When Sosai Mas Oyama was a youth, long before he dreamed of formulating something as extraordinary as the International Karate Organization Kyokushinkaikan, he was a mere student of life. His life however, was completely devoted to karate and daily he explored the weaknesses and strengths of his skills under varying, often extreme circumstances. Researching and experimenting by trial and error just how hard a human could push himself and where he would wind up, he created one of his most documented trials: his legendary “mountain training”.
Acting on the advice of one of his most respected teachers, So Nie Chu, who suggested, “if you want to find yourself, seek solitude”, Oyama packed a small bag and made for the hills. Taking only training gear and a few books including the story of Japan’s greatest samurai and Sosai’s greatest hero, “Musashi” by Eiji Yoshiwaza (who later helped him author our Dojo Kun), Oyama intended to stay for three years. He arranged that food and necessities be brought to him once a month. Each time the mountain courier brought provisions, it was as if God himself were paying him a visit. Oyama relished these brief moments spent with another human being.
During this period, Oyama trained himself rigorously. He used trees as punching bags and bushes and boulders as jumping hurdles. He communed with nature and dubbed the morning light his best friend. As the sun set each day and evening came to a close, desolation and severe loneliness set in. Misery unlike anything we will ever face in our lifetimes clung to the four walls of his small hut as they seemingly closed in on him. And yet, he remained.
In his own words from a print article:
“The greatest fruit of my stay in the mountains was that I trained my physical and mental strength during the day and confronted my inner self at night. Of course my skill in karate was greatly developed, but more fulfilling was the strengthening of a great mental state, a state developed far in excess of that before entering the mountains.”
Sosai always emphasized the importance of “Osu no Seichin”, (the spirit of Osu) to his students. He felt resolutely that perseverance through adversity, begets strength. In struggling to prove his point, he formed a training method and philosophy unique to Kyokushin. His time on the mountain instituted a firm belief in himself and his way. It was this period of separation from society that ultimately formed the groundwork for the ‘Society of the Ultimate Truth’—the Kyokushinkaikan.
Sosai often returned to the mountains for seasonal training camps with his students and selected the remote peak of Mt. Mitsumine for this purpose. Mt. Mitsumine is where the immortalized Musashi himself often trained. This site is rich with legend and lore. Once being directly inaccessible by automobile, Mt. Mitsumine was isolated enough to conjure up images of Sosai’s own training and offered a sense of serenity beyond the world ‘below’.
Today, Sosai’s memorial stone rests at the top of Mt. Mitsumine, surrounded by the stoic and rocky paths where he once tread. Amidst the ancient shrines of samurai and commoners alike who share the mountain rest with him, this place, unlike any other, evokes memories of Sosai for students who knew him well and for the countless more who did not, yet continue to practice in his Way.
When the wind rushes past you as you train outside, you can almost hear his stalwart Kiai resonate through the thickly wooded forest.
Kyokushin fighters from all over the world gather at a holly mountain - Mitsumine.
Some of the participating members take the part in promotional examination. On the final day, participants experience Taki-Abi (standing under a water-fall) and go to the memorial monument of Sosai Oyama for praying. All the programs scheduled for the camp are successfully chosen and stay in the holly atmosphere of Mitsumine, where all participants more or less feel the spirit of Sosai Oyama. "OSU!!!"
