# Is Kyokushin Karate popular back in North America?



## Damian Mavis (Jul 26, 2008)

The past few months I have been training kyokushin karate in Thailand getting ready for a few fights coming up (August Thailand, September China, November Japan) and I'm surprised I never knew anything about it before... it's great and it's easily as tough as Muay Thai which I have also fought... so why had I never really heard of it before back in Canada?


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## jarrod (Jul 26, 2008)

kyokushin is more respected than popular as far as the states go.  it's gained respect primarily through mma fighters who have a base in it (bas rutten, george st. pierre).  still, most recreational karateka aren't looking to throwdown bareknuckle.  

jf


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## jarrod (Jul 26, 2008)

oh yeah, good luck on your fights!  let us know how they go.


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## twendkata71 (Jul 26, 2008)

Kyokushinkai is very popular in the states, but also there are so many offshoots of kyokushinkai that are popular,ashihara karate,  world Oyama karate, enshin karate, world seido karate, all from former Kyokushinkai instructors. Many started their own karate systems after sosai Oyama passed away. Some broke off before.


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## Damian Mavis (Jul 26, 2008)

Right but the style is all similar isn't it?  I totally don't mean to disrespect karate (I'm sure there are lots of good school from various styles) but back in my home city of Ottawa it's a complete joke, they make sport TKD look tough (huge chains of karate mcdojos).  If I had seen Kyokushin style in my city I would have had the utmost respect for karate all these years.  So my point is, I assumed it's not too popular since I never saw it in Canada.  Jarrod pointed out that most people don't want to fight full contact bare knuckle but muay thai is gaining lots of popularity and most practitioners do not fight.  I find the training for Kyokushin excellent, I'm truly surprised that it hasn't caught on in Canada with the crowd that likes hard training but isn't really looking to fight.  I'm actually a traditional (ITF) TKD instructor so I know all about the different kinds of people attracted to different types of training/arts but thought I would have been exposed to this intense style of karate already and not after almost 20 years of training.


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## elder999 (Jul 26, 2008)

Georges St. Pierre is 3rd(?) dan in kyokushin.

There's a Kyokushin dojo in Ottaw, or at least there was at one time.

It's not as popular in North America as some other forms, because of it's _uncompromising_ nature-most people don't want to work hard, or get hurt, but it and its offshoots are around most major cities in the U.S., and a few other places.......


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## Phadrus00 (Jul 26, 2008)

Kyokushin is pretty popular in Eastern Canada.  Growing up in New Brunswick it was the first Martial Art I was exposed to and it was very popular in the Northern part of the province.  I think a lot of the success of any particular stype in an area is due to the personalities behind the schools.  It requires a committment of promotion and community building to really get a school to flourish and expand.


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## Kyukoku86 (Aug 1, 2008)

*Hey, are you fighting in the WKO tournament in Pattaya Thailand? It's the end of August.*


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## Damian Mavis (Aug 1, 2008)

Yup, well that's the plan anyway.  Will you be there?


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## Kyukoku86 (Aug 1, 2008)

*If all goes well. Yes I will.*


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## Damian Mavis (Aug 1, 2008)

That's great, are you in the 75kg and under or open weight division?


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## Kyukoku86 (Aug 1, 2008)

*I believe I'm in the 75kg devision. How about you?*


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## tshadowchaser (Aug 1, 2008)

Kyokushinkai is very popular in the states, but it may have been more popular back in the late 60's and early 70's.
I used to know a number of top notch fighters from that association back then


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## Damian Mavis (Aug 1, 2008)

Yes I'm in the 75kg division.


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## Kyukoku86 (Aug 2, 2008)

*Oh, osu sounds good I should see you there then if all goes well eh. Best of luck with your training.*


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## Daniel Sullivan (Aug 4, 2008)

If I were to ever try a different martial art besides the ones I am doing now, Kyokushin would top my list, followed by Shotokan.

A side note, one of my favorite martial artists is a 3rd dan Kyokushin practitioner: Dolph Lundgren.

Daniel


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## MilkManX (Aug 19, 2008)

I think it lacks popularity for a few reasons.

Its hard training. 

For some people thats too much just to start with.

Soccer moms dont want that. They want Dick and Jane to get lots of colorful belts frequently.

I think that MMA has taken some of the interest from the TMA and back into sport clubs that teach MMA.


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## Daniel Sullivan (Aug 19, 2008)

MilkManX said:


> Soccer moms dont want that. They want Dick and Jane to get lots of colorful belts frequently.


How sad, but how true.  Soccor moms should appreciate martial arts for what they are and let their kids play soccor for fun.

Daniel


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## stoneheart (Aug 19, 2008)

Well there's a Seido and an Enshin school in my metro area of Austin, TX.  They're both kyokushin offshoots.


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## Martin h (Aug 25, 2008)

Kyokushin has a hard time in north america.    On one hand it is a trad art with strict formal trad training -which tends to turn away the "tough guys" only interrested in hard fighting.      On the other hand it is heavily into a fullcontact bareknuckle sparring endorsing KOs-which tend to turn away people that dont like to walk around severely bruised every week, and soccer moms afraid to see little bobby get hurt.      Then it likes hard almost fanatic PE -which tend to turn away the casual practitioner who dont have the endurance for it, and really dont like to sweat all that much.      Finally it is so fractured between different organizations and offshot styles(that tend not to work with each other and pretend the others do not exist) that there is not enough opportunities to compete for the sport karate fanatics.


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## frank raud (Aug 25, 2008)

Kyokushin is popular in the Montreal area and through Quebec, not as popular in Ottawa. Most Karate in the Ottawa area would be based on Chito-ryu, as the earliest practicioners were from Chito-ryu(Fern Cleroux, Andre Langelier, George Sylvain). There have been several Kyokushin clubs in Ottawa(still one, I believe),but it is not "mainstream" karate around here.


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## Damian Mavis (Sep 1, 2008)

If Im not mistaken I think Kyokoku (Izzy) replaced me at the Kyokushin tournament here in Thailand and did very well.  Congratulations, I heard the top guys in the 75kg and under division were very strong fighters, I dont know if you fought one of them but I heard you won a couple of your fights at least, knocking out your first opponent in the first 20 seconds.  On the fight card I was supposed to fight that guy (from Pakistan) but due to training injuries I had to withdraw from the tournament and he was matched up with you.  Sounds like you did a better job of it than I would have!


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## Kyukoku86 (Sep 7, 2008)

*Wow, your absolutely right it was you I replaced. It was your name I saw in the books. They didn't recieve my picture and  info in time so I was numberless. But, they saw an opening(12) and just threw me in there.*
*But yeah my first fight was the guy from Pakistan which I don't even wanna consider a fight. The guys heart just wasn't in the ring with him. My second fight was a guy from Iran not the winner but he was pretty tough. He beat me by decision. But we got wind that the Iran team was cheating! Wrapping their shins and supposably using carpet around their ribs and legs(they also had 15 fighter when it should of been 3 or 4 to a country). Durring the heavy weight 2 Iran fighters got DQ'ed for wrapping and taking so long to unwrap his shins. So some things were pretty screwed up but not all. Overall an amazing tournament. I know it must really suck to be out with an injury.*


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## Damian Mavis (Sep 8, 2008)

Cheating?!  I'll have to ask about that, havent been back to class since the injuries.  My "team mates" were the 2 heavy weight guys that got 2nd and 4th in open weight.  (Judd and Russ).  Pretty amazing match up for first and second in open weight eh?  Cant believe Judd got knocked out with a rolling axe kick (is that what you call it?).    Not sure why Iran brought so many fighters, I'll ask about that too.

I'm sending you a pm.


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## tko4u (Sep 8, 2008)

I can tell you a fighter by the name of Georges St. Pierre fights with that style, and just watching his technique makes me curious of the style, it is different from mine, but fun to watch!


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## twendkata71 (Sep 8, 2008)

St.Pierre is first a jujitsu stylist, then a Kyokushinkai karate stylist. Still he is a great fighter to watch.


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## Martin h (Sep 25, 2008)

twendkata71 said:


> St.Pierre is first a jujitsu stylist, then a Kyokushinkai karate stylist. Still he is a great fighter to watch.



Other way around. He was a kyokushin guy at first, then when his teacher died he switched to BJJ.


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## Martin h (Sep 25, 2008)

Damian Mavis said:


> Cant believe Judd got knocked out with a rolling axe kick (is that what you call it?).



Mae Domawashi kaiten geri  in japanese (or Yoko domawashi kaiten geri depending on with rolling kick you mean). Its ust called rolling kick or wheel kick in english.


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## Mitchxy (Jan 29, 2009)

How did your fights go and are you still training in Kyokushin and is there a Kyokushin dojo in Thailand


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## Damian Mavis (Jan 30, 2009)

I was mortally wounded (limping for the last 3 weeks before the fight) during training with the heavy weight champions Judd and Russ.  Bad luck..... so I didnt get to fight but the tournament went really well.  There were 4 place winners for light weight (75kg and down) and 4 for heavy (76kg and up) and all the places except 2 were taken by Iran fighters.  Judd got 2nd and Russ got 4th for heavy weight.

The place we train is actually a shaolin kenpo kungfu school (more like martial arts , that also trains military special forces and swat police and K1 fighters like Peter Aerts, Nick and Bob Sapp.  However it has taken a serious lean towards kyokushin since Judd (trained by Mas Oyama himself) came to work for the school.  I like the kungfu, like the muay thai and like the Kyokushin so Im happy.  I still train but usually only once a week since its a 2 hour bus ride to another city (Pattaya) to get there and my school keeps me in Bangkok (I run a TKD school).

I encourage anyone that trains kyokushin and comes to Thailand for a trip to visit the school and train.


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