Blocking in Wado Karate.

A technical post: How blocking really works and just what is meant by ‘blocking’?

In the past I have enjoyed casually dropping into conversation, “There is no blocking in Wado karate”. Pure mischief of course; just throw a pebble in the pond and watch the ripples spread.

Naturally, it’s not as simple as that; you can’t take it literally.

I think everybody knows it comes out of the idea that you do not ‘take’ another person’s energy when you engage in blocking. If your opponent is larger or more powerful than you, you’ll be overwhelmed; it’s too much of a load to take on.

‘Uke’ exists as a concept and a reality, but be careful how you engage with it.

Wado Ryu’s second grandmaster was keen to differentiate between a flowing block and a block that clashes with the opponent. To him, a clashing block was way down the evolutionary scale, while a flowing block, one that blended with and glided along an opponent’s energy vector was a much more sophisticated approach.

As is typical of all things Wado, it isn’t as simple as all that. Engagement with an opponents energy is always multi-dimensional, the contributory factors involve things like timing and distance and where and when you choose to connect to the opponent’s attack.

This very useful twelve-minute YouTube video describing the difference between Nagasu (flowing/’blocking’) strategies in swordwork, as employed in Gendai (modern) Budo – Aikido and Koryu (Old School) Bujutsu – Katori Shinto Ryu, is a good discussion point. Personally, I can see very close connections in the Koryu interpretations, that mesh comfortably with Wado’s open-handed approach; more so than within the Aikido method.

This same mode of thinking in Wado is not necessarily apparent to the casual observer, but it’s there.

In the normal syllabus presentation of techniques, particularly the paired kata, there are lots of subtle things happening; often techniques are either hidden or implied. They are sometimes in the form of Atemi (targeted strikes), or perhaps strategies related to Kuzushi (destabilising), or even techniques designed to elicit a reaction from the opponent. And, as with Katori Shinto Ryu, techniques can happen on the way to delivering another technique – these can be easily missed. The second Wado Ryu grandmaster sometimes gave away other implications which involved the use of weapons.

Within Wado, in the paired kata, these prearranged techniques involving various types of blocks and redirections reveal another aspect worth noting; observe how the blocking/deflecting action goes beyond just dealing with an incoming strike; often it creates openings or pathways to give access to either a weak line or a vulnerable spot.

One of my ‘go-to’ examples which reveals the cleverness of the first grandmaster’s ideas on blocking, redirecting and manipulating yourself into a position of safety, while accessing an opponent’s weak spot, is found in the last four moves of the kata Pinan Nidan. Each move is executed in a single beat, the individual spear-hand strikes are not broken into parts, they are smooth and effortless with the minimum of friction and certainly no clash of forces. Here we are using rifling, involving a spiral around a single secure and unwavering axis.

Clashes and attachment.

To my thinking and based upon my experiences, the most tricky blocking techniques in the Wado syllabus is the Jodan Uke (Jodan Nagashi Uke), note that it is not an ‘Age Uke’ (rising block), as found in other karate styles, it is a deflection operating like a wedge.

There are so many ways of doing this wrong (although I am always wary of saying something is ‘wrong’, probably better to say ‘inefficient’). Firstly, some students (and instructors) often fail to realise that the initial point of contact with the opponent’s arm happens much earlier than they thought, and to make matters worse, focus instead on the terminal point, i.e. somewhere way over their head. This leads to another problem, one that is not only inefficient but potentially dangerous, and that is ‘attachment’; the moment when the vision narrows and the mind gets momentarily stuck. The same malaise is pointed out by teachers of Japanese swordsmanship, where it is considered an illness. This freezing of the moment creates an opening for your opponent to turn the tables on you, and then cut you down.

It is possible to hold a position and not allow it to become a fixation; but if you are holding this position you have to ask yourself why are you doing it? If you are holding it and are still in physical contact with your opponent, you may be giving him so much information that he could use it against you.

Over-blocking and Under-blocking.

Another problem is the tendency to badly calibrate your blocking.

With over-blocking there can be so much effort put into the block that you overshoot and end up so far outside of your working zone that you struggle to recover; thus creating a window of opportunity for your opponent. Also, this often causes the opponent’s limb to fly off into space; you might cause a disturbance, but maybe at too high a cost; losing access to the one thing that might come back at you… imagine if it was a knife.

Under-blocking is, by definition, something to avoid. I think that often in Wado, we try to shave our minimalistic movement down to a hair’s breadth; if you miscalculate that, it might be more than a case of being marginally clipped, it could be fatal.

What I really like about Wado karate is that the act of blocking with an arm or hand is always just one of a set of contributory pieces when it comes down to protecting yourself from an incoming attack. Relying on the hand/arm alone is a sure sign that in Wado you have got it wrong. It should be part of an all-body orchestrated manoeuvre.

Most Wado people know that in some cases this involves three specific parts/manoeuvres which must be applied in a single beat. The first being that you fractionally change your position relative to your opponent; the second, that you utilise the flexing, rotating muscles of your torso to again change the dynamic – in the most extreme example you can become ‘the human revolving door’, and the remaining responsibility is picked up by your limb (the blocking bit).

Conclusion.

Blocking in Wado is a complicated issue, one that is best explained in a Dojo situation, with concrete examples. In a short blog post it is only possible to scratch the surface. Questions about blocking in Wado sometimes have to be addressed by questioning the question; as in, ‘when you say ‘blocking’ what exactly do you mean?’