Taika Seiyu Oyata was born on October 19, 1928 to Kana Oyata on the island of Kita Daito Shima. The Oyata’s trace their family heritage back to Zana Oyakata who was a high-ranking official and advisor to the Okinawan king prior to the Satsuma invasion in 1609. After the invasion the family name Zana was ordered to be changed to Shinda. Later generations changed the name to Ikemiyagusuku and finally Oyata.

During World War II Taika was inducted into the Japanese Imperial Navy. At this time he received his first real initiation into the martial arts. He was trained in the arts of kendo, yari, naginata and iaido. He was fortunate to learn a style of iaido called Gogai-ryu, which there are no known instructors left living. During the war Taika’s three older brothers, Taro, Kiseii and Akio were killed in action. Taika’s family was also informed he was killed due to his death certificate being issued. Taika explained that he was the operator of a modified torpedo called a kaiten. Death certificates were routinely issued for the operators who were assigned to the suicide missions and had the war carried on for much longer he would no longer be alive. At the end of the war Taika was decommissioned as a lieutenant.

After the war Taika started working for the United States government driving an amphibious vehicle delivering food and supplies to the islands on the eastern side of Okinawa. One day while in his vehicle near Teruma he saw an older man with a warrior’s topknot who was fishing. He thought this was unusual because the use of a topknot (kapu) for class distinction had been abolished at the beginning of the Meiji era (1868-1912). Taika introduced himself and learned the man was Uhugusuku no Tanmei (tanmei is a title reserved for elderly men who were from the warrior class) a descendant of the Okinawan general Uni (Demon) Uhugusuku. Taika offered to take Uhugusuku out to deeper waters in his amphibious vehicle so that he could catch bigger fish.

Taika learned that Uhugusuku no Tanmei was a warrior who had served the Okinawan king as a gate guard in his younger days. He was now about 97 years old and still practiced the indigenous Ryukyu martial arts. Okinawa had become quite rough in certain areas after the war and Taika believed he had a sincere need to learn the martial arts. He asked if Uhugusuku would instruct him. Since Taika came from a warrior family Uhugusuku agreed. Uhugusuku primarily taught Taika kobudo (weapon arts) and fighting concepts.

After about a year of training with Uhugusuku Taika was introduced to his good friend, Wakinaguri no Tanmei. Wakinaguri was a 6th generation descendant of Chinese ancestry and still wore a Chinese hairstyle. Taika has remarked that this exceptional man was very much an Okinawan, except for his hairstyle and his unique martial art. Wakinaguri’s specialty was vital point striking (kyusho-jitsu). Taika remarked that all of Wakinaguri’s fingers were the same length from years of training in finer striking. Wakinaguri passed the kata Shi Ho Happo no Te and Shi Ho Miyo no Te to Taika Oyata.

Taika trained with both men until their deaths in the early 1950s (Uhugusuku-1951, Wakinaguri-1953). Neither of these men had children and they gave Taika an instructor license (menkyo kaiden) as the official inheritor of their family arts.

To fill the void left by these great men Taika began training with various other karate masters on the island and often left in disappointment. In 1958 he started training with Shigeru Nakamura, the headmaster of Okinawa Kempo. It is from Nakamura that Taika got the twelve (12) kata he uses in his public martial art.

In 1968 Taika made his first trip to the United States at the request of several students who had trained at his dojo in Okinawa. While in the United States Master Nakamura passed away. Taika didn’t receive news of Nakamura’s death for quite some time and when he returned to Okinawa he found that the Okinawa Kempo association had been passed down to Nakamura’s son. Taika remained in Okinawa until 1977 when he returned to the United States and started teaching karate under the style name of Ryukyu Kempo.

In the years that followed Taika began teaching many seminars and introduced concepts that had never been seen outside of Okinawa including Tuite-jitsu (joint manipulation) and Kyusho-jitsu (vital point striking). Prior to this time no one knew karate contained these techniques.

Because of Taika Oyata’s demonstration of the "hidden" applications of the kata many other Tuite "masters" began to spring up, including some using the name Ryukyu Kempo, which had not been trademarked. As a result Taika renamed his art RyuTe and began using the more peaceful term of karate instead of kempo. He also created a new group he called Oyata Shin Shu Ho (Truthful Hand Method). This group was not necessarily selected because of superior technique alone, but a personality that Taika believed was closer to the true spirit of Ryukyu martial arts. The motto of Oyata Shin Shu Ho is "To strive to attain true moral goodness and express it through one’s every action."

At over 80 years of age Taika Oyata continues to teach a regular class in Independence, Missouri and seminars around the country.