Shihan József Borza

József Borza, the key figure of European kyokushin life, started to practice karate under the supervision of Kálmán Furkó in 1978, at the age of 17 in Szolnok, Hungary. Shihan Furkó, the founder of kyokushin in Hungary is still the most well-known character of Hungarian karate history. He has been training kyokushin since 1972 to which he was introduced by Attila Mészáros, a Hungarian man living in Sweden. He has been having his own dojo since 1977 and managed to teach the greatest masters in Hungary. His name is associated with the famous tournament series called Szolnok Cup. Presently he holds the 7th dan grade. He was the president of the Hungarian Kyokushin Karate Association for long years and took leading roles in the different boards of the international organization.

József Borza turned out to be one of his most successful students: he trained passionately and got carried away with the Japanese martial arts philosophy. His exceptional talent showed early and grew to be the dominant figure of the starting Hungarian kyokushin life. He received his kyo grades from Shihan Furkó and Shihan Collins, a well-known master often visiting Hungary. Shihan Howard Collins is a living legend. He already possessed a 7th dan grade back in 1993. He has been training kyokushin since he was 15 and at the age of 17, as a green-belt student, he traveled to Japan to master his knowledge. In 1973 he was the first in the world to complete the 100-men-fight, then he started to teach in Europe. To the calling words of Attila Mészáros he went to Sweden and has been living ther ever since.

Borza took his 1st dan exam at the greatest event of the age, the IBUSZ Oyama Cup in 1983 (Szolnok). He was lucky to have Sosai Oyama to grade him. Borza was the 5th men in Hungary to gain a black belt. The IBUSZ Oyama Cups were held every 2 years, 4 times altogether. Brza took 1st place at the first 3 events. All 4 were attended by Sosai Oyama. Borza did not enter the 4th one. Borza became the most successful competitor of Europe which founded his career and paved his way to world fame.

He took his 2nd dan in 1985 at the high-level exam conducted by Shihan Collins. In 1987 an European Super gala, a no-weight division tournament was held in Switzerland where Andy Hug took 1st, Kenji Midor 2nd and József Borza 3rd place. The third golden strip was placed on his black belt in 1988, also at the exam of Shihan Collins. After this, he was called a sensei, a higher rank teacher. In Hungary the grading system was famous for its difficultness and high level, so it used to be a privilege to get such a high rank. To get 1st dan there were 30 full contact fights to be done, for 2nd dan 40 and for the 3rd dan 50. This method is still used. The news of the Hungarian exam system spread fast in Europe and it is still known that technical and power expectations are quite high for those willing to get black belts.
Meanwhile Borza became the unbeaten fighter of Hungary and his name was associated with knock outs and almost sure winning. The special Borza fight style marks can be seen in his students movements. Borza is 6 times national champion, got medals at full contact international events, including taekwon-do and kick-box, too. He entered 2 World Tournaments in Japan. He appeared first in 1984 in front of 25 000 viewers in the famous Budokan Hall of Sports. Then a mawashi geri KO was chosen to be then most attractive one of the tournament. In 1987, at the 4th World Tournament he stepped on the tatami in front of an audience of 32 000.
He moved to Eger in 1986 where he created a mass ground for kyokushin. Borza Dojo, practically the Hungarian honbu, still has the most students in Hungary, there are 8-10 black belts at each training.
In 1994 a tragic event happened: the grat syle-founding master, Sosai Oyama died. Not even a year passed after his death and kyokushin karate split into many groups. As the unquestionable power was missing, so the work continued in 3 major groups at the beginning and the tendency continued to have more units.
Borza got his 4th dan in 1996 from Shihan Nishida Yukio. The world famous karateka was one of the firs students of sosai, who trained with the great master since 1964, the birth of kyokushin. He was member of the 1st Japanese national team at the first World Tournament whre he got the glorious 4th place. Later, Sosai sent him to the USA to find out about the training methods there. After the death of soasi he became the leader of IKO2. Using his interntional experience Shihan Nishida later founded his own style called International Budo Organization Kyokushin Karate Seibukai.
The effect of the international changes reached Hungary too. Borza created his own group in 1988 called neve Oyama Karate Kyokushin Hungary (OKKH). Since then, 23 dojos joined it. At first OKKH joined IKO3, the president of which was Shihan Toru Tezuka who gave the right to Shihan Yoshikazu Matsushima. Shihan Tezuka, an 8th dan master became a student of Sosai in 1973. To avoid disputes he left IKO in 2000 and formed his own group. Shihan Matsushima, a 9th dan master was also a student of Sosai Oyama and started to practice karate in 1965. He dedicated his whole life to kyokushin karate. He was elected president of IKo Matsushima group which has members of nearly 70 countries of the world. Kancho matsushima asked Borza to form the European Karate Organization Kyokushin Kaikan (EKO) which was done in 1998 with Borza as president for 4 years. Borza held the 1st IKO Matsushima European Championship in 1999, in Eger, Hungary. The event was a success beyond expectations with the Hungarian team as most successful. The host team's black belts also did an unforgettable demonstration.
The successful even was followed by 6 more in Europe in this order: Spain (2001), Belgium (2003), Poland (2005), Ukraine (2007), Italy (2009) and Hungary again in 2011. In 2033 they elected Borza as technical director of EKO which title he has been holding ever since
Borza gained his 5th dan in Canada, Montréal, after taking a successful exam led by Kancho Matsushima. He took his 6th dan exam in Poland at the IKO Matsushima European Championship. He was the first in Europe to get a 6th dan grade by taking an exam. Usually, this rank is given by honor.
In the meantime Borza became the main judge of EKO Matsushima. No wonder: his refereeing capabilities are far beyond the average; his decisiveness raised him to this position. He has been practicing as a referee since 1983, became an 'A class' international referee and led matches at European and World Championships worldwide.

In the name of technical level and keeping the real budo spirit, 2 EKO camps were held in Hungary. In 2006 it took place in Miskolc and in 2007 in Szeged. The traditional 4-trainings-a-day program includes all main fields of kyokushin. There are about 100 participants at Borza's summer camps, mainly high kyus and black belts. All camps are finished by a kyu and dan grading that follows the original Japanese system and lasts about 6-8 hours.
Many of Borza's students finished at excellent places at international tournaments. It is worth to mention Zsombor Magosi (1st place, Word Cup, 2008, Sydney) and Lilla Herczeg (1st place, World Tournament, 2008, Japan). In 2004 it was the first time ever that a foreign delegation did a demonstration at the World tournament in Japan and the possibility was given to the Hungarian team. Borza has had 32 black belts in his dojo over his career in kyokushin. Presently, he is the member of the board of Hungarian Karate Association, the vice-president of the Knock down committee.

OKKH resigned from IKO Matsushima in December, 2014 and now operates as an independent kyokushin organization.