Kyokushin (極真?) is a style of stand-up, full contact karate, founded in 1964 by Korean-Japanese Masutatsu Oyama (大山倍達 Ōyama Masutatsu?) who was born under the name Choi Young-Eui. 최영의. Kyokushin is Japanese for "the ultimate truth." Kyokushin is rooted in a philosophy of self-improvement, discipline and hard training.[1] Its full contact style has had international appeal (practitioners have over the last 40+ years numbered more than 12 million)