Posted on Thursday, 23rd August 2007 by Captain Chris
Though all forms of Karate trace their roots back Okinawa Wado Ryu Karate was developed after Karate began being taught on mainland Japan. The Federation of All Japan Karatedo Organization recognizes Wado Ryu as one of the four traditional styles of Karate which also includes Goju-Ryu, Shito-Ryu, and Shotokan Karate styles. Wado Ryu differs from the others styles, because it focuses more on Tai Sabaki (Body Movement) to evade attacks than the traditional body hardening exercises that are part of the Martial art. Some incorrectly think it is not as brutal as the other forms of the striking art, but it simply acknowledges that yielding is sometimes necessary in order to strike. Wado Ryu was influenced by Japan and combined two soft styles of Martial arts.
Before Karate ever reached the shores of Japan it was practiced on the island of Okinawa, and was practiced by nobles who had traveled to China and observed and learned Chinese Martial arts like Kung Fu. They learned well from what they saw and would develop a practical system for self defense that would later become Karate. Though the native islanders gave the Japanese a good fight they would later be annexed and become part of Japan. The weapons training and hand-to-hand combat style appealed to the Japanese and over time it would become widely popular in Japan.
The first style to be taught and developed in mainland Japan to become popular was Shotokan Karate which was created by Gichin Funakoshi. His instructors had worked to bring the style to Japan, but it was Funakoshi who would call Karate the “empty hand,” rather than the “China hand” since Japan was at war with China at the time. He would also add Kendo movements to his style and made it more acceptable to Japanese culture. Hironori Ohtsuka attended a Tokyo Sports Festival and saw Funakoshi’s Karate and was greatly impressed and soon became an instructor in addition to teaching Jujutsu. Ohtsuka liked Shotokan very much, but thought it lacked real world applications and wanted to make it more like Jujutsu, Judo, and other combat Martial arts. Moreover, he felt it lacked the Budo spirit of attack and defense. This would lead to Wado Ryu Karate looking more like Jujutsu than other forms of Karate. Wado Ryu includes many practical arm lock and submission techniques as well as the traditional strikes familiar to any Karate practitioner.
Tags: Self-defense
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