Kata Guide

It is said that kata is our ‘Book of Knowledge‘; that the deepest secrets of karate’s mental, physical and spiritual awareness can be found within its ‘pages’ of movements. In exploring our book — the kata of Wado Ryu — we believe that our key to our understanding lies not only in what we learn today, but what we must also learn from yesterday.

Each of the sections below have been designed to provide both the seasoned karateka, and new student with valuable insight into kata; it’s history and importance in karate. We encourage you to explore…and perhaps open a new page in your own Book of Knowledge!

Wado Ryu – The Nine Primary Kata

Although many schools affiliated with both our own Federation, and the International Federation, actively practice many different kata within their programs, it is vitally important to remember that Ohtsuka Sensei stressed the importance of, and specifically defined only nine (9) of the originally sanctioned Butokukai kata (in addition to Ohtsuka Sensei’s own Kihon Kumite Kata) as being formally recognized within the Wado Ryu style of karate. He regarded all others as ‘secondary’. It is for that reason that our kata syllabus prioritizes those nine kata, and emphasizes the following order in which they should be taught:

Wado Ryu – Kihon Kumite Kata

Following Ohtsuka Sensei’s formal establishment of Wado Ryu, his greatest contribution to Karatedo may be his development of the Kihon Kumite Katas. Wholly his own, the Kihon Kumite Katas are a purity of synthesis; blending of the fluidity of Shindo Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu and the linear techniques of Okinawan karate, creating a series of formal exercises genuinely unique among all styles of karate. Originally believed to have encompassed 36 separate exercises, practice today is generally limited to 10, with the remaining 26 rarely performed. The ten are:

Wado Ryu Butokukai Kata

While Ohtsuka Sensei did not formally recognize these kata as part of the formal Wado system, the lessons and knowledge each hold cannot be disputed; nor can their importance in the history of classical and traditional karatedo. As with all true forms of kata, each is it’s own valuable book of knowledge, and should be practiced, studied and taught with the utmost concentration and spirit. In order of instruction, they are:

Wado Ryu – China, Okinawa and Kushanku

Other than the seemingly endless discourse and discrepancies on the history of karate itself, perhaps no other subject within the area of martial arts has generated as much historical variance as that of Kata.

Neither Japanese nor Okinawan in origin, the most accurate of historical records tell us that the earliest forms of kata probably originated in India, during or just after the time of the enlightenment of Buddha. As Buddhism spread outside of India, it established its strongest foothold in China, a nation deeply awash in a history of mysticism, spirituality, and — war. While emphasizing unity of all living things, Buddhism’s devotees, acolytes and priests were, nonetheless, not insulated from the internal and external strife and conflict that marked their country’s early history, and as their monasteries and faith came increasingly under attack, defense became a necessity. It was that necessity that gave birth to the now-legendary Warrior Monks of the Shaolin.

It is now strongly believed that the earliest forms of bujutsu and karate ascended from the remnants of the defensive systems borne of the Warrior Monks of Shaolin, and subsequently disclosed to the upper classes of citizenry of the island of Ryukyu, or, Okinawa, in the mid-1700’s. Introduced by emissaries of China’s ruling class, (known as the Sapposhi) as trade flourished between the two kingdoms, Okinawa’s governing class quickly, and vigorously cultivated these arts as a means of domestic law enforcement. In fact, historical records show that in 1756, one such emissary dispatched by China made a far more lasting impression on the Imperial Courts of Okinawa than all others before him — an impression that would carry his name and his namesake down through the centuries, weaving it forever into the fabric of traditional karate we know and practice even today — his name was Kushanku.

“Described as an expert of the Chinese hand art of Kempo (more specifically, kumiai jutsu), shipping records reveal that Kushanku, with a retinue of aides traveled to Okinawa with the Ching Sapposhi, Guan Ki, during his trade excursion in 1756. The historian Shiohara’s description of Kushanku’s demonstration of his fighting art leaves little to question, and the description remains the most reliable chronicle surrounding Chinese civil fighting traditions in early Okinawa. There can be no doubt that Kushanku and his disciples gave a public display of the Chinese fighting disciplines, and were likely engaged in transmitting to people of wealth, position and power.” (Patrick McCarthy)

Today, it can be said that the essence of all kata we practice lay deep in the historical mists of those early years in the mountains of Okinawa. Hundreds of years later, it would be an Okinawan who would travel outside the Ryukyu kingdom, and bring the long-secret art of Te to the shores of Japan; his name — Gichin Funakoshi; the man who would become known as The Father of Modern Karate, and the man who would also become the first sensei for another Father of Karate; Hironori Ohtsuka, Meijin — Master of Masters.