On this day….(June 1)

On this day, 1 June 1892, the founder of Wado-ryu Karate, Hironori Ōtsuka, was born.

Although Ōtsuka was an early student of Gichin Funakoshi, he had previously studied Shindo Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu for many years.

After training in Shotokan Karate for around ten years, Ōtsuka left to form his own style of Wado-ryu in 1939. Wado-ryu is considered one of the major styles of Karate. It contains elements of both Shotokan Karate and Jujutsu.