Wado/Ryu

What is Wado-Ryu?

Wado-Ryu Karate is a Japanese martial art founded by Grand Master Hironori Ohtsuka in 1934. Ohtsuka Sensei developed Wado-Ryu after studying the Samurai martial art of Jiu-jitsu, and Shotokan (another style of Karate). This combination, according to Ohstuka Sensei, is a softer, more natural means of self-protection.
The full name of the style is Wado-Ryu Karate-Do. The term Wado-Ryu means “way of peace” or “way of harmony”, indicating Ohtsuka Sensei’s original intention to use training in Wado-Ryu as a means of solving problems in a non-violent way. Karate-Do means “way of the empty hand”, as Karate is, for the most part, studied without the use of weapons.

“Think not of martial arts as combat alone; it is also the study of peace and the way of harmony” – Hironori Ohtsuka