View the Kenshin Do Karate Wadokai Grading Syllabus (Click Below)
| Wado Ryu Karate The style of karate taught at Kenshindoryu clubs is called Wado Ryu. Wado Ryu Karate is a combination of Okinawan karate and Japanese classical bujutsu (in particular Shindo Yoshin Ryu Jujitsu). It was invented by a jujitsu master, Otsuka Hironori, who was impressed by the power of a demonstration of Okinawan karate by the founder of the Shotokan style, Funakoshi Gichin, but thought that much of its movements and striking were inefficient. As a style, Wado Ryu is 'lighter' than the Shotokan of Funakoshi incorporating movement and thinking from jujitsu and kenjutsu. From Okinawan karate come the striking techniques, and from jujitsu and kenjutsu the use of body-movement and joint-locks, pins and throws. Master Otsuka viewed the hardness of other styles of karate as an uneconomical use of energy, so 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. The karate section of the honbu dojo was the first to be established, back in 1988, although Sensei Dart had been running his own clubs since 1983 within other organisations and in 1998 the Kenshindo Karate Wadokai was accepted into membership of the Wadokai England Karatedo Federation, affiliated to the Japan Karate Federation (Wadokai), Sensei Dart subsequently being appointed as General Secretary of the Federation in 1999-2000. Membership lapsed in January 2009 as a result of Wadokai England's change of focus to solely competition karate. The Kenshindo syllabus was originally based on the old UKKW grading requirements, but various minor changes have taken place over the years, with regard to pair techniques and kata performance, resulting in the current syllabus, which reflects the influence of Shinohara Sensei, from the British Wadoryu Karatedo Shikukai and Sakagami Sensei of Wadokai England Karatedo Federation. Kata application has a major emphasis within Kenshin Do Ryu clubs, and students will be provided with effective applications for all kata in the syllabus, including the ‘hidden’ throwing elements of kata, and vital and pressure-point applications. In keeping with the close-range nature of Wadoryu in Kenshindoryu clubs, these applications tend towards grappling and close-quarter striking techniques. Wadoryu was originally formulated by a Jujitsu master and the Kenshin Do Karate Wado Kai syllabus includes certain traditional Jujitsu skills, not normally covered in karate classes, such as Kumikata (forms of gripping) and Ukemiwaza (breakfalls) to make the karateka more comfortable with a variety of distances and techniques, in addition to giving the skills required to deal with throws in kata, or competition. | ||||||
