All Wado Karate Forum

I thought I would mention something that happened to a friend. He recounted this story during the winter course over a few beers about how he was on business in Japan and travelled to a manufacturing plant in Northern Japan.

When there he asked about karate and some of the workers took him to a dojo. Shotokan karate and none had heard of Wado Ryu. The dojo was one that had half hard floor and half tatami.

One day this person was showing the karateka some idori and they seemed to enjoy it. The next day when back in the dojo, he got a bit of a telling off by the judo instructor who had been watching through the door the previous day. Without knowing Japanese, the finger wagging and hair dryer treatment gave the game away.

Heiho.

Just goes to show. We have something a little bit different to look after.

It also shows that even in Japan - people want to compartmentalise martial arts.

If you kick and punch things - you are karateka.

If you throw / grapple people you are Judoka.

If you do both - you don't fit in to a box!!!

Gary

Gary wrote:It also shows that even in Japan - people want to compartmentalise martial arts.

If you kick and punch things - you are karateka.

If you throw / grapple people you are Judoka.

If you do both - you don't fit in to a box!!!

Gary

And what if you grapple, strike and have weaponry systems in your curriculum?

A lot of the older koryū systems were sōgō bujutsu (総合武術・Comprehensive martial arts) and some may have been famous for one particular discipline, but had a big syllabi.

A case in point is Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū. Anyone who has seen the school personally has seen their swordsmanship and polearm disciplines (staff, spear & halberd), but noone ever sees their jūjutsu or shurikenjutsu.

It's like what we do in Sōsuishi-ryū; Everyone thinks that we only do jūjutsu and iaijutsu, however we also have kenjutsu and kodachi-kumiuchi. People believe that our disciplines are seperated, however they are the one, same entity and flow into each other.

Hi Steve,

I think I remember you mentioning that, in Japan, if you refer to yourself as practicing jujutsu form example - people wouldn’t really understand what you mean - so you would mention Judo instead?

Point of Gordon's story really - Wado ryu Idori is closer to Judo in this respect, although, at risk of upsetting some members here - it doesn't actually cut the same sort of mustard as say the TSR versions you have shown me (from a practical point of view).

But it's all a work in progress I guess.

Gary

Gary wrote:Hi Steve,

I think I remember you mentioning that, in Japan, if you refer to yourself as practicing jujutsu form example - people wouldn’t really understand what you mean - so you would mention Judo instead?

Point of Gordon's story really - Wado ryu Idori is closer to Judo in this respect, although, at risk of upsetting some members here - it doesn't actually cut the same sort of mustard as say the TSR versions you have shown me (from a practical point of view).

But it's all a work in progress I guess.

Gary

Gary,

Yes, if you went to Japan and looked for a jūjutsu dōjō, most people wouldn't know what you were asking for and would send you to a jūdō dōjō.
Similarly, if you ask for a kenjutsu dōjō, most are likely to send you to a kendō dōjō.

The best thing to ask for is kobudō or kobujutsu.

As for the Wadō-ryū idori techniques, I'd have to really see them and experience them to comment. I have had a cursory view and some of it looked a lot like Tenjin Shinyō-ryū in lots of ways.

Gary wrote:Hi Steve,

I think I remember you mentioning that, in Japan, if you refer to yourself as practicing jujutsu form example - people wouldn’t really understand what you mean - so you would mention Judo instead?

Point of Gordon's story really - Wado ryu Idori is closer to Judo in this respect, although, at risk of upsetting some members here - it doesn't actually cut the same sort of mustard as say the TSR versions you have shown me (from a practical point of view).

But it's all a work in progress I guess.

Gary

Hi Gary,

Surely the wider view has to embrace the reality of wado ryu being 'a new martial art' that Ohtsuka envisaged for a changing world which saw Japan emerging from its bloody internecine past so the wasabi was always meant to be of a different vintage and flavour.?

Wado ryu is often called the thinking man's karate and, in thinking, we have to recognise that Idori, Tanto, Tachi tori, atemi would all have had their fangs drawn for this evolutionary model that had had grown beyond the concept of violence as a solution for the ills of mankind.?.. We may all like to play dress up and warrior around the place but we do it in only the utmost safety nowadays, thanks to old guys like Ohtsuka,Kano, Ueshiba...

There is no doubt too in my mind that the fangs that were drawn are still sitting in a glass of water in the bathroom in readiness with a bit o' Coleman's Hot English if required..

On thinking about it: what I really love about wado ryu is its weightlessness.

oneya

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oneya wrote: On thinking about it: what I really love about wado ryu is its weightlessness.
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Thanks, oneya. This afterthought really helped to coalesce some nebulous notions that had been floating in the back of my mind lately.

monkey mind wrote:

oneya wrote: On thinking about it: what I really love about wado ryu is its weightlessness.
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Thanks, oneya. This afterthought really helped to coalesce some nebulous notions that had been floating in the back of my mind lately.

My pleasure...