Wado-specific Digest.
If Wado is your thing.
A bonus post listing articles for students of Wado karate.
With 147 articles published on this Substack project since August 2022 it’s easy for stuff to drop down the list. So, what I thought I would do is to identify the Wado-specific pieces for Wado stylists to go through at their leisure.
Free articles with full access.
1. A basic rule of Wado - Do not use more energy than you need to do the job. https://budojourneyman.substack.com/p/a-basic-rule-of-wado-do-not-use-more
2. Blocking in Wado Karate. How blocking really works, and what is meant by ‘blocking’.
https://budojourneyman.substack.com/p/blocking-in-wado-karate
3. The Karate concept of Meotote/Meotode. The idea and how it might apply to Wado.
https://budojourneyman.substack.com/p/the-karate-concept-of-meototemeotode
4. Venn Diagrams. A group of diagrams speculating on the true compositional makeup of Wado karate.
https://budojourneyman.substack.com/p/venn-diagrams
5. The Lindy Effect, as applied to Wado karate. Speculations on how a system like Wado has survived and might continue to survive.
https://budojourneyman.substack.com/p/the-lindy-effect-as-applied-to-wado
6. Paired kata in Japanese Martial Arts. One of the biggest misunderstandings of how things work in Wado karate.
https://budojourneyman.substack.com/p/paired-kata-in-japanese-martial-arts
7. Light and Quick. Modes of delivery in Wado karate.
https://budojourneyman.substack.com/p/light-and-quick
Support notes (also Wado-specific and free!).
These were sets of notes published shortly after my teaching courses. Intended to give extra info plus reminders for those who attended, but also written in a way to refer to Wado-specific issues for the general Wado practitioner to dip into.
1. From November 2023 a course in the Netherlands.
https://budojourneyman.substack.com/p/support-notes-from-the-recent-weekend
2. From March 2023 a course in the Netherlands.
https://budojourneyman.substack.com/p/support-notes-further-aspects-of
3. From March 2024 my course in the Netherlands.
https://budojourneyman.substack.com/p/support-notes-netherlands-course
4. Aspects of Wado karate – support notes, Netherlands course, November 2022.
https://budojourneyman.substack.com/p/aspects-of-wado-karate-support-notes
The larger studies.
The longer, more in-depth pieces that have become quite a significant body of work over two years. These are available as either a short taster section, truncated by a paywall. Or; if people want to read the full article and all other previous articles in their entirety; become a paid subscriber.
These include:
· Otsuka Hironori, his development and influences (in 2 parts). This is a bringing together of available information and anecdotes to present a speculative biography of the great master. Link to part 1:
https://budojourneyman.substack.com/p/otsuka-hironori-his-development-and
· Otsuka Hironori’s martial arts evolution (in 6 parts). A lengthy and detailed piecing together of the many aspects of Otsuka Sensei as a developing martial artist and speculation on the foundation of Wado. Link to part 1:
https://budojourneyman.substack.com/p/otsuka-hironoris-martial-arts-evolution
· Karate Kata from the Wado Perspective (in 2 parts). A personal take on the pedagogy of Wado kata and the ‘aesthetic myth’. Link to part 1:
https://budojourneyman.substack.com/p/karate-kata-from-the-wado-perspective
· Sword Defence – Are we missing the point? I know that for some this piece somewhat upsets their applecart, but the Wado sword defence paired kata may not be what you think. Link:
https://budojourneyman.substack.com/p/sword-defence-are-we-missing-the
· ‘Karate, and alternative story’. (currently in 19 chapters). I have been encouraged to publish these because (much to my surprise) people are actually interested in what the early versions of Wado karate in the UK were actually like. It is an autobiographical adventure which I have had a lot of fun writing about (spanning 1974 up to the early 1990’s…so far). Here is a link to Chapter 1:
https://budojourneyman.substack.com/p/chapter-1-karate-an-alternative-story
Coming up, another longer piece, setting out the development of the Wado curriculum from when it arrived in the west in the 1960’s.
Watch this space.
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