Otsuka Hironori, his development and influences, Part 1.
Founder of Wado karate, a new take on a rich and eventful life.
Part 1:
Background.
Modernism.
Family.
Japanese medicine at the end of the 19th century.
The beginnings of a medical connections and related areas of interest.
Mentors and influencers.
Bank clerk.
Finding his direction.
Introduction.
There have been very few attempts to tell the wider story about the background and foundation of Wado Ryu karate; although I would recommend Ben Pollock’s excellent book, ‘Karate Wadoryu – From Japan to the West’, which is now in its second expanded edition. Also, the Threadgill/Ohgami book on Shindo Yoshin Ryu.
But, for decades stories and anecdotes about the founder Otsuka Hironori (1892 – 1982) have been drifting around unverified, uncredited, some of which are to be taken with a large pinch of salt.
I am not going to attempt this subject with the same kind of scholarly rigour that Ben has; instead, I am going to try to weave around the themes and try to supply context in a way that is suitable for non-Japanese martial artists to understand.
I realise of course that this is a risky enterprise as I am going to have to embrace the two deadly enemies of scholarly endeavour; namely, conjecture and guesswork, and as such I am bound to get things wrong.
My sources will be; published accounts, interviews and snippets I have picked up second or third hand (always perilous), as well as material that I know no longer exists on the Internet, but nevertheless came from reputable sources.
Why the reference to a medical connection?
This is as good a place as any to start trying to understand the complexities associated with the life and developments of Otsuka Hironori.
But to supply some background.
In character and inclination, he was a martial artist first and foremost. There is no indication that he was an aesthete or inclined to artistic endeavours, as some famous martial artists were. For example, it is clear that he had little time for Zen or calligraphy (I have only seen a very small number of his calligraphic pieces). Zen would hardly be much of a thing for him, as he clearly stated, his family orientation was more towards Shinto.
However, he didn’t overtly tie himself to religions or doctrines; although his writing activities suggested that his general spiritual worldview was not without deep thought and a philosophical underpinning, but it wasn’t something he would necessarily climb on a soapbox for; he didn’t need to.
There is one thread that is worth following with Otsuka Sensei and it is the element that goes all the way back into his childhood; a strand or tradition that is associated with medicine/treatment and the theme of the human body, with all its strengths and fragilities.
Origins story - The setting.
What’s needed here is a little context.
There are some amazing stories about Japanese martial arts icons and warriors, going way back; rags to riches, zeros to heroes, heartbreaking backstories, triumphs against adversities.
With Otsuka Hironori, his origins could hardly have been more comfortable or benign.
Born Otsuka Kuo in June 1892 (‘Hironori’ was a name he adopted later, variously explained as a kind of nickname or a martial arts ‘title’ of sorts). He was one of the four children of doctor Otsuka Tokujiro. This was in Shimodate City, Ibaraki Prefecture, about 95km northeast of Tokyo. Incidentally, Shimodate doesn’t really exist today, as it was merged with the city of Chikusei in 2005; all part of the vast spread of urbanisation emanating outwards from Tokyo.
Parental and family influence.
The stable origins of the Otsuka family came from Tokujiro’s secure position in society as a medical doctor with a specialism in paediatrics; one source suggests that he was a graduate of Jikei University. The likelihood is that it was a little more complex than that because in the 1880’s and 90’s in Japan there was an explosion in medical development. With new bodies, boards and high-level educational facilities springing up all the time; it was a time of flux and innovation. In those developmental years Japanese doctors and researchers made a number of major medical breakthroughs, (including the identification of the bubonic plague bacillus).
At that time the Japanese were on a fast-moving conveyor belt to expansion and development in the Western style. In medicine they adopted methods developed in England and Germany, although the German methods were a stark contrast to the English way of doing things; treating patients more as objects for research rather than human beings; or so it looked to the Japanese. Japanese doctors were happy to travel to England to update their knowledge on the English methods of medical treatment, which was very much patient-based.
I mention this because I think that when we speculate on Tokujiro being a 19th century Japanese ‘physician’ we might be inclined to assume that we are referring to the older forms of folk medicine e.g. acupuncture, herbal medicine, massage, etc. No, Tokujiro was on a fast-track to modernisation and western ways. I would speculate that this was a long way removed from traditionalism, it was revolutionary, dare I say it, iconoclastic.
If Tokujiro was to have any influence on his son I would suspect that this kind of progressive thinking was vicariously, unconsciously encouraged (wild guesswork on my part).
Although, that part of Otsuka Hironori’s character has always interested me; how was it that later in life he was able to navigate his way through the traditional shoals and immovable breakwaters of the martial arts traditional establishment in such a cavalier fashion? He must have butted heads, rubbed people up the wrong way and created frictions, and still be able to win through. What was it that empowered him in such a way? Certainly, in official and unofficial sources it is clear that clashes occurred, often explained away as ‘misunderstandings’. Maybe, if he knew the phrase, he would have said, ‘you don’t make an omelette without breaking eggs’.?
Mentors and influences.