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I think his Korean name was Yong I-Choi. He adopted the name 'Oyama' to honour the Japanese family who took him in and befriended him when he came to Tokyo for his college education.
Mas Oyama studied Chinese kempo while still in Korea, until he travelled to Japan to study at the Takushoku University. In addition to his college studies, Oyama furthered his martial arts studies under Gichin Funakoshi, reaching the rank of nidan under sensei Funakoshi.
Once his training was over with sensei Funakoshi, for whatever reason, Mas Oyama studied gojo-ryu under a man named Sodeiju. Reaching, if I remember correctly, a 4th dan.
Mas Oyama founded his own school of karate called Kyokushin.
I'm not sure where the connection between Mas Oyama and tae kwon do started, but Mas Oyama was very definently a karate stylist.
LawDog
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