Blue Eyed Samurai: 1000 days in the Young Lions Dormitory

The last uchi deshi (live-in student) of Sosai Oyama Masutatsu, Nicholas Pettas, takes you along on his adventure as an eager, 18-year-old boy going from Copenhagen, Denmark to the other side of the globe. Here, in Tokyo, Japan, he doesn’t just find himself in another country, but in a different world altogether.

The rigorous life of an uchi deshi is filled with drama and the struggle to survive. Even more so for a Western uchi deshi, thrown into an environment where everything is different the food, the language, the life-style and, above all, the karate. Literally having to fight for his survival on a daily basis, Nicholas turns to his inner self to search for the strength needed to fulfil his dream of completing the daunting 1000-day karate course.

Becoming a true lion in the art and sport of karate, and the last non-Japanese to complete Master Oyama’s course, today, author Nicholas Pettas is known in Japan as The Blue-eyed Samurai, an acknowledgment of his true Samurai Spirit.