[Jason Bourne]

"The wado style of karate can be thought of as the progeny of Okinawan karate and Japanese ju-jutsu and kendo. From Okinawan karate comes the hard punches and kicks, and from ju-jutsu and kendo the use of body movement and joint locks and pins.

Master Otsuka viewed the hardness of other styles of karate as an uneconomical use of one’s energy, therefore he developed a relaxed-arm thrust punch coupled with a snap withdrawal of the punching fist to create a highly focused technique with all the energy being concentrated solely in the strike.

Ju-jutsu brings two attributes to the practice of Wado: shimeru and atemi. The principle of ‘ju’ signifies flexibility through yielding. A characteristic of ju known as ‘riding’ (noru) is a major contributor to Wado’s powerful, snapping punches. Through complete relaxation, a rapid flexing strike can be applied and withdrawn in a single movement, resulting in astounding force with a minimal expenditure of energy. By employment of such a punch, the practitioner is in constant readiness to strike again.

A relaxed stance suggests a second principle of ‘ju’ called ‘flowing’ - an adaptability similar to water which naturally takes the form of any container. Wado is exemplified by its gentleness and flexibility. Gentleness implies attention to accuracy of footwork, timing and use of hands.

The fixed forms of Wado teach numerous seemingly delicate, but effective, hand and elbow strikes. Wado’s principle of flexibility through yielding can be applied to intellectual endeavours as well as self-defence."

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Does anyone have experience in Wado Karate ?
Is it as good as it seems ?

[johnbo]

I 've only seen one Wado Ryu demonstration and it consisted of forms and tippy tappy sparring, so if that's what you like...
(but there might be some hardcore schools out there, dunno)

[TCDD]

ditto


personally, if your damn opponent will stand still long enough for me to wind up my gyaku zuki then ill take shotokan anyday........


BTW i thought u werent just meant to cut and paste articles and add a 'so what do you think?" on the end?

[Vile]

The four basic Japanese styles (Shotkan, Goju, Wado, Shito) have a lot of the same problems. There are big differences between them, but for the most part they haven't done any fighting outside that group of styles (The Japanses all-style champs is just those four) for a ong time and are far too attached to their kata and sloppy fighting ideas.

The local Goju club back when I was training in Christchurch was run by a guy who had a lot of respect from a lot of people outside his style. They had an open-style tournament, but still disallowed kciking below the waist - thus all the KK people stayed away.

Check out the individual instructors - most of those styles have a splinter group with a focus on fighting rather than dancing - for instance the JKS for Shotokan under Asai-Sensei. They have a more open minded idea about training and would rather fight well than look good.

The blurb about being relaxed before punching in your article is a joke though - you shoudl always be relaxed when striking, and only tense on impact to transfer energy. Everyone does it that way.

The article seems like atypical "blowing my own trumpet cos I know nothing else" form of my-style-is-best boasting. Go and watch some classes to make up your mind. If you don't want to do that, have a look around and see if you can track down any Wado guys who have done well in any kind of full-contact tournament or NHB fighting.

[Vile]

personally, if your damn opponent will stand still long enough for me to wind up my gyaku zuki then ill take shotokan anyday........

Gyaku Tsuki.

Wind up what? Watch shome Shotokan or Japan All-Styles tournaments. Reverse punches are used all the time - a cross by any other name would smell as sweet. Hell, most of the instructors I have met use reverse punch/cross interchangeably.

[Alex]

to be honest ive given up on all karate styles unless they start with kyoku and end with shin.

[Mox_Mox]

Originally posted by Ikken Hisatsu
to be honest ive given up on all karate styles unless they start with kyoku and end with shin.

DingDingDing!!!!!

[ICY]

I've got to say Kyokushin, or a derivitive thereof...but there was a style, can't remember the name, but they do grappling (real grappling) and spar at full contact...they wear these weird bubble helmet things...they hold full contact tourneys...almost no schools outside Japan. I ran accross it once searching around on the net...but I can't remember the damn name...

[Billy Havoc]

daido juku?

[ICY]

Yeah, I think that's it.