Master Hironori Otsuka,
Master Hironori Otsuka, founder of Wado-Ryu, was born on 1 June 1892 in Shimodate, Japan. At the age of 6 he began to train in the school of Yokiyoshi Nakayama Tatsusaburo (1870-1933), teacher of Ju-Jutsu in the style Shinto Yoshin Ryu. He is admitted at the age of thirteen to the Dojo of the famous Tatsusaburo Nakayama and trains with the sword (Katana) and Ju-Jutsu of Shindo Yoshin Ryu Ju-Jutsu school. This school combined foot and hand techniques with traditional JuJutsu techniques. He left the Dojo in 1910 to enter the universities where he continued his training in the main Dojo of the capital. In 1921, Hironori Otsuka became the 4th Grand Master of Shindo Yoshin Ryu Ju-Jutsu School and successor to Master Tatsusaburo Nakayama. He also holds a diploma in traditional medicine. It was in 1922, during a very impressive demonstration of Okinawa karate, that Otsuka meets for the first time Gichin Funakoshi, now considered the father of Karate-Do. In 1934 Otsuka created his own style that would become the modern Wado-Ryu. This style is characterized by a mixture of Funakoshi Karate techniques to which Otsuka added Ju-Jutsu techniques learned from ShintoYoshin School
Master Tatsuo Suzuki
The “Wado International Karate-Do Federation” (WIKF) was founded in 1991 by Master Tatsuo Suzuki 8th Dan Hanshi to protect the fundamentals of Wado-Ryu Karate-Do, as taught by Hironori Otsuka. Before Otsuka’s death, his son took the lead in the Wado-Ryu style and many disagreements about the original techniques appeared. Tatsuo Suzuki’s dissatisfaction was too great and his attempts to reunite the Wado school failed, and he decided to create his own international organization to preserve the techniques he learned alongside the founder for twenty years. The WIKF is represented in 51 countries and organized around three regions, Europe, America and Asia. Sensei died in July 2011.
Master Hiroji Fukazawa
Master Hiroji Fukazawa, 8th dan karate wado-ryu, was born on July 26, 1949 in Shizuoka. He started martial arts in Japan by practicing Kendo then Judo before devoting himself to Karate since the age of 14 years. After entering the Dojo of Inoue Master, he formed Yoseikan dojo at Master Minoru Mochizuki, practicing Karate as well as Aïki Jutsu, Aikido and Katory Shinto-ryu. In 1974, Master Hiroji Fukazawa was sent to France by Master Minoru Mochizuki to assist his son and then in Italy for two years to implant the Wado-ryu style. Back in France, he will continue in the way of wado-ryu karate, notably along side Tatsuo Suzuki (1928-2011), installed in the United Kingdom. Hiroji Fukazawa becomes one of the biggest representatives of Wado-Ryu in the world, he is appointed European technical director at Wado International Karate Do federation (W.I.K.F) and expert at the French Karate Federation. Master Fukazawa taught A.S Poulbot and then Shizuoka Wado Club (his club) in Paris for more than twenty years before leaving in June 2010.
Master John Wicks
Master John Wicks (8th Dan) started practicing karate at 13 and got his first Dan (black belt) four years later. At 50, Sensei Wicks was personally rewarded by Suzuki’s 8th Dan Hanshi, his own 8th Dan also making him the youngest 8th Dan Wado-Ryu black belt in the world. Sensei Wicks teaches across the globe, mainly in Europe, and regularly in North America. He also taught in South America, Japan and Australia (Perth, Kumite in 1990). He even taught and gave some demonstrations in China with Master Suzuki. The aim of Sensei Wicks is to ensure that all clubs and practitioners throughout the world who wish to learn traditional Wado-Ryu are taught the same techniques, as taught first by Master Hironori Ohtsuka (The founder), then by Master Suzuki and today by Sensei Wicks. As Chief Instructor, Jon Wicks leads international and regional courses for teachers.