Master
Hidenori Otsuka
Wado ryu karate (way of peace), was created by one of
Funakoshi's senior students named Hidenori Otsuka. Otsuka's training in martial
arts began in his childhood. He was born in 1892 and spent much of his youth
studying shindo yoshin ryu jujitsu. Otsuka, after many years of study,
gained the headmastership of the style. He was first introduced to karate
through judo inventor Dr Kano. He immediately began to train in the art,
although he was by then over 30 years old. After spending more than 10 years
with Funakoshi he broke away from shotokan to formulate his own style. For a
time Otsuka's karate had no proper name, but in 1940 at a huge martial arts
festival he was asked to register the name of his school, and called it wado
ryu (ryu means school).
As Otsuka began to make
distinct changes in his karate, he drew heavily upon his knowledge of jujitsu,
which he merged with the shotokan techniques. This resulted in more upright
stances and more fluid techniques than in shotokan. This amalgamation of the
yielding principles of jujitsu, with its emphasis of nonopposition to strength,
and the traditional Okinawan karate maneuvers gave a softness to wado ryu
unique in Japanese karate.
Otsuka's wado ryu is a tremendously fast style. Its techniques
and movements are the total expression of the practitioner's mind as manifested
in his spirit. Otsuka always emphasized that the karateka (one who
practices karate) should always hold true three vital elements - the heart,
spirit and physical strength. Otsuka is also remembered because he formulated
the first principles of kumite (the free sparring in karate) which was
the forerunner of sport or competition karate as we now know it. It is the
sparring element in today's karate that prompts advocates to learn the art. It
seems strange that karate caught on with such tremendous fervor in Japan,
solely as a way of practicing kata.
Otsuka's
unrelenting services to karate were rewarded when the Emperor of Japan's
brother awarded him his tenth dan black belt. And shortly before his death on
29 January 1982, just four months short of his ninetieth birthday, Otsuka was
recognized as the oldest practicing karateka in the world. Since his death the
wado style has spread all over the world. Interestingly, in the eight bi-annual
world championships so far held, in which over 50 nations compete, one team has
won four times. The consistently successful team is from Great Britain, with
two-thirds of its members being wado stylists.
Because wado ryu employs very light and fast techniques, the
style favors evasion, not the head-on clash of brute force. After delivering a
technique, the hand or foot is snapped back very quickly to avoid being
captured by the opponent. Students are taught to punch by creating a very fast
type of whiplash movement involving a certain amount of hip twisting to
increase the force of the punch.
Wado/Wado
Kai originates from Sensei Hidenori Otsuku of Japan, a student of Gichin
Funikoshi. Professor Tatsuo Suzuki, 8th Dan Hanshi is the new Chief Instructor
for the Europe Wado-Ryu and Chairman to the United Kingdom Karate-Do Wado Kai.
Wado means Way of Peace and Karate is generally translated
as Empty Hand.
 
Canadian Zenkuren Wado Karate Association
Canadian Zenkuren Wado
Karate Association (Zenkuren Wado Kai) is directly affiliated with the JKF Wado
Kai headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and with the National Karate Association of
Canada through its provincial branches.
The association
teaches Wado karate according to the curriculum set forth by the JKF Wado Kai
Technical Committee and all black belt exams are conducted either in Japan,
before the JKF Wado Kai Examination Board or by a visiting instructor, such as
Mr. Toru Arakawa, technical head of the JKF Wado Kai and world recognized
authority on the standardization of Wado kata for the purposes of WKF (World
Karate Federation) competition. Successful black belt candidates are awarded
dan certificates by the JKF Wado Kai Headquarters in Tokyo and these are signed
by the current president of the JKF Wado Kai.
All
Zenkuren Wado Kai dojo are registered directly with JKF Wado Kai in Tokyo and
teach the Wado style of karate according to the rules, regulations and grading
syllabus established by the Technical Committee of the JKF Wado Kai in Tokyo.
Senior Zenkuren Wado Kai black belts have undergone
certification examinations either in Canada with Toru Arakawa, Technical
Director of JKF Wado Kai, or in Japan, with the 8 members of the JKF Wado Kai
examination board. Dan certificates are always signed by the head of JKF Wado
Kai at the time of issue.
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Norma Foster, the head
of JKF Wadokai Canada, is the highest ranking female JKF Wadokai practitioner
in the world. She is also the only female WKF referee and is currently the
chairman of the WKF Gender Equity Committee. In October of 2002, Ms Foster was
inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame. The bulk of her Wado
training was accomplished under the tutelage of Mr Toru Arakawa and Dr Hideho
Takagi of the JKF Wadokai.
Links:
Guseikai: Style and
History
Among the myriad styles
and variations of karate, four of them are considered the major styles that are
practised throughout the world. The Japanese word for style is ryu, and the
four major styles are Shotokan, Shito Ryu, Goju Ryu and Wado Ryu. Each of the
styles has its own emphasis and unique distinctions. It may be said that
Shotokan emphasizes strength with large movements and low, long stances. Shito
focuses upon posture, short high stances and small subtle movements. Goju
considers breathing, rooted stances and circular movement and Wado emphasizes
relaxation and natural, practical movement. No one style is superior to
another. There are only different body structures, situations and instructors.
Usually a beginner does not choose a style, but rather a location, or a teacher
that appeals. The style of karate practiced at Guseikai is Wado Ryu.
An Okinawan called Gichin Funakoshi is accepted as the
founder of modern Japanese karate. He introduced his brand of karate, then
called Tode (Eastern/Chinese hands) to Japan at a sports festival sponsored by
the Ministry of Education in 1922. At that event, he evidently met 30-year-old
Hironori Ohtsuka, who was by that time the fourth Grand Master of Shindo Yoshin
Ryu Jiu Jitsu. By 1929, Hironori Ohtsuka had become Chief Instructor of the
Shindo Yoshin Ryu Jiu Jitsu and an assistant instructor to Gichin Funakoshi. By
1929, Mr. Ohtsuka was a member of the Japan Martial Arts Federation (JMAF).
At that time, karate was reputedly taught by Mr.
Funakoshi only as kata (form), so Mr. Ohtsuka had begun developing yakusoku
(prearranged) kumite (fighting). Soon thereafter, he left Gichin Funakoshi to
develop his own style of karate. On February 28, 1934, a son, Jiro, was born to
Hironori Ohtsuka and, coincidentally, Wado Ryu was officially recognized as a
new style of karate independent of that of Mr Funakoshi.
The style of karate personalized and established by
Hironori Ohtsuka was registered with the JMAF in 1938 and in 1939 the JMAF
called upon each of the styles to officially form a register of their names. At
that time, the four major styles mentioned above selected and registered the
names by which they are known today. Mr. Ohtsuka purportedly chose the name
Wado Ryu, as it means harmony.
Due in great part to the
efforts of Mr. Hironori Ohtsuka, karate began to be taught in the major
universities of Japan. Even now, Waseda, Meiji, and Nippon Universities, for
example, remain famous for Wado Ryu. In fact, karate was so disseminated
throughout the universities, a major source of recruitment for the military,
that this may have helped lead General MacArthur to outlaw Karate in 1945.
However, Wado and other styles of karate continued to flourish despite these
restrictions.
In 1963, three Wado instructors and others
from the different styles, visited Europe to perform demonstrations that would
lay the foundation for the spread of karate in Europe. Among the three from
Wado, were Mr. Tatsuo Suzuki, who later formed his own world federation, and
Mr. Toru Arakawa, who is currently technical director for the Japan Karate
Federation Wado Kai, secretary general of the Japan Karate Federation, and
technical advisor to the World Karate Federation. Mr. Arakawa is a graduate of
Nippon University, where he studied Wado Ryu with Hironori Ohtsuka.
Canadian ZenKuRen Wado Karate Association was formed in
response to the demand for an authentic national Wado organization that is
directly affiliated with the JKF Wado Kai in Japan.
To learn more on
Wado/Wado Kai in New Brunswick, check out the official Wado/Wado Kai site at:
http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/wadokai/
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