Wadōkai

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Wado kai (和道会 Wadō kai?) is the name of the organization within the Japan Karate Federation (JKF) which practices the Wadoryu style of karate. According to Ishizuka Akira, a veteran figure in the Japanese karate world, the term "Wado Kai" was in general use as early as the 1940s, but it was only in 1967 that the name was adopted formally. Prior to this the group was known as the "Zen Nihon Karate-do Renmei". With the formation of the Federation of All Japan Karatedo Organization (FAJKO, later changed to JKF) in the mid 60's, it was no longer correct to use this name so Wadokai came into formal use.

Wadokai remained relatively intact as an organisation until around 1980, when a split occurred. The split occurred because the Wadokai board of directors and Ohtsuka had a difference in opinion about monetary expenditures and accessibility to the funds of the organization. Ohtsuka felt it was within his rights to have full use of the Federation funds and one day made a withdrawal that drew the ire of the board of directors. This matter was settled out of court and the terms of the settlement allowed him to keep the money but he had to resign from Wadokai and he also lost all rights to the name and logo of the organization. After he resigned Ohtsuka started a new organization called the Wado Ryu Renmei.

Today, Wadokai has some superb technicians. In Japan these include Arakawa Toru (9th Dan JKF), Hakoishi Katsumi, Takagi Hideho, Ashihara Mizuro, Maeda Toshiaki, Murase Hisao and Nishimura Seiji to name a few. In Europe instructors Ohgami Shingo (Sweden) and Sakagami Kuniaki (UK) are long term resident instructors for the group.

The term Wadokai can be broken into three parts: Wa, do and kai. Wa can be read to mean 'harmony'. Do is a Japanese term for 'way' (as in karate-do). So Wado means 'the way of harmony'. Kai simply means 'association'.

[edit] History

In 1938 Hironori Ohtsuka registered his style of karate with the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai, originally under the name of "Shinshu Wadoryu Karate-Jujutsu." Not much later this was shortened to Wado-ryu (和道流).

In 1952 a Wadoryu Honbu (headquarters) was established in the Meiji University dojo in Tokyo, Japan.

In 1964 the Japan Karatedo Federation (JKF) was established as a general organization for all karate styles. Wado joins this organization as a major group.

On 5 June 1967, the Wado organization changed the name to Wadokai.

In 1980, as a result of a conflict between Hironori Ohtsuka and the Wadokai organization, Ohtsuka stepped down as head of Wadokai. Eiichi Eriguchi took his place within Wadokai.

On 1 April 1981 Hironori Ohtsuka founded Wadoryu Karatedo Renmei. After only a few months Hironori Otsuka retired as head of this organization. His son Jiro Otsuka took his place. Renmei means 'group' or 'federation.'

On 29 January 1982 Hironori Ohtsuka died. He was 89 years old.

In 1983 Jiro Ohtsuka became Grandmaster of Wado Ryu and changed his name to Hironori Ohtsuka, in honor of his father. He is now often referred to as Hironori Ohtsuka II.

In 1989 Tatsuo Suzuki founded his own organization, the third major Wado organization: Wado Kokusai. Kokusai means 'international.'

[edit] Different Wado names

The full name of Wadokai in English is Japan Karatedo Federation Wadokai. In Japanese it is Zen Nihon Karatedo Renmei Wadokai.

Nowadays the full name of Wadoryu is Wadoryu Karatedo Renmei.

The full name of Wado Kokusai is Wado Kokusai Karatedo Renmei, also known as Wado International Karatedo Federation abbreviated as WIKF.

Strictly speaking Hironori Ohtsuka founded and developed Wado Ryu. The people who trained with him became the Wado group or Wadokai. So today, the style that is trained within Wadokai is Wado Ryu.

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