Mrs Chiyako Oyama lifetime partner of the late Sosai Mas Oyama, passed away this morning, June 6th, at 4.00am Japan time.

June 6, 2006

I am writing with sadness to inform you that Mrs Chiyako Oyama, lifetime partner of the late Sosai Mas Oyama, passed away this morning, June 6th, at 4.00am Japan time.

Mrs Oyama had been battling illness of some time. She was under the care of her daughter Kuristina, who was at her bedside as she peacefully passed away. The funeral shall be held at the IKO Honbu on Thursday, June 8 from 1.00pm.

Chiyako Sama played a major role in the growth and development of Kyokushin Karate from its earliest beginnings until after the passing of her husband.

Please join us in honouring her with a period of silence and prayer at your dojo's next training session.

Osu. She is together again with her soul companion. May they rest in peace together.

Cameron Quinn
IKO Kyokushinkaikan
International Liaison

June 14th, 2006

The funeral for Mrs Chiyako Oyama was held on Thursday June 8th, and Friday June 9th, 2006 at the Honbu of Kyokushin Karate. The main dojo was transformed into a beautiful Shinto shrine. Mrs Oyama's body lay peacefully in an open coffin as a stream of friends and family came to pay their last respects. For the service, the coffin was placed behind to altar as the Shinto priest Naomi Chishima from the Mistumine Shrine (home of Kyokushin winter camps for many decades) performed the ancient Shinto rituals.

On Thursday evening a wake was held in the ground floor dojo with many guests continuing to visit late into the night. Mrs Oyama was loved dearly by so many students. As Shihan Miyake, Honbu Committee Chairman mentioned in his eulogy, she was the gentle balance to Sosai's demanding training and her flower-like presence would lift everyone.

The following day, as part of the ceremony, the coffin was brought down from the altar and well-wishers had the opportunity to file past and pay their last respects. Mrs Oyama looked so serenely peaceful, released at last of the pain she had born stoically for so long. She was dressed in a beautiful kimono that she had worn many years earlier when she first met Sean Connery. With her in the coffin was Sosai's favourite hat and the prayer beads she used to recite the Heart Sutra.

The coffin was then carried downstairs and placed in the hearse. Pallbearers were Mrs Oyama's brother, Fujimaki Jun Sensei, Shihan Nobuhiko Tsuura, son-in-law of Mrs Oyama and Sosai, Shihan Takashi Azuma of Daido-juku who remained close to Mrs Oyama and Sosai through the years, Shihan Shigeru Tabata, former uchi-deshi who had remained close to Mrs Oyama, Shihan Kenji Midori, Shihan Tsutomu Sato, Branch Chief of Fukushima, Sensei Nicholas Pettas, Sosai's last uchi-deshi, Shihan-dai Yoshikazu Suzuki, Chief Instructor of Honbu who had, along with Miss Kuristina Oyama, lovingly cared for Mrs Oyama throughout the final years, and Shihan Cameron Quinn, long time interpreter for Sosai and who also remained close to Mrs Oyama until the end.

After the cremation, the urn was returned to Honbu where another ceremony ended the long and elaborate Shinto rites. The events were very solemn and beautiful and hundreds of friends, family members and Kyokushin students came to honour the wife and lifelong partner of Sosai Mas Oyama. Mr Susumu Miyake presided over the events along with family representatives Grace and Kuristina Oyama. Mrs Oyama's brother and sister attended, as well as grandchildren Momo and Akira Oyama.

The following is a letter of gratitude for all the well wishers from Ms Kuristina Oyama, daughter of Mrs Oyama, who was with her mother through her last hours.

Dear Kyokushin students
 
On Tuesday June 6th at 4.00am my mother Chiyako Oyama departed this world to be greeted by Sosai Mas Oyama.
 
For some who have never had the opportunity to meet with Sosai's life partner, I have asked Shihan Quinn to honor her life role as the partner and supporter who, together with Sosai, walked the road of making Kyokushin.
 
Before her health started to fail, she often was heard speaking of the Honbu uchi-deshi and the Branch Chiefs "the children of my husband's sweat", his ase no kodomo. She always had fond memories of foreign students who came and trained in the early days, when Karate was still snubbed by the Japanese society. This means to me, to us family members, that working together to honor and preserve these beautiful teachings and its privileges are the guideline to abide by.
 
I was very blessed to be at her side all through her journey. I was able to witness her leave the body and to be greeted by Sosai. She departed this world very peacefully. It was all a special time, knowing she is finally at peace next to the person of whom she had said, "When I am reborn, I hope to be with Masutatsu San again."
 
The amount of suffering and humiliation she had to endure being with a Korean person in Japan (they both later became Japanese) in those times was staggering. My father was also somewhat of a social outcast being a Karate-ka too. I cannot even begin to comprehend it but from the way Sosai and Mother spoke of those times, it would take the strength of Hercules to change all those dark experiences and make them into something
positive. And that is exactly what they did.
 
All I can say now is how thankful I am that Kyokushin students made Mother so fulfilled, to see them train her husband's life long creation of Kyokushin karate. And in the next life, in the same way as she spoke of her husband, I hope to be born again as her daughter. She was such a magnificent person, full of kindness and duty: an ideal example to all for being totally committed through any dire situation, in the name of love.
 
It is unfortunate and so sad that her last years were made so painful as she watched and suffered before the egotistical and selfish behavior of a handful of students who put themselves ahead of their karate. This pained Mother very much because she knew how much Sosai had worked and refused to fall to the beguiling attractiveness of money or social positions, especially in the early days, at times of extreme hardship for the whole family.
 
She didn't just love Sosai, she loved all whom he loved and who loved him, which means mainly his students, his "ase no kodomo". I am lost for words with what she taught us by her calmly passive strength that manifested in her every action.
 
It was an honor and beyond, to be her daughter. Their daughter. I truly regret that I was too clumsy to show this while they were both here in physical form.
 
May her precious Soul rest in peace. May her blessings permeate the souls of Kyokushin practitioners everywhere.
 
In Divine Light. Namaste,
 
Kuristina Oyama