Full contact karate is any format of karate where competitors spar full-contact and allow a knockout as winning criterion.

Masutatsu Ōyama , more commonly known as Mas Oyama, was a South Korean karate master who founded Kyokushin Karate, considered the first and most influential style of full contact karate. Oyama was an ethnic Korean; he was born Choi Yeong-eui and spent most of his life in Japan. He acquired Japanese citizenship in 1968.