Wadō-Ryū Karate-Dō

Founded in 1938 by Hironori Ōtsuka (1892-1982), Wadō-Ryū is one of the four major Karate-Dō styles in the world today.

Ōtsuka Sensei began his Martial Arts career with years of study in the art of Shindō Yōshin Ryū prior to beginning his study of Okinawan Karate-Dō. While Wadō-Ryū appears to be solely a Karate-Dō school, it is a unique hybrid of Okinawan Karate-Dō and Koryū Jūjutsu ephasizing the classical principles of an art derived from an art established in 1864.

In comparison to what many have seen inherent in the other Karate-Dō schools, Wadō-Ryū places the majority of its underlying principles on the concepts of Tai-Sabaki "body management". Focusing on speed and evasion, we rely heavily on the deep underlying principles from Shindō Yōshin Ryū to form our methodologies of not only "how" we move, but "why" we move the way we do.