Any Wado Guys Here?

[Sojobo]

As A Wado-ka who is new to this board I thought I'd say hello and also see if there are many other Wado people here.

Gary

 

[Cirdan]

Sure there are Wadokas here. Me, Tez and.. hmm there used to be a few more too...

 

[Grenadier]

Previous Wado hybrid... Basically, the founder of the system (Hirano Kiyohisa, a direct student of Ohtsuka Shihan) I used to train in, back-incorporated more of the fundamentals of Shotokan Karate into the system. Thus, it wasn't "pure" Wado Ryu, but the end result was a solid system that continues to be taught to this date.

Interesting mixture of things... Basically, the Pinan Kata, Naihanchi, and Kusanku were taught up to the shodan level. Passai, Wanshu, and Jion at the shodan level, Chinto, Seisan, and Kusanku Sho at nidan. After that, the kata learned were mostly Shotokan, although a few were slightly modified.

 

[Cirdan]

That`s interesting Grenadier. There seems to be a lot of different Wado systems around. I am not sure there even are "pure" Wado anymore, except maybe that ot Tsao Suzuki who tries to preserve Ohtsuka`s art unaltered.

Like you we add different elements at higher levels, in our case mostly Tai Chi and chinese concepts. I`ll list our kata to compare to your list.

Kyu: Pinan, Naifanchi, Kushanku, Chinto, Seishan.
Shodan: Passai, Sanchin, Tensho.
Nidan: Rohai, Niseishi, Wanshu.
Sandan: Jion, Jitte, Ji`in.

 

[Grenadier]

That`s interesting Grenadier. There seems to be a lot of different Wado systems around. I am not sure there even are "pure" Wado anymore, except maybe that ot Tsao Suzuki who tries to preserve Ohtsuka`s art unaltered.

Agreed. Suzuki Sensei seems to have the purest Wado teaching around, and he can still hit like a hammer, even in his age. Very nice guy, and he even visited our dojo on a couple of occasions.

He was actually Hirano's Sempai all of those years ago, and broke Hirano's leg in a sparring match, back when they were much younger, and was quite saddened to hear about Hirano's passing away last year.

Like you we add different elements at higher levels, in our case mostly Tai Chi and chinese concepts. I`ll list our kata to compare to your list.

Kyu: Pinan, Naifanchi, Kushanku, Chinto, Seishan.
Shodan: Passai, Sanchin, Tensho.
Nidan: Rohai, Niseishi, Wanshu.
Sandan: Jion, Jitte, Ji`in.

[/quote]

Interesting lineup. That seems a bit more bottom heavy than what I had seen from others. Nevertheless, that covers a wide range, indeed. Do you perform all three Rohai kata?

 

[Cirdan]

Interesting lineup. That seems a bit more bottom heavy than what I had seen from others. Nevertheless, that covers a wide range, indeed. Do you perform all three Rohai kata?

We only do one Rohai.
There is a lot of material, it is definately "heavy" at the upper Kyu levels compared to other schools I`ve checked out. I love the structure, everything fits together like a well built house with a solid foundation.

 

[Sojobo]

It may be very difficult to define "Pure Wado". Arguably the only person that did this was Otsuka sensei – and even he said (before he died) that "Wado was not finished" referring to perhaps to the process of "Shu-ha-ri" and where it sits within the Wado spectrum of things.

Unquestionably, Suzuki sensei is a unique and brilliant Wadoka who has made Wado his own.

But there are equally talented Wadoka that are still around today, that if you ever get a chance to train with - you should imo - as they are living legends that do the best Wado on the surface of the planet.

This is my "for starters" list:

Masafumi Shiomitsu sensei - Wado Ryu Academy (part of the Wado Ryu Renmei).

Toru Arakawa sensei - JKF Wado-Kai

Katsumi Hakoishi sensei -JKF Wado-Kai

Shingo Ohgami sensei - JKF Wado-Kai

To name but a few.

As a rule of thumb (and it is only that) I tend to work on the premise that you have a far better chance of coming across a club that teaches "mainstream" Wado (again if there is such a thing), if it is part of the three main international Wado groups.

Regards


Gary