Medway & South East Karate Clubs
UK Bushido Karate Association
& International Wado Federation
Principal Instructor Barry Archer 6th Dan.
There are many styles and schools of karate. To list them all would take a long time and only add confusion at this stage The World Karate Federation basically recognises four distinct styles these are The Shotokan style, Goju Ryu style the Shito Ryu style and the Wado Ryu style.
The powers that be tend to look at other styles as offshoots or amalgamations of these four major styles.
However we must not forget that there are other fine major schools and styles such as Kyokushinkai, Shukokai, Shorin Ryu, Ishin Ryu, Uechi Ryu and many many more including the Korean styles and the many Chinese, Thai, Filipino martial arts and of course Boxing, Judo, Jujitsu etc. Just because the WKF recognises the four major styles it does not mean that other styles and schools are any less important.
The style we pratice is the Wado style sometimes called Ryu or Kai, both basically mean school or style. This style was founded by Hironori Ohtsuka. We will add a full Biography of him on the web site later.
There are three main branches of Wado style karate. They are all basically the same.
So why three?.... The main differances are based on who was or is in charge at any given time. To a certain extent Wado Karate suffers from the same political troubles that many other organisations, styles and sports suffer. The the three main organisations are:
WIKF (The Suzuki line)
This School principally follows the teachings of the late Tatsuo Suzuki. Suzuki was one of the first senior Japanes instructors to introduce the Wado style of Karate to the UK Medway Karate mainly follow this way purely because most of the instructors at the beginning followed this way as it was the only way available for many years.
Wadory Karate Renmei (The Ohtsuka line)
This school is now led by the Grandson of the founder and is growing in popularity as Grandmaster Ohtsuka the 3rd promotes this line around the world. He is mainly based in France.
JKF Wadokai (The main Japan Karate Federation line)
This is probably the largest of the Wado groups worldwide. It is effectively run on a committee basis in Japan with regional and world based instructors taking direction form the main base in Japan.....I believe this is the style of Wado that will appear at the Olympics.
The JKF Wado have have tended to standardise the Kata. This will make it easier to mark and also makes sense for the competition arena.
In reality there is very little if any difference between these schools of Wado. Like any style of karate there will always be a slight difference based on the instructor, your physical build etc
The basic principles of Wado remains the same.
Personally I believe we should look at the similarities between schools not dwell on the differences. Whatever school or style of Karate you follow we all kick, punch and block.
In its very basic form the Wado styles blends Karate with the principals of Jujitsu. One of the key points of Wado is to use only enough power to get the job done Evasion and avoidance are the key principals of the Wado style. Stances tend to be higher than most styles (more like a Boxer)
What must be remembered is that even though the Wado style is often thought of as a soft or yielding style you should punch and kick as hard as any other style. This may seem obvious but its a point that is often missed.
It's no good pretending to yourself that a technique will work because of this or that. If it's not hard enough or in the right place "It wont work" (Everything can work in the Dojo)
Imagine tapping a six inch nail into a piece of wood, eventually you may drive it fully in but you know in your heart of hearts that its going to need a good few hard blows to get the job done. Well Karate is no different. If your punch, strike, kick or lock doesn't hurt or do enough to stop or disable someone from hitting back then your technique is more or less useless.
You often hear the 'Who's style is best?. argument. This train of thought is a waste of time.
Quite simply if there was a 'best' style of Karate, Kung Fu or anything we would all do it. It really is down to the intensity of your own training.
Most of the major styles of martial arts have stood the test of time for one reason and that is that with 'correct & diligent training and practice' they tend to work.
If your are a person who trains in full combat, knockdown, strength building and power training etc then quite clearly you are going to be more of a hand full in fighting situation than someone who just practices Kata or basics. 'Be honest with yourself' But enjoy what you do.
And also Remember "Any fool can tell you what you want to hear" go to a good school and train hard.
Once a week is not enough whatever you do. Practice, Practice, Practice.