Waco Ryu Kanji

[Mujician]

Hi - I'm looking for the Kanji for Wado Ryu. Most 'artwork' for wado is the fist inside a dove. On googling for for it i came up with a load of different kanji symbols. Where might i find the correct kanji translation. thanks

 

[Gerry Seymour]

All the sources I found used the same kanji for Wado-ryu: 和道流.

 

[Chris Parker]

Yep, as Gerry said, the correct kanji for Wado Ryu are 和道流... but, as you asked for a correct translation, I'll break them down for you. One thing to bear in mind, though, is that, as Japanese written characters often have multiple pronunciations (including on'yomi and kun'yomi forms), and the same pronunciation/phonetic sound can be written with different characters with quite a fair amount of differing meanings, coupled with the fact that Japanese is a highly contextual language, there are many variants that can be applied, to imply different meanings or emphasis'... depending on the characters used. I'm aware of a number of old systems that use different characters for their own name within even the same document at times...

That said, the above kanji are the "official" way of writing Wado Ryu... so let's do that break down.

和 (Wa) means "peace" in most contexts, although it can also refer to "harmony", or to imply the nation of Japan itself (usually when combined with 大, to make 大和 - Yamato).
道 (Do) means "way, or path", and can be used in an almost purely basic, literal form (referring to a street, often pronounced "Michi" at the point), or can imply a "way of life", or a spiritual experience/emphasis... implying the development of the personal character through the study/exposure to the system.
流 (Ryu) is an interesting one... most commonly, when used as a suffix to the name of a martial (or other) system, and pronounced "ryu" (as opposed to "nagashi"), it's often translated as "style", or "school (of whatever art)". However, when you look at the actual meaning of the term, you find that it means "flow", or "stream"... implying a stream of knowledge, experience, skill, understanding etc flowing down from the previous generation (your teachers) to the current one (you)... which will continue to flow from you to the next generation (ideally).

So, in simple terms, Wado Ryu 和道流 means "the style of the way of peace"... but can imply the seeking of a path of harmony and peace, attained through spiritual development... or can be an implication of being the style of a Japanese path for karate... or any of a few other ways of reading it (without even getting into alternate kanji and expressions!).

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Yep, as Gerry said, the correct kanji for Wado Ryu are 和道流... but, as you asked for a correct translation, I'll break them down for you. One thing to bear in mind, though, is that, as Japanese written characters often have multiple pronunciations (including on'yomi and kun'yomi forms), and the same pronunciation/phonetic sound can be written with different characters with quite a fair amount of differing meanings, coupled with the fact that Japanese is a highly contextual language, there are many variants that can be applied, to imply different meanings or emphasis'... depending on the characters used. I'm aware of a number of old systems that use different characters for their own name within even the same document at times...

That said, the above kanji are the "official" way of writing Wado Ryu... so let's do that break down.

和 (Wa) means "peace" in most contexts, although it can also refer to "harmony", or to imply the nation of Japan itself (usually when combined with 大, to make 大和 - Yamato).
道 (Do) means "way, or path", and can be used in an almost purely basic, literal form (referring to a street, often pronounced "Michi" at the point), or can imply a "way of life", or a spiritual experience/emphasis... implying the development of the personal character through the study/exposure to the system.
流 (Ryu) is an interesting one... most commonly, when used as a suffix to the name of a martial (or other) system, and pronounced "ryu" (as opposed to "nagashi"), it's often translated as "style", or "school (of whatever art)". However, when you look at the actual meaning of the term, you find that it means "flow", or "stream"... implying a stream of knowledge, experience, skill, understanding etc flowing down from the previous generation (your teachers) to the current one (you)... which will continue to flow from you to the next generation (ideally).

So, in simple terms, Wado Ryu 和道流 means "the style of the way of peace"... but can imply the seeking of a path of harmony and peace, attained through spiritual development... or can be an implication of being the style of a Japanese path for karate... or any of a few other ways of reading it (without even getting into alternate kanji and expressions!).

Chris, I love reading this type of breakdown. I get frustrated when I hear instructor say things like, "Aiki and Kiai are opposite sides of the same coin." So many folks (especially Americans, where so few speak even a second language) don't understand the difference among languages. I sort of start to grasp the nature of the conceptual languages, which are so very different from the more literal languages (the Germanic and Romance languages, for instance).

 

[Chris Parker]

Ha, yeah... that's actually one of my favourite examples (ki-ai and ai-ki)... as it is, as you know, the same kanji in the opposite order.

Just to flesh this out, my typical expression of those two terms (as related to each other) is as follows: The two kanji mean "to meet,or come together/unite" (ai - 会), and "energy" (ki - 気) - without getting too much into detail of the type of energy, what's meant by it, and so forth. By emphasising one before the other, you are emphasising the more important factor, as well as implying the direction of the flow in itself.

Aiki 合気 has the meeting first, then the energy... except that the way that would read in English would be "energy that is met with, united with", as the subject is second, and the action is first. So you're not "meeting with energy", you're "meeting energy (incoming)". Although Aikido is sometimes referred to as the "art of harmony", as we saw with the Wado Ryu kanji, harmony is a different character not found in the name of Aikido (same when some try to translate Aikido as "the way of peace", or "the way of love", which I've seen... taken completely non-literally, which is possible in Japanese, sure... but when given as an actual translation, rather than a symbolic expression of the heart of the system? Nah..).

Kiai 気合, obviously, then has the kanji reversed... and, again, the primary subject of the sentence/phrase is typically the second part (not a completely hard rule, though...), this then means that the meeting is the important part... it is energy that is united. The way I describe that is that the concept revolves around uniting all aspects of your energy... your physical action, your mental intention, your breath, your spiritual drive, everything... together, and directing it in a single aim and focus. In other words, it's a way of ensuring that you are completely committed in all aspects.

Of course, you may notice that I didn't mention anything about a shout, or noise, or yell, or anything that most associate with the idea of a "kiai"... because it's not necessarily there. The shout itself is called a kakegoe in some systems, referring to "suspending your voice", but usually just translated as "shout, or yell". While a vital part of many expressions of a kiai, it is, in itself, more about ensuring that the energy, including your breath (the shout ensuring the breath is going outward in the correct fashion) are all present.

So, to me, Aiki is about meeting, uniting with, coming together with, energy from an external source, taking in what is given to you. Kiai, on the other hand, is about ensuring that your energies, internal, are all directed and focused together, ensuring that you give the full commitment required to achieve success in your endeavour, whether an attack, or anything else.

As I said, this is one of my favourite examples...