Do you know anyone with a black belt in both Kyokushin and Goju Ryu ?

[Same Trick]

Thought Kimura taught Mas Oyama judo ?

Fun fact: In Karate Kid / Cobra Kai, Mr Miyagi was named after Chogun Miyagi (the founder of Goju Ryu) and the Miyagi-Do karate is Goju Ryu while Cobra Kai is Tang Soo Do ; I think they decided it should be Korean Karate because Thomas Ian Griffith (Terry Silver) is a black belt in taekwondo or because John Kreese and Terry Silver possibly fought in the Korea war ?

Yes, Kimura was a judo teacher of Oyama, however Oyama was also tied to Sawai back in his judo days. Kimura probably get more attention because of his competition fame, and that he also practiced karate as a fellow karate student of Oyama.



Karate Kid fun fact- the highly skilled karate master Fumio Demura was the fight choreographer and Pat Moritas stunt double in the KK saga - he did Shito-ryu

 

[ronki23]

@_Simon_

Are International Karate-do Goju Kai Association and Seigokan the same ?

I thought the biggest karate association / federation is the WKF as they're also Olympic

I read there's quite a few Kyokushin organisations: IKO 1-4

I am not a traditionalist. I like MMA as you are fighting and blending styles. UFC is the pinnacle. GLORY for kickboxing

 

[Badhabits]

Mas Oyama — Badass of the Week

Ben Thompson is the author of twelve books on various historical subjects, including the Badass, Guts & Glory, and Epic Fails series.

www.badassoftheweek.com

A little morning entertainment

 

[_Simon_]

@_Simon_

Are International Karate-do Goju Kai Association and Seigokan the same ?

I thought the biggest karate association / federation is the WKF as they're also Olympic

I read there's quite a few Kyokushin organisations: IKO 1-4

I am not a traditionalist. I like MMA as you are fighting and blending styles. UFC is the pinnacle. GLORY for kickboxing

I have no idea to be honest! WKF is huge, but unsure if they're just purely a sports karate organisation.

Yeah Kyokushin underwent many many splinterings and directions after Sosai's death... not uncommon really.

 

[_Simon_]

Mas Oyama — Badass of the Week

Ben Thompson is the author of twelve books on various historical subjects, including the Badass, Guts & Glory, and Epic Fails series.

www.badassoftheweek.com

A little morning entertainment

Hahahaha, rather enjoyed that

 

[ronki23]

Hahahaha, rather enjoyed that

How does continuos Goju Ryu differ from Kyokushin? I'd imagine it's just head punching and wearing mitts

 

[_Simon_]

How does continuos Goju Ryu differ from Kyokushin? I'd imagine it's just head punching and wearing mitts

Yeah head punches (pulled short though) and protective gear (not all dojos do protective), but many other things. We're encouraged to try different techniques (haito, shuto, teisho etc), we are allowed to catch kicks, and we can use leg sweeps too. Me and my instructor even got into a full wrestling match once as he wanted to see how I would deal with it, each trying to take each other down haha, was good fun.

Dojos tend to be different though, some Goju schools basically do Kyokushin knockdown style sparring.

 

[ronki23]

Yeah head punches (pulled short though) and protective gear (not all dojos do protective), but many other things. We're encouraged to try different techniques (haito, shuto, teisho etc), we are allowed to catch kicks, and we can use leg sweeps too. Me and my instructor even got into a full wrestling match once as he wanted to see how I would deal with it, each trying to take each other down haha, was good fun.

Dojos tend to be different though, some Goju schools basically do Kyokushin knockdown style sparring.

This is what the guy I know is like in kickboxing. He's got better at kickboxing though as this was 15 years ago:

This is a random Goju Ryu vs Kyokushin fight

 

[Buka]

This is what the guy I know is like in kickboxing. He's got better at kickboxing though as this was 15 years ago:

This is a random Goju Ryu vs Kyokushin fight

The first Martial Arts competition I ever saw in person was a school of Greek Goju Ryu Black Belts from East Boston vs a school of Kyoushin Black Belts from Japan. It was in 1971 or 72 in the old Boston Arena.

They fought in a boxing ring. To this day, I have never seen anything like it. I know Kyokushin Karate is supposedly a no contact to the face kind of style. But I honestly have not seen that as of yet. Every Kyokushin guy I’ve ever trained with, met or watched, fights with face and head contact. I’ve never actually seen NO head contact in Kyokushin.

I don’t know, maybe I should get out more. It’s a head scratcher to me.

 

[ronki23]

The first Martial Arts competition I ever saw in person was a school of Greek Goju Ryu Black Belts from East Boston vs a school of Kyoushin Black Belts from Japan. It was in 1971 or 72 in the old Boston Arena.

They fought in a boxing ring. To this day, I have never seen anything like it. I know Kyokushin Karate is supposedly a no contact to the face kind of style. But I honestly have not seen that as of yet. Every Kyokushin guy I’ve ever trained with, met or watched, fights with face and head contact. I’ve never actually seen NO head contact in Kyokushin.

I don’t know, maybe I should get out more. It’s a head scratcher to me.

Was it under kickboxing rules they fought ?

I don't really like all these 'politics' in martial arts I.e. too many governing bodies and so-called world champions.

I like UFC as it's the pinnacle of MMA. In kickboxing I like GLORY but Wu Lin Fen, Kunlun and Yokkao are also really good.

In my opinion these ABC titles are good for getting you into the big leagues: more a means to an end

 

[Buka]

Was it under kickboxing rules they fought ?

I don't really like all these 'politics' in martial arts I.e. too many governing bodies and so-called world champions.

I like UFC as it's the pinnacle of MMA. In kickboxing I like GLORY but Wu Lin Fen, Kunlun and Yokkao are also really good.

In my opinion these ABC titles are good for getting you into the big leagues: more a means to an end

I’m not sure what the rules were, I had never seen a MA contest before. I don’t think it was kickboxing, though, I used to be a kickboxer.

But there sure was a lot of bloody faces. What I vaguely remember was - you could punch someone as hard as you wanted to in the face as long as you didn’t kiai too loud or appeared to put too much emotion into your technique. If you did they’d call a foul. I also remember that the officials were half from here, the other half from Japan.

I know that sounds odd as heck, but that’s what I still remember.

 

[isshinryuronin]

It was in 1971 or 72..........They fought in a boxing ring. To this day, I have never seen anything like it

That time would be when organized kickboxing in the USA was just some promoters and ideas on paper.

Was it under kickboxing rules they fought

Did they wear boxing gloves?

I’m not sure what the rules were

You would not have been the only one. They were still making them up, assuming it was "kickboxing." Maybe not. Could just be two rock'em-sock'em karate groups trying to kick each other's butts.

The first tournament I saw was the finals at the 1968 or '69 Internationals in Long Beach.

 

[Buka]

That time would be when organized kickboxing in the USA was just some promoters and ideas on paper.

Did they wear boxing gloves?

You would not have been the only one. They were still making them up, assuming it was "kickboxing." Maybe not. Could just be two rock'em-sock'em karate groups trying to kick each other's butts.

The first tournament I saw was the finals at the 1968 or '69 Internationals in Long Beach.

That time would be when organized kickboxing in the USA was just some promoters and ideas on paper.

Did they wear boxing gloves?

You would not have been the only one. They were still making them up, assuming it was "kickboxing." Maybe not. Could just be two rock'em-sock'em karate groups trying to kick each other's butts.

The first tournament I saw was the finals at the 1968 or '69 Internationals in Long Beach.

Man, that was the golden age of tournament fighting. I used to follow all that stuff in karate magazines. I would have loved to have seen that.

I always thought I go compete in that tournament at some point, but never had the money to get there. It would have been a nice place to get my ash kicked.

 

[isshinryuronin]

Man, that was the golden age of tournament fighting. I used to follow all that stuff in karate magazines. I would have loved to have seen that.

I always thought I go compete in that tournament at some point, but never had the money to get there. It would have been a nice place to get my ash kicked.

I saw Joe, Chuck, and Benny fight several times. Amazing. But aside from these and other elite fighters there was a whole batch of guys not nationally known, but not far behind them. IMO, they had much more talent, and intensity, than any guys I've seen fighting in more recent tournaments.

The Internationals were huge. You had to win about 7 matches in a row to get into the finals. I competed 4 times but never got past the second rotation. I didn't spend a lot of time training for tournaments, wasn't that much into competition. But they were fun. And there were many held in Southern California. A few of us would get into a car, crank up the radio/cassette player and listen to Cream, The Who, Iron Butterfly, etc. and drive wherever the tournament was.

 

[Buka]

I saw Joe, Chuck, and Benny fight several times. Amazing. But aside from these and other elite fighters there was a whole batch of guys not nationally known, but not far behind them. IMO, they had much more talent, and intensity, than any guys I've seen fighting in more recent tournaments.

The Internationals were huge. You had to win about 7 matches in a row to get into the finals. I competed 4 times but never got past the second rotation. I didn't spend a lot of time training for tournaments, wasn't that much into competition. But they were fun. And there were many held in Southern California. A few of us would get into a car, crank up the radio/cassette player and listen to Cream, The Who, Iron Butterfly, etc. and drive wherever the tournament was.

You know who I was a big fan of back then, Fred Wren.

 

[isshinryuronin]

You know who I was a big fan of back then, Fred Wren.

Know the name but never saw him fight to the best of my recollection. I think he was Southeastern based and didn't spend much time on the West Coast circuit (IMO, where most of the best fighters were). His rep was rough and tough, willing to trade punches (that's probably why you like him).

For you young guys, in 1970 head shots (no gloves) were allowed as long as too much blood wasn't shed or the head didn't snap back much from the impact. Those could result in a warning or penalty point. The rules said "kiss" contact to the head, but there was a lot of heavy kissing. Seen a bunch of guys get dropped from body punches and kicks too.

A kidney punch almost put me down. I remember it was a Shotokan guy, outweighing me by about 20%. It was a very well-timed counter shot. It was my fault. I got impatient and came in with a spinning knife hand to the head and he caught me mid spin with a reverse punch, Shotokan style. He deserved the win.

On a personal note, I'm a very fight and pain averse kind of guy but never hesitated stepping into the ring. It was just part of the deal. That mindset didn't match my normal personality. Maybe it has to do with mental "focus." Not sure I even understand it. Has anyone else experienced that kind of thing? I was lucky in my karate career and my most serious injuries were just cracked ribs, a black eye and serious kick to the groin that put me out of commission for a few days. All in all, I've been very fortunate in many ways during my time in karate.

I was just going to post those first 3 lines, but old memories flooded in.

 

[Buka]

Know the name but never saw him fight to the best of my recollection. I think he was Southeastern based and didn't spend much time on the West Coast circuit (IMO, where most of the best fighters were). His rep was rough and tough, willing to trade punches (that's probably why you like him).

For you young guys, in 1970 head shots (no gloves) were allowed as long as too much blood wasn't shed or the head didn't snap back much from the impact. Those could result in a warning or penalty point. The rules said "kiss" contact to the head, but there was a lot of heavy kissing. Seen a bunch of guys get dropped from body punches and kicks too.

A kidney punch almost put me down. I remember it was a Shotokan guy, outweighing me by about 20%. It was a very well-timed counter shot. It was my fault. I got impatient and came in with a spinning knife hand to the head and he caught me mid spin with a reverse punch, Shotokan style. He deserved the win.

On a personal note, I'm a very fight and pain averse kind of guy but never hesitated stepping into the ring. It was just part of the deal. That mindset didn't match my normal personality. Maybe it has to do with mental "focus." Not sure I even understand it. Has anyone else experienced that kind of thing? I was lucky in my karate career and my most serious injuries were just cracked ribs, a black eye and serious kick to the groin that put me out of commission for a few days. All in all, I've been very fortunate in many ways during my time in karate.

I was just going to post those first 3 lines, but old memories flooded in.

Old memories, yeah, they either make me smile or make me laugh my ash off.

So, like I said, I was a big fan of Fred Wren, he was known as The Whirlwind back then, or something like that, I don’t remember the details, but I sure do remember him.

Ten or fifteen years later, well after he had retired from competition, I’m running my dojo, and I’m on a rare break in the office when the phone rings. I answer. It’s a guy selling something that has to do with Martial Arts (yawn) I’m listening and politely said, “I’m sorry, who is this?”

He says, “My name is Fred Wren and I’m -“
I immediately interrupt him and blurt “Fred Wren, THE Fred Wren? You’re sheeting me, this is Fred f’n Wren?!!!!”

I gushed, blabbering about my love of the Arts and how much I loved reading about him in the Karate magazines.

I thing he thought I was some kind of lunatic stalker. He cut the conversation short and we ended the call.

I didn’t care. I got to talk with Fred Wren.
I laugh about it now, but it was important to me back then. I got to speak with a Martial Artist I really admired. I was a young chump at the time, not like the experienced chump that I am now.