Seminar With Sensei Kazutaka Ohtsuka

On October 23, 24, and 25, Bill and Josiah, along with two other students from the school, got the chance to train with Sensei Kazutaka Ohtsuka. He is the son of the current grandmaster of Wado-Ryu and the grandson of the founder, Hironori Ohtsuka.

This is the third year the Raleigh school has had the chance to train with Sensei Ohtsuka, and it is always a great privilege. The Sensei has an amazing ability to break down even the most complex movement into simple body mechanics. Suddenly, one can see that karate stances are not simply an arrangement of the body, they are derived from the way the muscles are moved, and if done correctly, the body simply ends up in the correct stance.

The Sensei focused on the application and movement of the kata Bassai this year, spending three two-hour classes to explain many of the movements to a large group of blackbelts. During the time, the class also went over several take-downs and kumite that spring from the movements in Bassai. Similarly, the underbelt classes learned applications of several pinan katas as well as kumites

Now the real work begins of internalizing Sensei Ohtsuka's teachings into the everyday classes in Raleigh. We're already looking forward to next year!