Wado Ryu

[celtic bhoy]

I have been studying ITF Taekwon-Do for the past few years, which I enjoyed. However I cannot practise Tkd anymore as the instructor is moving his school to a new venue, which is too far for me to get to.

I have discovered that there is a Wado Ryu school only 5 minutes away from my house. I have asked all the relevant questions and I also watched a class, which I found interesting. The instructor has a good reputation, his school is independent as he does not believe in the politics.

What I want to know is if there is anyone out there who can tell me more on the style of Wado Ryu, what I would expect to learn and the differences in technique to Tkd.

Many Thanks

 

[arnisador]

I think you'll find a number of similarities. Wado-ryu is basic Japanese karate, hence similar to TKD, plus some jujutsu, hence similar to Hapkido.

You might use the Search feature on Wado for more info.; see in particular these threads:

Wado vs TKD
Wado Ryu

(both started by you, in fact.) Give it a try!

 

[sammy3170]

Originally posted by celtic bhoy

I have been studying ITF Taekwon-Do for the past few years, which I enjoyed. However I cannot practise Tkd anymore as the instructor is moving his school to a new venue, which is too far for me to get to.

I have discovered that there is a Wado Ryu school only 5 minutes away from my house. I have asked all the relevant questions and I also watched a class, which I found interesting. The instructor has a good reputation, his school is independent as he does not believe in the politics.

What I want to know is if there is anyone out there who can tell me more on the style of Wado Ryu, what I would expect to learn and the differences in technique to Tkd.

Many Thanks

I don't know much about Wado Ryu but if he's totally independant check his credentials. Who assesses him and from whom did he receive his rank from? Just make sure it's all good before jumping in head first. My instructor isn't affiliated with an organisation but I know where his ranking came from and from whom he learned his stuff .

Cheers
Sammy

Cheers
Sammy

 

[Kong]

I used to train Wado Ryu before I started TKD, and I feel the systems are very similar as Arnisador pointed out. Maybe with a little more emphasis on self defense, with a strong jujutsu influence, lots of locks and takedowns and stuff like that. Hironori Ohtsuka (founder of Wado Ryu) studied many systems with many masters, and already had a master certification in Shinto-yoshin-ryu school of jujutsu when he started studying Okinawa karate under Funakoshi.
Very roughly you can say Wado Ryu is a mix of Karate and Jujutsu principles and techniques, along with Hironoris desire to create a competition enviroment where Karate techniques could be tested.
Their competition system (at least at the school where I trained (this was a long time ago)), is semi contact sparring with hand and feet pads (along w/basic protection gear like a cup and teethguard (what`s that in english????)).
Here`s some basic info on Hironori Ohtsuka:
http://www.wado-ryu-karate.com/Ohtsuka.html:asian:

 

[Pyros]

I used to know a Wado-ryu 2nd dan instructor and he was awesome. It was (as already mentioned) karate with more grabbing techniques, joint manipulation etc. Made me think of the old style karate, which has less tournament fighting and more real self defence. Judged on the one instructor I used to know, I would almost call Wado Ryu karate on steroids, but that may be overstatement. By all means, I do recommend Wado Ryu if you are into good self defence with strong karate base.

 

[arnisador]

Did you ever start this system?

 

[celtic bhoy]

I am not worthy!!