36 Kumite Gatas Of Wado-ryu

TIMO KLEMOLA 36 KUMITE GATAS OF WADO-RYU TIMO KLEMOLA 36 KUMITE GATAS OF WADO-RYU Timo Klemola’s other books: Taidon filosofia - filosofin taito. Zen-karate. Taiji, hiljaisuutta liikkeessä, liikettä hiljaisuudessa. Budo-kirja. Kirjoituksia urheilusta, zenistä ja kamppailutaidosta. Ruumis liikkuu - liikkuuko henki? Liikunta tienä kohti varsinaista itseä. Asahi Health - terveysliikuntaa kaikille Publisher: Finevision, Finland www.visioi.net [email protected] Photos: Timo Klemola Models: Petri Myllyniemi ja Timo Klemola Cover design and layout: Timo Klemola Copyright © Timo Klemola 2010 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Finevision, Kangasala, Finland www.visioi.net INTRODUCTION W ado-ryu is one of the biggest karate-styles in the world but only a few books have been written about it. These books can be counted with the fingers of one hand, but why is that? Wado-ryu is not a typical karate-style. In Japan it is called Wado-ryu Jujutsu Kempo. Even the word “karate” does not exist in this phrase. Wado is classified in Japan as belonging to so called old budo, koryu-budo. Wadoryu is part of the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai, the association of koryu-budo. In Japanese koryu-budo there still exists a kind of veil of secrecy. There are styles that protect their ways of practise so that lower belts are not allowed even to see the practise sessions of black belts. This is far from books or videos being published about these arts It has always been typical to koryu-budo that their curriculums have not been open. They are opened to the practitioner at the same pace as advancing from one level to another. The last techniques (okuden), the most advanced principles, are kept in the family circles or are revealed only to the most advanced students. Wado-ryu karate is part of this tradition. Kumite gata is a paired exercise that the founder of the style, Hironori Ohtsuka, developed already in the 1920’s. There are 36 of them, three series of 12 katas. They include the most essential elements and techniques of the Wado-style. In his Wado style Ohtsuka combined Japanese Shindo Yoshin ryu jujutsu with Okinawan karate and created a unique Japanese karate style rooted deeply in old bujutsu schools. In the West, kumite gatas have been taught only casually. Part of the system is taught in Wado-ryu Karate-do Organisation lead by Jiro Ohtsuka, the son of the founder. You can find ten kumite gatas in their curriculum. These ten katas are no more than a random collection of the original 36 katas where all the principles of Wado are systematically practised. In this shortened version of the kumite katas the levels of timing are mixed and the highest level, sente, is not introduced at all. During the last twenty years karate has changed totally from the karate we knew, for example, in the 1970’s, when I myself started to train. Especially many Western teachers began to research the historical roots of karate and thereby the knowledge about the applications (bunkai) of different katas began to spread among karate practitioners all around the world. We know now that karate has radically changed in its way from China to Okinawa, from Okinawa to Japan, and from Japan to the West. Always some things were dropped and something else was added. Karate