Mas Oyama
Antidote To March Madness
If you happen to live in the U.S. of A. you know that there is hardly a way around March Madness.
Well, how about a healthy antidote without any known negative side effects and no FDA approval needed?
Yep, martial arts quotes. Some will make you think and others will make you smile.
Enjoy!
“A warrior may choose pacifism; others are condemned to it.” – Author unknown
“Don’t hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit softly.
“- Theodore Roosevelt
“Cry in the dojo. Laugh on the battlefield.”
- Author unknown
“Each of us has his cowardice. Each of us is afraid to lose, afraid to die. But hanging back is the way to remain a coward for life. The Way to find courage is to seek it on the field of conflict. And the sure way to victory is willingness to risk one’s own life.” – Mas Oyama (Kyokushin Karate)
“He who hesitates, meditates in a horizontal position.” – Ed Parker (American Kenpo)
“Do or do not, there is no try.” – Yoda (Jedi Arts)
“Always be able to kill your students.” – Masaaki Hatsumi (Bujinkan Ninjutsu)
“A good martial artist does not become tense but ready, not thinking but yet not dreaming. Ready for whatever may come.” - Bruce Lee
“Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.” - Muhammad Ali
“Courage is being afraid, but then doing what you have to do anyway.” - Rudy Giuliani
“The one who has conquered himself is a far greater hero than he who has defeated a thousand times a thousand men.” - The Dhammapada
“Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” - Winston Churchill
“Success is never final. Failure is never fatal. It is courage that counts.” – Winston Churchill
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” - Napoleon Bonaparte
“The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in combat.” - Navy SEALs
“Those who are skilled in combat do not become angered, those who are skilled at winning do not become afraid. Thus the wise win before the fight, while the ignorant fight to win.” - O Sensei Ueshiba
“The measure of a man is not in how he gets knocked to the mat, it is in how he gets up.” - Unknown, but could have been me. Really.
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” - Mahatma Gandhi
“You carry on no matter what the obstacles. You simply refuse to give up … and, when the going gets tough, you get tougher. And you win.” - Vince Lombardi
“If you’ll not settle for anything less than your best, you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish in your lives.” - Vince Lombardi
“No one can defeat us unless we first defeat ourselves.” - Dwight Eisenhower
Your Mission: Fight 100 Opponents Consecutively And Win At Least 50%
The stand-up full contact karate style founded in 1964 by Mas Oyama is known as Kyokushin karate and practicioners are motivated to self-improvement, discipline and hard training.
In most Kyokushin organizations, hand and elbow strikes to the head or neck are prohibited. However, kicks to the head, knee strikes, punches to the upper body, and kicks to the inner and outer leg are permitted.
And this is what championship kumite Kyokushin-style looks like:
And if that weren’t tough enough Mas Oyama came up with the idea of the 100 man kumite for black belts. It really is what it claims to be.
You face 100 opponents (brown belts and up) consecutively in one 1.5 or 2 minute round each under normal Kyokushin rules and with 30 seconds rest between fights, and you are required to clearly “win”, meaning not getting knocked down in at least 50% of the fights, and never get knocked down for longer than 5 seconds.
Legendary Hajime Kazumi completed his 100 man kumite in 1999:
Time per Kumite 1 minute 30 seconds
Time Started 11:38
Time Finished 15:42
Total Fighting Time 3 hours 20 minutes 40 seconds
Total Spending Time 4 hours 4 minutes
Results 58 wins, 42 draws, no losses
The 100 man kumite was introduced in the early 60s. Naomi Woods became the first female to complete it in 2004. Originally, Mas Oyama wanted the challenge to be a requirement for black belts. Only very few have been able to complete this mission of fighting 100 opponents consecutively and winning at least 50%.
I leave you today with some wisdom from the legendary founder of Kyoshinkai karate, Masutatsu Oyama.
“If you learn a technique and repeat it 1,000 times, you are still learning. If you repeat it 10,000 times, then you know it. But if you want to own it, you need to repeat it 100,000 times.”













