EKW Update Course December Page 1

Technical Update Course

Saturday 14th December and Sunday 15th December 2013

Course Report

The England Karate-Do Wado-Kai recently held a Technical Update Course

based upon the first 9 kata of the Wado Ryu system developed by the

founder of Wado Ryu Hironori Otsuka.

The purpose of this course was to demonstrate and teach recent technical

updates to these nine kata that have come to light over the past few years,

to allow clubs time during the early part of next year to practice and embed

these updates into the Club training and to become part of all future EKW

Kyu and Dan gradings.

It was very important for all senior club coaches and representatives from

every club attended the course so that all EKW students can be kept up to

date with developments within the Association and improve their overall

Wado Ryu technique.

The course was open to all 3rd Kyu and above and was hosted by the Chief

Instructor Dave Swalwell 6th Dan and the Chief Coaching Officer John

Stephenson 6th Dan.

Saturday 14th December 2013

Saturday was dedicated to the 5 Pinan kata and four hours was set aside to complete the updates, for all participants to ask question and clarify any

areas of uncertainty.

The course consisted of firstly a comprehensive PowerPoint presentation on

the history background and underlying principles of what as to be shown

based on the books of Hironori.

Pinan Nidan was the first kata looked at and focused on the type of energy

“chikara” and entering movements “irimi” taught in the kata. John

Stephenson went through the important updates that included the arm

positioning for the 1st and 4th movements, the straight movement back of the

leg on movement 3 and the importance of continuous movement “renzoku shintai” on the last four movements, especially on movement 18.

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There was also a discussion on the difference between a Wado Ryu Jodan

Uke and a Karate-Do Jodan Uke. The rationale for this was Otsuka Sensei’s

need to differentiate his school of karate-do from the founders of the other 3

Traditional Japanese styles of Shotokan Ryu, Shito Ryu and Goju Ryu.

After a short period of practice and reflection the course moved onto Pinan

Shodan. The main principle in Pinan Shodan that the course participants

needed to understand was that of the double moment. Extra time was spent

going through the first 3 movements, explaining the hip movement as well

as the path of the arm movements.

Elements important to differentiate this Wado Ryu kata from the other karate

styles was emphasised including the vertical arm on moves 2 and 5, the arm

drop on movement 7, the double moment on the shuto uke sequence, the

arms drops on movements 17, 20 and 23.

Pinan Sandan covered its principle of the single moment together with the

importance of crossing the arms in the morote uke sequences at the start if

the kata. Other updates included the use of the body in movement 9 and the

difference between shuto hand and nukite hand. Sensei Brady mentioned

about “loading” the arms in the ude uke sequence that was confirmed by

Otsuka sensei’s movement. There was also a discussion on the correct width

of the last 2 stances and how this stance width linked with other kata.

Pinan Yondan was covered next including the use of all 3 “back” stances

(mahanmi, hanmi and mashomen neko ashi dachi). It was stressed that

Pinan Yondan kata included these 3 neko ashi stances as well as combining

the double, single moment principles and energy “chikara” transfer principles

from previous pinan.

Important details about the arm movement between movement 1 and 2

were discussed and the top arm angle from Pinan Shodan and Pinan Yondan.

Time was spent looking at the “koshi kamae” of Pinan Yondan, Pinan Godan

and Naihanchi which is another differentiating feature of Wado Ryu. The

course then moved onto Wado yoko maegeri and the importance of the

Wado empi as a differentiation between other styles of karate-do.

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The course was shown photographs and text from 1967, as the earliest

source of Wado Ryu, via Sensei Tatsuo Suzuki, that showed these exact

Wado empi details. The last part of Pinan Yondan looked at the closeness of

the last 2 arm movements, i.e. “little distance” and the traditional nature of the heel-toe movement of the last technique.

The final 45 minutes of the first day looked at Pinan Godan. The first and

second stance was shown to be the same as the first stance of Pinan

Sandan; as well as the different koshi kamae from pinan Yondan. The

inclusion of “hanmi neko ashi dachi” from Pinan Yondan was emphasised as

well as the jodan uke nature of movement number 7 “jodan juji uke” to

differentiate it from a Shotokan Ryu type movement.

The course then saw that there was no soto uke type technique in movement

11 as this is a gedan barai to the rear only. A video and still photograph were

shown to the course that this is the case and time was spent practicing the

correct movement. The last part of the update looked at the jump onto the

balls of both feet; and the double moment on the morote uke from Pinan

shodan as well.

The first day concluded with a warm down, recap by the Chief Coaching

Officer and informal question and answer session.

Saturday 14th December 2013

The Sunday started with a full recap of the previous days 5 Pinan Kata

updates so that everyone knew, understood and practiced the correct Wado

Ryu movements. It was obvious that everyone had learned, understood and

had perhaps in secret practiced the new updates, which was very pleasing to

see.

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Naihanchi kata was practiced next. The course was shown the correct way to

make the Naihanchi Dachi, as Wado Ryu Naihanchi dachi is unique. Technical

updates included the straight arm nature of the first movement linked that of

the first move of Pinan Nidan.

A discussion took place about the importance of having correct technique

throughout the kata that is not restricted by the stance. Naihanchi kata is all

single movements as taught by both Hironori Otsuka and Tatsuo Suzuki

described by the Chief Instructor and the Chief Coaching Officer who both

have extensive knowledge of this.

Other important facts shown and discussed were the Naihanchi koshi gamae compared with Pinan Yondan and Godan; together with the 45 punch, the

correct way to execute “namae gaeshi”, the position and height of the

morote zuki at both ends of the kata. The Chief Instructor and the Chief

Coaching Officer then gave a joint demonstration of the Naihanchi kata.

After a short practice session the course moved onto the Kushanku kata.

Everyone saw that Kushanku dated back to 1756, and despite many versions, Kanku Dai, Oydamari Kusanku and Chatanyara Kusanku, the core

movements and patterns of all versions are relatively similar.

The Yoi distance between the feet of Kushanku was shown to be the same as

that of the last 2 movements of Pinan Sandan and that Wado yoi hand

position is not that of Shotokan yoi.

Other updates to Kushanku kata were the heiko dachi in movements 7 and 9

was the same stances the opening to Chinto kata; the central nature of the

Tenohara uke techniques, differentiation between JKF types of stances with

Otsuka Sensei stance and the nature of keeping the arms in on the teisho,

tetsui and hiza geri techniques.

The course saw the link with Pinan Shodan, Pinan Godan techniques and on

the last movement where the feet should not move.

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The course then moved onto Seishan kata. The importance of the opening

kamae was shown from Otsuka Sensei video and still photograph. This was

new to some of the course and time was set aside to specifically practice this update.

Perhaps the biggest update of the course was the hitosashi ippon ken

sequences were the hands should be apart and not touching as shown by the

founder (below).

The course then looked at kiai points in the original Seishan kata from

Hironori Otsuka and found that there is only one kiai point, originally, on the

last gyakuzuki. The importance of an age uraken uchi was emphasised

together with how to move the body in the Chidori ashi and yoko maegeri

sequences. Another joint demonstration of the Seishan kata was given by the Chief Instructor and the Chief Coaching Officer.

The last kata of the course was the Chinto kata. It was emphasised that

Wado Ryu Chinto has its own unique stance called naname heiko dachi

together with the correct hand positions as shown below.

The course then looked at the link in Pinan Godan movement 10 and Chinto

movement 5 and the differentiation between the Shotokan Ryu and Wado

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Ryu tetsui uchi and gedan shuto barai sequence. The “loading” of the elbow

found in Pinan Sandan was also found in the Chinto kata sequence.

The course then looked at the sagiashi dachi sequence were the foot is not locked behind the knee (as in Shotokan Ryu), but “touches the calf lightly”

(Otsuka Sensei).

An important technical update was emphasised next by the Chief Coaching

Officer.

The first manji gamae is gedan (below the belt) and the second sequence is

chudan (above the belt below the shoulder) as shown below.

The course then saw the link between all previous Wado Ryu empi in Pinan

kata emphasised and that in Chinto kata where the thumb is uppermost.

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Another update came about as to the position of the hands prior to the rising

back fist strike, maegeri and junzuki section. Otsuka sensei clearly shows the

left hand palm forward with fingers pointing to the floor with the right fist

with knuckles facing the floor as shown below.

It was accepted by everyone that this was not how we all were shown this

position originally, but our technical knowledge has significantly improved since that time.

Both the Chief Instructor and Chief Coaching Officer have committed

themselves to both foster and develop Wado Ryu along traditional lines

within the EKW and have made themselves available to any club, instructor

or student that wishes them to attend a training session with them to show,

embed and develop Wado Ryu Karate Do in each person.

EKW Kata Guides

The EKW Guides to the Pinan Kata, Naihanchi and Kushanku Kata; and the

Seishan and Chinto kata can be downloaded from the EKW website

(www.ekw.org) in the “Downloads” section. Simply right click the Guide you want, and then click “Save target as..”. Then save the PDF document the

relevant drive on your computer.