07/04/2026
Tout est dit, Osu Shihan
Via Federatia Română de Karate Kyokushin Anca Wallmen HW knives
The power of “Osu!”
Recently, in Norway, in the lovely house of Marleen and Steffen, we had a little talk about the significance of Osu in karate. Anca started the talk by wondering how less and less “Osu! is used in trainings, in our daily karate life. And it is true. In the early days of Kyokushin all trainings sounded like a continuous dialogue. It was command and always followed quickly by osu. Non-stop. Nowadays trainings sound more like monologues. Why do I think this is bad? Because I truly believe “Osu” is actually a deep spiritual method and the essence of Budo.
“Osu” has so many meanings that we could go on forever. From the original translation of Oshi Shinobu meaning “to persevere while being pushed”, to respect, patience, appreciation. Others have talked more extensively about this and all you have to do is google it, there is tons of info.
I want to talk about something different, about the spiritual meaning of osu, not the intellectual one. In the beginning, when I started karate, it was just some rule we had to follow, no questions asked. Our masters where always very persistent: all commands must be followed by a strong osu! And this is how we did it. And it was great, because what actually happened was complete and total trust in your master, in your sensei. It was total surrender! I will come back to this.
It was what the Japanese call the “no mind” attitude. If you shout osu!, there is no place for other thoughts in your mind, it becomes empty. And this is the way how karate training becomes Zen meditation, active meditation. Unfortunately, slowly-slowly, people find this method somehow old-fashion, ridiculous, fanatic, so they stop saying osu! during trainings. Instead of karate becoming a more spiritual and mystic process, it becomes more intellectual. And, in my opinion it is a disaster. Not only that instead of our trainings becoming a form of meditation it becomes something intellectual, but the essence of Budo is lost.
The essence of Budo is the oyabun-kobun relationship, the senpai-kohai relation. This one of a kind relationship between two people is irreplaceable on a spiritual journey. Why? Because it is based on complete trust. If a student is capable of 100% trust in his senpai or sensei, something magical happens. If he completely abandons himself to his master, the master becomes God. Even if your master is an idiot, it doesn’t matter, and this is the real beauty of this “Osu” method. If you are capable of abandoning yourself completely event to a rock, to a tree, to a flower, this becomes God and you start climbing the stairs of enlightenment. Because what we all search is not an outside God, but the God that lives in us, and you cannot reach him unless you are capable of total abandoning your ego, your Self. And again, it is the attitude that it’s the game changer, not the master, so he really can be an idiot, and we have all seen amazing masters raised by idiots. First you abandon yourself in front of your master, but this becomes only a door. Then you abandon yourself in front of the Universe, and all you will see is beauty and perfection. Your master is just a door. Osu! is the way you knock to this door.
This is also the main difference between the Japanes and non-Japanes student. The Japanese student is raised in this tradition and spirit of oyabun-kobun. We have to learn it. And we have the most beautiful and simple tool: Osu! Big and loud “Osu!” from the bottom of your heart, not from the mind! And the gates of the Heaven will open for you the second you abandon yourself! Don’t let this beautiful method fade away. Real masters don’t really care if you say Osu! to them because they don’t have an ego anymore, but we should all fight to preserve the essence of Kyokushin, of budo through Osu! Osu! HW
