Says Wado, but doesn't look like it.....

Steve Perry - www.karateclubessex.co.uk. I might be wrong, but this doesn't look like what it says on the tin.

 

Looks fine? And best of all, there are no children BBs! I'd say the 7th Dan is questionable, but it's karate.

 

Look again.

 

Gah, there's one that looks 14, and another that has a white stripe through it (probably junior BB).

Ah well, at least they are sparring.

 

why would the 7th dan look fishy? there are loads of 7th dan instructors around.

 

Why is he questionable?

 

I take a cheap shot and it turns out it's not, is that ironic?

 

@chadderz: only if the internet bill is expensive because of the bandwidth used.

 

When I was a kid, I used to go to a wado club that did all manner of funky weapons stuff. Including throwing stars and even a bed of nails. I thought it was pretty cool at the time, although I don't know how authentic it was (or whether that matters).

 

In my experience there is no weapons training in Wado-ryu.

The only caveat I would put on that is when it comes to Tanto-dori or Shinken Tachi-dori - but that's a different kettle of fish, that only really exists in "demo world” and does not teach uke how to use said weapon.

The group looks like your bog standard homogenised karate club - there was nothing that stood out to me that said that it was Wado. Just because someone wears a badge with a dove on it – doesn’t make it Wado.

And... to an extent, that’s the trouble with Wado... the “omote” seems easy, but the “ura” is very hard to see without a decent instructor.

But then again - I am fussy

Gary

 

That's just hand positions isn't it?

Gary

 

From their website:

"Once a student reaches a high level we introduce to them other styles of karate + other martial arts including ju-jitsu, kung-fu and traditional weapons ( nun-chuku, bo-staff, jo-staff, tan-jo kubatan, tonfa, sai, bok-ken, tanto, wagasashi katana)."

So it looks as though they tack on other stuff onto their Wado syllabus. How purely Wado the core syllabus is I wouldn't like to say - I don't think the website really gives enough away to make any real hint of a judgement on that.

As for what constitutes Wado and what doesn't, well that's a matter for debate. All I can say is most Wado today is observably different from the Wado I did in the 1970s.

It doesn't look like my cup of tea but nor does it appear unrepresentative of mainstream karate in the UK.

Mike

 

I wouldn't mind betting that the Wado we do in our group isn't particularly different.

Wado hasn't changed. The way some people teach it may have - and if they want to include other stuff that’s down to them, but a junzuki is still a junzuki.

They appear to be an independent Wado group that sit outside the three main recognised Wado organisations. Whist that in itself isn't a red flag by any stretch, you have a far greater chance of learning correct Wado if you train with a group that is part of either the WIKF, Wado-ryu Renmei or JKF Wado-kai.

And as for weapon work - They can’t even spell “wakizashi” correctly!! - Now to me, that is a major red flag, particularly when it comes to playing with swords.

Gary

 

And "Kubotan"

 

Not that I have any agenda in defending these guys as I quite simply have no idea how good they are, but my teacher regularly mangles Japanese terminology and he's bloody good at karate - the two don't necessarily correlate.

 

I appreciate that being able to "do" is far more important than terminology, however when it comes to working with weapons like the sword - which is so heavily intertwined with Japanese culture - it demonstrates a certain degree of ignorance imo.

I doubt there would be many serious Iaido / Kenjutsu practitioners who would not notice the error and as a result not raise an eyebrow at it.

A serious Wado practitioner will tell you that there is so much to learn in Wado - a lifetime is not enough. The webpage seems to imply that when a student gets to a certain level in Wado they augment their training with additional stuff (like weapons training). The truth is, you don't need to, but if the instructors don't have a deep enough understanding (in terms of what makes Wado work) then they will look for answers elsewhere in an attempt to join up the dots.

IMO opinion, that’s why you see so many "Wado-based" sport karate clubs, which is what I would suggest this club is.

That’s not to say they are bad btw.

Gary

 

Fair point. Perhaps I should have said 'A lot of people call what they do Wado, but its quite different from what I learned as Wado in the 1970s'.

When, for example, you see the traditional gyakuzuki being binned and only a sport version practised I find it difficult to see it as still being Wado.

To play devils' advocate, its possible that that's more to do with the web-designer than the instructor(s).

Mike