With so many organizations claiming to be representing Kyokushin Karate, it has become very confusing to know exactly who represents who, especially for the new students. I have decided to make this page to try to clarify in a simple way what is happening with the Kyokushin organization today. Since the International Karate Organization was created, it had grown to become one of the largest Karate Organizations with more than 12 million members world wide. Some of Sosai Oyama students left the Kyokushin Organization while he still was alive. They left for different reasons, some of them were not happy the way the organization were run, others wanted to created their own system. Below are a list of some of them. If I made any mistake in this list please correct me or send me and e-mail with the information if you consider others should be here.
 | Jon Bluming: Left the IKO in 1967 when he was 6th Dan, later in 1980 he started his own organization which he named "Kyokushin Budokai". |
| Mike Ganci: Left the IKO in 1975, and started his own organization which he named " Mushin Karate-Do ". |
| Gerry Bryan: Left the IKO in 1975, and started his own organization which he named " Tsuyoi-Ryu ". |
| Todashi Nakamura: Left the IKO in 1976, and created what is now known as the World Seido Karate Organization (WSKO) witch has its headquarters based in the USA. |
| Kenji Kurosaki : Left the IKO in 1976. He trained with Masutatsu Oyama under master Yamaguchi Gojo Ryu Karate Dojo, it is said that Kenji Kurosaki was involved in the development of Kyokushin Karate. |
| Yoshiji Soeno : Left the IKO in 1978, and created the World Karate Association Shidokan. |
| Hideyuki Ashihara: Left the IKO in 1979. In 1980 he created the "New International Karate Organization" (NIKO) which is more recognizable to most as Ashihara Karate. |
| Hoosain Narker: Left the IKO in 1979, and around 1985 founded the Ashihara Karate International ( A.K.I.). |
| Kazuyoshi Ishii: Left the IKO in 1980, and created his own style under the name of Seido-Kaikan with his headquarters in Osaka, Japan. Master Ishii is responsible for one of the most popular tournament known as the K-1 Grand Prix. |
| Shigeru Oyama: Left the IKO in
1981, and created his own organization named World Oyama Karate (WOK) with his headquarters in the USA. David Cook: Left the IKO around 1982, and later on developed the Ashihara Style in Europe. |
| Joko Ninomiya: Left the IKO in N/A and later in 1988, created his own system called Enshin Karate with his headquarters in the USA. |
| Steve Arneil: left the IKO in
1991, and founded the International Federation of Karate (IFK). There are many others who started in Kyokushin and later left the organization to establish their own, I do not have all the information about them, so more information will be added as it is collected. After Sosai Oyama's death ( 1994 ), many other members of the Kyokushin Organization left to join others groups or to created their own Organization . Also there are 3 major group who have been claiming the leadership of the International Organization Kyokushin-Kaikan (IKO), this has created division between the Kyokushin family, forcing the members around the world to take sides between these groups. The 3 major groups are listed below : |
| IKO 1: This is known as the "Matsui Group". The head of the organization is Shihan Akiyoshi Matsui, with the headquarters (Honbu) in Japan. |
| IKO 2: This is known as the"Sanpei Group". The head of the organization is Shihan Nishida Yukio and Shihan Keiji Sanpei, with the headquarters (Honbu) in Japan. |
| IKO 3: This is known as the "Matsushima Group". The head of the organization is Shihan Yoshikazu Matsushima, with the headquarter (Honbu) in Japan. |
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International Karate
Organization Kyokushin Kaikan |
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After the death of Sosai Masutatsu Oyama, International Karate Organization (IKO) split into 3 major groups |
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