Wadōkai

Wado kai (和道会^?, Wadō kai) is the organization within the Japan Karate Federation (JKF) which practices the Wadō-ryū style of karate. Wado kai has numerous associated organizations and member clubs on different continents of the world.

In 1938 Hironori Ohtsuka registered his mixed style of karate-jujutsu with the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai, originally under the name of Shinshu Wadoryu Karate-Jujutsu, soon shortened to Wado-ryu (和道流). A Wadoryu Honbu (headquarters) was established in the Meiji University dojo in Tokyo, Japan in 1952. The Shintani Wado Kai Karate Federation of North America officially joined Otsuka's federation in 1958. In 1964 the Japan Karatedo Federation (JKF) was established as a general organization for all karate styles. Wado joined this organization as a major group. The Wado organization changed the name to Wadokai on 5 June 1967.

On 15 November 1979 Hironori Otsuka promoted Masaru Shintani to 8th dan, and presented him with a 9th dan certificate at the same time and appointed Shintani Sensei the Supreme Instructor of Wado Karate in North America.

Wadokai remained relatively intact as an organisation until around 1980, when a split occurred. The split occurred because the Wadokai board of directors and Hironori Ohtsuka had a difference in opinion about monetary expenditures and accessibility to the funds of the organization. Ohtsuka felt it was within his rights to have full use of the Federation funds and one day made a withdrawal that drew the ire of the board of directors. This matter was settled out of court and the terms of the settlement allowed him to keep the money but he had to resign from Wadokai and he also lost all rights to the name and logo of the organization. Eiichi Eriguchi succeeded him within Wadokai at that time and again became Chairman during the 1990s. Hironori Ohtsuka then founded Wadoryu Karatedo Renmei (Renmei means 'group' or 'federation') on 1 April 1981. After only a few months Hironori Ohtsuka retired as head of this organization and his son Jiro Ohtsuka took his place. Hironori Ohtsuka died 29 January 1982 at the age of 89. In 1983 Jiro Ohtsuka became Grandmaster of Wado Ryu and changed his name to Hironori Ohtsuka, in honor of his father. He is now often referred to as Hironori Ohtsuka II.

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