Guy Buyens began training in karate in 1971 at the age of 10. In his youth, he was active in kumite and kata competitions as a member of the Belgian National Team, and he was selected to compete at the European Championships in 1984. He first met Inoue Tsuyoshi Munetoshi, 18th soke of Hontai Yoshin-ryu, and his son Kyoichi in Italy, in 1983, during a demonstration tour of martial arts in which he also participated. After finishing medical school and working for some time at the University of Brussels (exercise physiology and sports medicine), he took a one-year sabbatical in 1989 and went to Japan specifically to start studying Hontai Yoshin-ryu at the so-hombu dojo, as well as to further his studies in Shito-ryu karate with Mabuni Sensei.
Although he now lives with his family in Belgium, Guy and other senior Belgian students regularly travel to Japan to study. There they have participated in several demonstrations, including the 30th Zen Nippon Kobudo Embu, organized by the Nippon Budokan and Nihon Kobudo Kyokai. Guy has been mentioned in several articles published in Budo, the official magazine of the Nihon Budokan (in Japanese). For their April 2006 issue he wrote an article reflecting on his participation in the 16th Isukushima Enbu Takai in Miyajima.
