Yoshukai
The three kanji (Japanese symbols) that make up the word Yoshukai literally translated mean “Training Hall of Continued Improvement.” However, the standardized English translation is "Striving for Excellence." Yoshukai kumite or sparring style is classified as full contact.
In the late fifties, a top ranking student and protégé of Dr Chitose's Chito-ryu was Mamoru Yamamoto. After establishing his own training dojo, Yamamoto adapted new fighting techniques and traditional weapons from Okinawa into Chito-Ryu. After leaving the Chito-Kai Federation in 1971, Yamamoto became noted for founding the style of karate known as Yoshukai.
During this early period, Yamamoto worked with Mas Oyama of Kyokushinkai Karate to develop the rules for Japanese full contact sparring to replace the sun dome tournament rule of the time. This rule meant that competitors must spar at full speed but could not make contact with one another, which made judging of fighting very subjective. One competitor might move faster but the other could be more powerful, and it was up to the judge to determine which might win in the exchange of techniques. This development of new rules led to the modernization of tournament fighting in both Japan and the U.S.
Yamamoto was considered a tough fighter and top competitor in Japan and held the title of All-Japan Karate Open Tournament Champion from 1958 to 1960. In the early days of his dojo, he established his school through a practice called dojo yabe in which a martial artist visited neighboring schools and fought with its top practitioners. The winner established their school as stronger, and if a school was badly defeated, they often closed their doors and stopped teaching.