All Wado Karate Forum

Rather than loose this subject in the 'funny' thread I thought it worth posting this up separately as it seems to be a subject of confusion / fascination.

Firstly to pick up on a comment I made and Bob repeated in relation to registration of dan grades. Over the years, various people have held the post of General Secretary of JKF Wadokai. The first was Ishizuka sensei, then I think it was Niwa sensei followed by Arakawa sensei. There were several people after Arakawa sensei. Now we have Shimura sensei who is regarded as very good in this role along with Kato sensei, who together make up the core of the headquarters office staff. Both of Shimura sensei and Kato sensei are active karateka and are amongst the 12 people holding 1st kyu instructor licenses. I make that point because I think it is important to know that the people running the day-to-day operations share the same passion for karate as the members do. They are training people.

In the early days of Wadoryu coming to the UK, Suzuki brought with him some signed dan grade certificates. He issued the first of these in 1965. Wadokai headquarters then reissued these to those individuals (so they got two certificates) but there is no record in the register of members. Those certificates are valid, as are any other issued in the UK up to 1983 which bear the signature of Hideo Boh (Boh was a contempory of Otsuka under Funakoshi and trained at Todai karate club before it became a Wado club).

In 1984, Wadokai published an aniversary programme to mark 50 years of the group. It includes a list of all dan grades registered up to then. But, if you've a bonafide dan grade certificate from a UK grading and its not registered, then more than likely the secretary will recognise it if you want to apply to register a branch.

Which leads me to the branch membership. Why is it necessary or desirable? I think it is purely to have a direct link with headquarters, nothing more. The 'branch manager' has to be a JKF dan grade holder - I think 3rd dan or above - but the branch manager does not have to be training in the club / clubs which form the branch. There's an implication though that the manager has an obligation to help the branches learn the Wadokai way of doing karate.

Membership rates are 10,000 yen initially and 3,000 yen per year thereafter. So in the UK we have branches who work together to organise seminars and streamline administration / communication with Tokyo. We enjoy training together too (which helps!).

Anyway, I hope that is useful information for anyone interested in the subject.

Good.
The only thing I will add is that you only have to be a shodan to start a branch.
JKF Wadokai registered shodan - along with the other prerequisites listed in my previous post.

7.1.3 only applies to the branch manager. So the branch manager cannot simulatenously hold membership in Wado ryu Renmei or the WIKF or any other non JKF Wadokai organization.
Or shotokan or shitoryu etc. This does not refer to WKF WKC WKA or MOUSE. We are only talking about karate ryuha. And again this only applies to the head honcho. The members in the branch can belong to anything they want.

7.5 means you can run your branch anyway you want. The Wadokai does not tell you how you should run your branch. Use your common sense.


Standards for establishing branches
Article 7

If a member wishes to establish a branch, the following procedure must be followed:

7.1.1 In principle, a branch should consist of at least 10 members, one of whom must hold a dan grade.

7.1.2 A facility for regular training must be secured or owned.

7.1.3 No concurrent membership in any other style association or involvement with other styles of karate is allowed.

7.2 Those satisfying the above criteria who wish to establish a new branch in accordance with the provisions stated above, shall petition for registration by submitting the designated form to the Headquarters through their country headquarters.
When a country headquarters has not been established at the time of application, such petition shall be sent directly to the Headquarters.

7.3 When a petition for a new branch establishment is accepted and recognized, the Headquarters shall issue a Certificate of Branch Recognition.

7.4 The branch name cannot contain as a prefix, or as any part of its name or description, the name of the country in which the branch is located.

7.5 Individual branches will be responsible for its own regulations regarding the organization and operations of its routine business.

I think I'll just stick to training

shep

Shep,

I understand your position. But what you have to realize is that someone has to deal with this.
Without people like Ben, Jamie and others who have established branches, or your own Sensei who takes the trouble to form a dojo, the actual practice of Wado will never take place.
Someone has to deal with this crap.

People who train in a vacuum will never progress. You need to get access to better instructors, better instruction.
Many people work tirelessly behind the scenes to bring Wado to the students.
Wado is much too difficult to grasp without outside help.
Anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves. The admin stuff is a necessary task. Some sort of infrastructure has to be in place to invite Tim Shaw or his instructor or Shimura or Takagi Sensei or the late Suzuki Sensei.
We would not have an audience if it weren't for the people who deal with the admin stuff.
At the end of the day people are doing their best to bring the best that Wado has to offer to their friends and students.

Hi Bob

I was at work when I posted my last and was a bit rushed. I do realise people have to deal with it and I'm really very grateful to them and it is appreciated by me. All I'm saying is the politics part is not for me. I've seen how hard my sensei works putting on courses etc. I know how it works, I've been around a bit so no need for the lecture and I can also assure you I am probably the last person anyone can accuse of training in a vacuum.

shep

shep wrote:I think I'll just stick to training

shep

Hi Shep

I do understand you're sentiments. I posted up the information as I know it is not altogether clear how to go about applying for membership, but I also wanted to provide some context - it isn't an impenetrable bureaucracy to join if people are interested and want to find out more and as Bob said, there are no gatekeepers, but there are people that can help facilitate access. I am sure the club you train in is already a branch as Frank has a link with Japan from long ago.

Rest assured, I am not one for long meetings, unless they are the post-training "committee" meetings that involve ample amounts of liquid refreshment, in which case it is fair to say there are many occasions I've played a part in putting the world to rights and been none the wiser for it the next day!

Ben

Hi Ben and Bob

My comment was with tongue firmly in cheek. Liquid refreshment meetings I like!

shep