KYOKUSHINKAI KARATE

Kyokushin kaikan (極真会館, Kyokushin kaikan) is a style of stand up, fullbody contact karate founded in 1957 by Sosai Masutatsu Oyama (大山倍達, ) in Japan. Kyokushinkai is in Japanese means "the society of the ultimate truth". Kyokushin is rooted in a philosophy of self-improvement, discipline and hard training. Its full contact style has had international appeal

Techiques/Kihon
The Kyokushin system is based on traditional karate like Shotokan and Goju-Ryu karate, but incorporates many elements of combat sports like Boxing and Kickboxing in kumite. Many techniques are not found in other styles of karate. Kyokushin does not allow its students to appear in paid fights and remain with the style. In the past this has caused many high-ranking competitors to leave the organization, even if they continue to practice the art and skills of Kyokushin.

In this form of karate the instructor and his/her students all must take part in hard sparring to prepare them for full contact fighting. Unlike some forms of karate, Kyokushin places high emphasis on full contact fighting which is done without any gloves or protective equipment. This apparent brutality is tempered somewhat by the fact that you are not allowed to use a non-kick or non-knee strike to hit your opponent in the face, thus greatly reducing the possibility of serious injury. Knees or kicks to the head and face, on the other hand, are allowed.

In the earliest Kyokushin tournaments and training sessions bare knuckle strikes to the face were allowed but resulted in many injuries, and, thus, students who were forced to withdraw from training. Mas Oyama believed that wearing protective gloves would detract from the realism that the style emphasizes. Therefore, it was decided that hand and elbow strikes to the head and neck would no longer be allowed in training and competition. Furthermore, many governments don't allow bare knuckle strikes to the head in sanctioned martial arts competitions. The vast majority of Kyokushin organizations and "offshoot" styles today still follow this philosophy.

Technically, Kyokushin is a circular style. This is in opposition to Shotokan karate, which is considered a linear style, and closer to Goju-ryu, another mostly circular style. Shotokan and Goju-ryu were the two styles of karate that Oyama learned before creating his own style. However, Oyama studied Shotokan for only a couple of years before he switched to Goju-ryu where he got his advanced training. This is reflected in Kyokushin where the early training closely resembles Shotokan but gradually becomes closer to the circular techniques and strategies of Goju-ryu the higher you advance in the system.

in 1964, Muay Thai fighter from Thailand send a challenge letter to Japan Karate, while most of them didn't reply the challenge, Kyokushin send 3 of his fighter and win 2 of three matches since then Kyokushin is very famous in Japan.

Nowdays, Kyokushin continued to spread to more than 120 countries, and registered members exceed 10 million making it one of the largest martial arts organisations in the world. Among the the better known Kyokushin yudansha (black belts) are Sean Connery (Honorary shodan), Dolph Lundgren (sandan, former Australian heavyweight champion), and President Nelson Mandela of South Africa (Honorary hachidan), and most recently (June 1988), the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard (Honorary godan) who was awarded the grade at the official opening of the Sydney Kyokushin dojo.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyokushinkai