History
THE INITIATION OF MARTIAL ARTS
Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practices, which are practiced for a variety of reasons: self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, entertainment, as well as mental, physical, and spiritual development.Although the term martial art has become associated with the fighting arts of eastern Asia, it originally referred to the combat systems of Europe as early as the 1550s. The term is derived from Latin, and means “arts of Mars”, the Roman god of war.
There are many theories and evidences regarding the initiation of martial Arts. The most popular view suggests that the evolution of Asian martial arts as they are known today is thought to have originated around 500 A.D., when an Indian Buddhist monk named Bodhidharma (a prince in thePallava Kingdom in South India whoat an early age left his kingdom and prince hood and became a monk. At the age of twenty-two he was fully enlightened, and that was when he was sent as a messenger to China.) arrived in China. Legend has it that he taught Indian fighting exercises to the Chinese monks in order to improve their physical condition and this gave birth to Kung Fu . From there the art went to Korea where taekwondo developed. From there it travelled to Okinawa islands
THE FORMATION OF KARATE
In 1429, the three kingdoms on Okinawa unified to form the Kingdom of Ryūkyū. When King Shō Shin came into power in 1477, he banned the practice of martial arts. Tō-te and Ryukyu kobudō (weaponry) continued to be taught in secret. The ban was continued in 1609 after Okinawa was invaded by the Satsuma Domain of Japan. The bans contributed to the development of kobudō which uses common household and farming implements as weaponry. The Okinawans combined Chinese martial arts with the existing local variants to form Tōdeand formed Okinawa-te.
By the 18th century, different types of Te had developed in three different villages – Naha, Shuri, and Tomari. The styles were named Naha-te, Shuri-te and Tomari-te, respectively.Naha-te, Shuri-te and Tomari-te belong to a family of martial arts that were collectively defined as Tode-jutsu or To-de.
Ankoitosu and Ankoasato were the two exponents of the Okinawan shuri –te and are considered to be the “fathers of modern karate “. Gichin Funakoshi learnt the art from them and it is believed he brought it to Japan. After that Shotokan Karate was born and different other styles initiated. (which are now the part of World Karate Federation and follows non-contact karate rules
FORMATION OF KYOKUSHIN KARATE AND KYOKUSHINKAI
SosaiMasutatsuOyama (original name Choi Yeong-eui) the founder of Kyokushin karate studied different martial arts. He has studied and practiced intensely the Okinawan Martial art under Gichin Funakoshi and many other masters. In a very young age he had mastered different arts but he was totally dissatisfied internally. He with an urge to find the ultimate truth went into solitude and trained in mountains intensely. He used to inspire himself by reading “The Book of Five Rings “by Miyamoto Musashi, a famous Japanese swordsman. After years training he gave birth to strongest full Contact Karate – KYOKUSHIN KARATE , which has
His power, skills and techniques conquered all and “KYOKUSHIN” soon became a name internationally.Finally in 1964 he formed the “International Karate OrganisationKyokushinKaiKan “. SosaiOyama passed away in the year 1994 leaving behind a huge organization, which had its branches in about 120 countries and had 10 million members. The organization gradually broke down into groups each claiming their authority over original Honbu. The organization broke into two prominent groups one led by Mr. Matsui and the other one started running democratically. With time to resolve legal dispute the second group was renamed in 1996 as NPO KyoKUSHINKAI which is referred to as WKO (World Karate Organisation) also and the president was Shihan Nishida.
THE INDIAN SCENARIO
In India Kyokushin karate entered in the year 1977. Shihan Shivaji Ganguly,then 21 started practicing Kyokushin Karate. In 1982 Shihan Ganguly completed his shodan and won the 1st runners up trophy in Asian Championship in Singapore which highlighted India in the map of Kyokushin karate. Soon after that corruption started invading Kyokushin in India. He being a man of principles stood against the corruption and started newly. He received huge support from all the contemporary students .
Soon after that he got an opportunity to train under the founder of Kyokushin Karate himself. His dedication made him one of the favourite students of Sosai Mas Oyama. Many tried along with him but could not withstand the intensity of the uchideshi training which he went through. He completed Nidan by doing 20 men kumite under the supervision of Sosai himself. He was the only Indian who was allowed by Sosai to appear for third dan within 10 months. He lived upto his guru ‘s expectation and impeccably completed 30 men kumite ( one minute each ) atHonbu (World H.Q. , Japan) and received the belt from Sosai’s hand . Being a native of a third world country this was really difficult for him both economically and physically. But seeing his iron determination Sosai gave him the charge as a branch chief.
It is because of him that Sosai came to India in 1991 as a chief guest of the National tournament which was started by Shihan Ganguly in the name of Sosai Mas Oyama – “Oyama Cup”. Read less
Seeing his wonderful advancements in 1991 Sosai awarded him with 5th Dan in the branch chief camp at Ugawara , Japan. He started his work vigorously and with full determination he dedicated himself for the propagation of the art nationally. He selflessly started teaching the art to the young generation. At that time he became the only icon of Karate in West Bengal and in India. The youth started following him then.
During that time without thinking of getting benefitted economically he even taught many poor and underprivileged students free of cost. Mr. Ganguly became more popular in the karate world of India. His performance and strength started inspiring people and the other karatekas from other organisations got attracted towards Mas Oyama’sBudo Karate. He used to follow Mas Oyama’s principles of BUDO spirit blindly and has never compromised with indiscipline. Shihan Ganguly formed the organization like his family with intense love and care , spending not only years , months and days , but also every minute and second behind the development of his students and tried to inculcate the true Budospirit in them .
After Sosai’s death when the mother organization got divided he chose KyokushinKai from its inception and stood firmly with the organization whereas his contemporaries chose the organization led by Mr. Matsui. He was named as Asian Chairman in 1996 and from then onwards he founded KyokushinKai India under the leadership of WKO and dedicatedly started working for the development of the organization. However, the organisation joined in collaboration with IKO World So-Kyokushin on October 2016 due to unavoidable circumstances. He served the organization as the Asian Representative for 16 years and then he resigned and became the country representative of India. He is still carrying on with full dedication at the age of 60. The Indian organization is a government registered body and is running democratically with Shihan Ganguly working as a president.
