History of Barry Kyokushin

History of Barry Kyokushin

The club was started by Senpai Richard Males in 1978. The club’s first Dojo was at Merthyr Dyfan church hall.


It started with a senior section but grew great attraction from parents who wished for their children to start training. Senpai Richard took this on board and decided to begin a junior section to the club.


With the club now taking on new members on a regular basis it was decided to move to larger premise, the local YMCA was then the clubs new home. While the club trained at the YMCA the club grew even stronger and moved into its own premises at Court Buildings, Court Rd, Barry. Whilst at these premises the club grew to 120 students. The astonishing amount of students that the club had drove its chief instructor Senpai Richard Males to bringing in another extra help.

 

After a period of time the building became unsuitable so Senpai Richard decided to move back to the YMCA. By this time Senpai Richard had gained his 3rd Dan grade making him Sensei Richard Males. Over the years the organisation (International Kyokushinkai Organisation) has split, spawning many other Kyokushin organisations. It was at these points that the club was drawn into turmoil and lost many students to other "brands" of Kyokushin Karate.


Sensei Richard however did not let this deter him from his position at the club. The club remained under IKO (International Karate Organisation Kyokushinkaikan) and Sensei Richard has remained a very well respected member of the Kyokushin organisation.


In February 2012, after over 3 decades of teaching Kyokushin Karate Sensei Richard made a difficult decision and retired from teaching Kyokushin Karate and handed the reins over to a then Senpai Phill. 


Since taking on the reins at Barry Kyokushin, Senpai Phill attended the IKO GB Summer camp in July 2013 where he successfully graded to Nidan under Shihan Jose Claronino 8th Dan. Senpai Phill went through a full weekend of hard kyokushin training and endured a 30 man Kumite which he completed. Then in April 2017 Senpai Phill travelled to Japan to attend the IKO international Mitsumine camp where he graded to 3rd Dan under Kancho Matsui. The now Sensei Phill was the 1st Individual in IKO to take this grade in Japan. Something that Barry Kyokushin students are very proud of. 


Since 2012 the club has grown immeasurably under Sensei Phill, he and his committee work tirelessly to keep new ideas and events regular so that Barry Kyokushin students get nothing but the best tuition and experience while training in Kyokushin karate. In April 2019, the club grew so much that they out grew their training facility at the Hub and they made the decision to create a Full time training center in the very heart of Barry and created the South Wales Martial arts Academy (SWMAA). The club now have over 120 students training over 6 days a week. 


In Early 2021 Sensei Phill made the difficult decision to resign from IKO. The direction the organisation was heading in drastic changes to kata, kumite and heavily inflated fee’s for Dan grades made it impossible for many. So Sensei Phill took his club over to So-Kyokushin United Kingdom. Warmly greeted by Shihan Mac Robertson, Sensei Phill accepted the roll of So-Kyokushin Secretary General from Shihan Mac and now sits on the Executive Committee and National Grading panel for the Organisation. During a visit to Barry Kyokushin, Shihan Mac named Barry Kyokushin and the SWMAA centre as the Honbu (headquarters) for So-kyokushin UK. In March 2022.

In March 2023, Sensei Phill took the test to Yondan (4th Dan) under Shihan Mac and Paul in an intense grading at the UK Honbu Dojo. Sensei Phill was Successful to Yondan, making him the very first Yondan in the History of Barry Kyokushin Karate club.  He was also the First Yondan promoted in So-Kyokushin UK. 


History of Kyokushinkai

The founder of our system, Masutsu Oyama, 10th Dan, has been described by some as being a "legend in his own time". He was born in Korea in 1923 and began his martial arts training by studying Kenpo at the age of nine.

In 1938, he moved to Japan to further his academic studies but also found time to master the art of judo. However, it was karate that fascinated him most so he joined a karate school headed by Gichin Funakoshi. He trained very hard every day and at the age of eighteen was awarded his Nidan. By this time, it was becoming obvious to him that this style of karate could not give him what he was looking for and therefore decided to study under a great master of the time called Sodeiju. He managed to attain the grade of Yondan before volunteering to fight in the air force toward the end of the second world war.

After the war, he spent a year training at Mt. Minobu, living in an isolated temple. It was after this years training that he competed in an "All Japan Championship", which he duly won. It was this event that prompted him to devote his live completely to karate. He isolated himself for almost two years on Mt. Kiyozumi, in Chiba, living in a small hut that he build himself. For food, he relied mostly on what grew and lived around him, which was presumably enough to sustain him during vigorous daily program. As the months passed, he became both physically and mentally stronger and many hours were spent in meditation.

In 1949, he came down from the mountain and took up residence close to a slaughter house. It was at this slaughter house that he got the opportunity to try out the power in his techniques on some of the bulls awaiting slaughter.
In 1952, he toured America giving demonstrations and exhibition matches. His breaking ability earned him the name "The divine hand", and he frequently made appearances on television. During this tour he was sometimes challenged be various people including both wrestlers and boxers and by all accounts defeated them all.

In 1953, he was approached by a Japanese film company who wanted to film him fighting a bull, which he readily agreed to do. In order to increase his speed he had to lose weight, for he knew this would be of the utmost importance against a fast bull. On the day of the match he weighed 180 lbs and it is reported that the bull weighed 990 lbs with horns four inches in diameter. According to the account in Kancho Oyama's book "This is Karate", the whole match lasted more than 30 minutes. His tactics were to tire the bull out by constantly dodging the animal's charge. At one point in the match he was evidently gored in the stomach, but this did not stop him from eventually toppling the bull over and chopping off a horn.
He later went on to fight more bulls, defeating them all in one way or another. He endured all this he says "in order to test to the limit, human ability and the incredible power of karate".