b. All captions that we place under photos will be:

       1. Japanese instructors: Last name followed by the title Sensei.

       2. Non-Japanese instructors: The title Sensei followed by the last name of the instructor.

by Doug Jepperson

Often times these days when you have two or more karate instructors over the age of fifty in the same room you hear stories about "back in the day," you know what they mean, things were better in the Golden Era of Karate. Our punches were faster, kicks more powerful, the training was beyond any comprehension of today's karate student. We had the first wave of Asian instructors, which made us that much closer to the Holy Grail of martial arts, satori in training. The mere jut of our jaw made lesser men tremble.

But then the Boss, aka Bruce Springsteen had to go and point out the folly of our nostalgic reminiscing about days that never were.

"I had a friend was a big baseball player, Back in high school, He could throw a speedball by you, Make you look like a fool boy, Saw him the other night at his roadside bar, I was walking in, he was walking out, We went back inside and sat down for a few drinks, But all he kept talking about was

Glory Days, well they'll pass you by, Glory Days in the wink of young girls eye, Glory Days, glory days."

Listen to the last lines in the song, "Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture, A little of the glory of, well time slips away, And leaves you with nothing mister but, Boring stories of glory days."

But many of us old dudes did not let the exposure of our false stories of yesteryear deter us. We decided to exceed our instructors and create new and powerful titles to rescue our ego: "Grand Soke, Master of the Elbow of Death." Shihan of the Vibrating Palm or Hanshi Master of the Eight Disciplines.

Any harm in this? Not really unless you start to believe you really do control the universe. My opinion is call yourself anything you like as long as you do not teach like you were taught. Back in the day, we were taught simply working harder made us better. Now even a junior high P.E. teacher knows that we need to train in the correct frequency, intensity and volume.

The problem is that when people say Traditional Karate some of them mean a dogmatic addiction to the past. Some how the ideal of Budo is to ignore science. In spite of these folks addiction to all things past I believe that today is the Golden Age of Karate. We have access to training and information all over the world. We can check out You tube and find any form of martial arts we desire. There are no more secrets.

But I know for some it is blasphemous to suggest a progressive approach to karate training, so instead of writing about karate, to avoid offending everyone I will tell you a story about Pizza. 

March 2012

Over the weekend of 2/3/4 of March 2012, we will be hosting a seminar with Shimura sensei and Katsube sensei, senior students of Toru Arakawa sensei 9th Dan. Both instructors are 7th Dan and hold the 1st Kyu Instructor License issued by JKF Wadokai.

The seminar will be held at the MMU Didsbury Sports Centre, located off Wilmslow Road, Didsbury, South Manchester.

The seminar in 2011, saw students from all over the UK as well as some who travelled from further afield including Germany, Hungary and Ireland. It is a good opportunity to meet Wado karateka from different groups and train together. The emphasis is on technical training so is ideal for anyone hoping to takes Dan grade or the Instructor license tests under JKF Wadokai rules.

Register your interest by sending an email to March 2012 Seminar Registration

 additional info

Wado Journal: Japan Training October 2011

by Ben Pollock

Through October and November of 2011, I stayed in Japan, training in the JKF Wadokai dojo in Tokyo and Kyoto. For the most part this meant training at Arakawa sensei's dojo and Takagi sensei's dojo with the other days spent at various local dojo and seminars.

The first of these was Koyama sensei's private dojo which forms the ground floor of his house in Kita Kamakura (not far from the Engakuji temple - a favourite haunt for photo hungry Shotokan karateka wanting their picture next to Funakoshi Gichin's memorial).

Koyama sensei is an 8th Dan and student of Arakawa sensei, originally at the Waseda University club. He is Katsube sensei's senior by five years. After having two back operations he's not as fast as he was but he still has nice movement and gives lots of helpful advice.

To read the rest of this journal: link