Been doing Wado with my Jiu Jitsu instructor for a couple of months now, and had a surprise grading, which I passed. No worries on the fitness side, but didn't feel like I'd done very well on my technique and pad work. Struggled to keep my centre line and not telegraph with my head. I spoke to sensei afterwards and he said that at this point he was more concerned with the body mechanics than the end result. It's slowly starting to make more sense, and transfers into the jiu jitsu we do. Bye-Bye whitebelt!
Cheers Simon! Thanks! Yeah, I think it definitely helps having the same instructor for both. There's a 'block' (deflection is how he describes it) that is a normal outside to inside block at body height, and the movement of the forearm is the same as snapping on a baseball bat choke.
As I understand it , Ohtsuka (the founder of Wado Ryu) was menkyo kaiden in Jujitsu when he went to Funakoshi to learn Karate , when they parted ways he put the jujitsu he already knew with the Shotokan he'd learned and created Wado Ryu.
I'm aware of that, but as he said it's his jujitsu instructor as well, I thought I'd ask what the jujitsu style is!
I asked my teacher the name of our style when I started, he said it was yoshin ryu, but if I was googling it 'avoid anything related to bujinkan or ninjitsu!'. When I've looked on google most sources say that the official style is dead, but tbh I didn't pay it too much attention, we drill, we pressure test, I like how we train there. Not sure if there's a massive connection or if it's just that as he's trained both he can see the links and train accordingly.
In the context of Wado-ryu, the Yoshin Ryu in question is that of the Akiyama Yoshitoki lineage of which the only element of the system still practiced today is Naginata-jutsu. The term 'Yoshin' is used in a number of extant traditions, however the only one within the Akiyama line is Shindo Yoshin-Ryu. The Takamura-ha branch of Shindo Yoshin-ryu is still active with its Honbu in Colorado USA lead by Tobin Threadgill. Does your instructor train with Threadgill sensei?