Customer Reviews

Essentials of Wado-Ryu Karate

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It appears the author was given the 5th dan and then broke out of his organization (Wado Kai?)to form his own subsystem. Therefore this is probably not Wado Ryu Karate as you have seen it before (it wasn't to me). With due respect to expressions of individualism, please mark the book so readers will know. All in all it smells of premature Su-ha-ri.

The quality of the photos and text is not bad, but the book feels static.

I was fairly disappointed in this book. I was expecting a basic instructional book on Wado-Ryu Karate. The book does a good job of explaining some of the historical development of the Wado Ryu style. However, the title of the book is somewhat misleading. The style that the author teaches is not Wado-Ryu, but rather is Washinkai, which is based on Wado-Ryu.
The Pinan katas emphasized in the book are not the Wado-Ryu versions. The author acknowledges that Master Ohtsuka adapted the Pinan katas developed by Anko Itosu into the Pinan katas taught in Wado-Ryu. However, the author then emphasizes the original Okinawan forms developed by Itosu. While this may be interesting in understanding the historical development of Wado-Ryu, it is of little practical value to students looking for Wado-Ryu instruction. The actual Wado-Ryu versions of these katas are basically left to an appendix.
If you are a beginning to intermediate student looking to supplement your instruction in Wado-Ryu, then save your money and don't buy this book -- it will only confuse you. Trying to figure out which parts of the book coincide with the teaching of Wado-Ryu and which are peculiar to Washinkai will only serve to muddy the water. If you are an advanced student interested in exploring the history and development of Wado-Ryu, then this book may be useful.

the book was very esay to follow except that the most used or recpgnized froms were split between the front and the back of the book. Otsuka's forms should have been shown first in their entirerty

I have been involved in martial arts since 1971.

I have a copy of the author's 1988 UK edition of "Essentials ..." (which has the same ISBN:0901764965). I was a novice to Wado Ryu/Kai and I found this book to be a useful reference. It was easy to follow, good photography, etc.

The author had achieved 5th Dan when he wrote the UK edition and I understand his background to be impeccable (noting that the Wado style is very strong in UK).

While visiting the US a few years ago, I bought another book written by the same author - "Kata and Kumite for Karate". Again I found this book a useful reference and written to a high standard.

Dishonest- Thompson states the pinan katas he's using are close to the original ones practised by Master Itosu. Anyone who knows a little bit about what the Okinawan pinans look like, will tell you this is false. Thompson still uses the Wado versions of pinan shodan, yondan and godan but his versions of pinan nidan and sandan resemble shotokan moves.

Inadequate- For example, how he describes the cat stance. In the book he states the weight distribution should be 60% back leg but the picture shows Thompson doing a different type of cat stance. In Wado, there's side-viewing cat stance and normal cat stance, but the reader would never know that because the book doesn't state the difference.

Written by one of the original karate practioners in England.

Chris Thompson was a student of Tatsuo Suzuki and even met Hironori Ohtsuka, the founder of Wado ryu on several occasions. Both Suzuki and Ohtsuka encouraged Chris Thompson to further develop karate saying, "If it doesn't work, don't use it".

It was Gichin Funakoshi, "the father of modern karate" and teacher of Hironori Ohtsuka, who altered Anko Itosu's Pinans to Heians.

Hironori Ohtsuka's Pinans were adjusted by Kenwa Mabuni, inheritor of Anko Itosu & known as the library of kata.

In this book the author states that he has researched kata with many different masters and styles in an attempt to bring the Pinans as close as possible to the Pinans of Itosu. I have seen the kata performed by several Okinawan 10th Dans and they are very similar indeed (given their advanced years).

I don't know who the reviewers are, but the author is an internationally known and respected 7th Dan and also Technical Director of English Karate so I guess he knows what he is talking about.

Having trained under Chris Thompson, I can say that the book is an accurate portrayal of good traditional wado ryu Karate. Washinkia karate is almost 100% wado ryu.