo, Kyokushin is predominantly bare-knuckle, bare-shin, full contact to the body, with no bare-knuckle punching to the face.

People ask why we can kick to the head but can’t punch to the face. The short answer: it’s super easy to punch somebody in the face. It’s definitely harder to kick up to the head. And when we do kick to the head, we do it with control.

That does not mean Kyokushin ignores the head. In my opinion, the biggest myth about Kyokushin is that there are no strikes to the head. We punch to the face when we’re wearing proper equipment, hand pads and a mouth guard, and we keep it controlled. I go through the reasons in Your Kyokushin Questions Answered.

Bare knuckle also changes how you think about every punch. You keep the wrist straight and hit with the front two knuckles, because a weak wrist on a body shot gets exposed right away. If you want the mechanics, start with how to punch in Kyokushin karate.

Kihon, kata, kumite

Kancho names the method plainly: “The method to get there is in kihon, kata and kumite.”

• Kihon is the basics. Stances, punches, kicks and blocks, drilled until they hold up under pressure.

• Kata are the forms, the traditional patterns that carry the technique of the style from one generation to the next.

• Kumite is fighting with a partner.

In Kyokushin, kumite carries enormous weight. Kancho says that for Kyokushin, “maybe even almost singularly,” kumite comes first, “where you’ll find very few styles” that put it there.

Kumite is where the truth shows up. You can look sharp throwing combinations in the air. Put a partner in front of you who hits back and the gaps in your basics surface fast. You find out what needs work, and you take it back to kihon. Then you fight again. That loop is the style.

How The Phoenix Way trains Kyokushin

The Phoenix Way is a mixed martial arts school based in traditional Kyokushin full-contact karate. Our stand-up is rooted in Kyokushin, our takedowns come from Judo, and our ground game is Jiu-Jitsu based. We believe in the old-school tenets of the martial arts with a new age twist, and we use a rotating curriculum so training stays fresh.

My own teaching is grounded in hard-style Kyokushin. I keep it current with modern training methods on a mixed martial arts platform, because I want students to become a more complete fighter. The traditions stay. The methods keep up with what works.

For adults, sparring is optional. You can take technique-only and no-sparring classes, learn at your own pace, and step into kumite when you’re ready. Our Adult Class covers the full program, from stand-up to the ground.