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He earned worldwide recognition and admiration for his amazing spirit, strength, and determination when he took a remarkable Third place finish at the 3rd World Open Karate Tournament in 1984. Both in 19, Matsui took 3rd Place in the All Japan Open Karate Championships and then 8th place at the same event in 1983. Soon after, he became Chief Instructor of the International Kyokushin Headquarters School, "Honbu" Dojo in Tokyo, Japan. In 1980, Matsui placed fourth in the 12th All Japan Open Karate Championships when he was just 17. In 1976, he joined the Kita Nagare-Yama Dojo in the Chiba prefecture of Japan, managing to achieve Shodan (first degree) Black Belt in a little over a year. Shokei (Akiyoshi) Matsui started Kyokushin Karate at the age of 13. Kancho Shokei Matsui President, IKO Kyokushinkaikan The IKO Kyokushinkaikan "Honbu", World Headquarters, are continuously operating in Tokyo, Japan. Before his untimely death, he named his favorite student and long-time protege, Shokei Matsui to succeed him as Director of the IKO Kyokushinkaikan. Indeed full-contact knockdown fighters of today can trace their current methodology in some way to the success of Kyokushin. Mas Oyama passed away in April 1994 in Tokyo, Japan. Since it's inception, Kyokushin has directly spawned thousands of martial arts champions. Sosai (founder) Mas Oyama is credited as originating the "full-contact" style of karate. The International Karate Organization Kyokushin Kaikan was established in 1964, and has evolved into a global network of karate practitioners numbering over 12million in 125 countries. Because Mas Oyama's technique was so powerful and realistic, he gained widespread recognition in Japan, and soon a huge following of would-be students around the world wanting to follow what they coined as "The Strongest Karate". Mas Oyama named his system, KYOKUSHIN™ which translates to "The True Way" or "The Ultimate Truth", and his legacy began. He began practicing alone, and developed his own training, fighting methods and philosophy. After studying several martial arts styles in and, Mas Oyama found that none offered what he felt was the 'true' way. Masutatsu ('Mas') Oyama was the founder of the KYOKUSHIN system of martial arts.