Waza

Thanks for all the info guys, that really helps! @Zanshin, I train regularly in a Wado Dojo but our sparing is largely un-guided by our sensei. The most formal guidance i've been given in the months I've been doing it is to remain calm and not to put all my weight on my front foot all the time. I guess this is good because we're not all fighting the same because sensei told us X or Y was the best attack, etc. So when sparing I take what I learn in drills, kata and pair work and try to make it work in a "fight". On top of that we have plenty of black belts from purely Wado backgrounds, Shato backgrounds and people who cross train in Wado + Shato or Judo + Wado who offer (some times conflicting, but otherwise good) advice during sparring. But I may be entering another tournament soon so I'm starting to examine my blocks and stance, which is when I turned to YouTube for references and found people doing it WAY differently to the way I was... When I did my first tourney I used a more boxing-esq stance but after my first round a guy from our club (who's a black belt in Shato, Wado and Judo) advised that I use a block that also covered more of my body (as per a drill like fighting stance) as the most common moves I would encounter would be: front snap kicks to the body, side kicks to the body, jabs to the face and reverse punches to the body... his advice did work for me (I won men's 3rd Kyu and bellow ) ... But I started to re-* that advice after visiting YouTube and seeing this very relaxed, low guard used so often. I've since watched this(Kyokushin): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7cHghqmUEg and I can certainly see a high guard working very well in their style of karate; very few "linear" or straight attacks are used, lots of high round house, crescent and axe kicks and a lot of the punches are a bit "hooky" or at least don't come out as straight as the ones I see in sparing in Wado.

For use in "street fights" we train from natural stance(Shizentai), quick, stunning strikes that bring you into a more conventional fighting stance (i.e Tobikomizuke, Nagashiuke).... but fighting with your hands by your side (i.e failing to provide any defence) was an immediate disqualification at the last tournament I fought in. Sorry I probably should have made my self more clear: This is purely for sparring and kumite.

I've just looked up some random Wado Ryu & Wado Kai Kumite on YouTube and almost every fighter keeps their hands low and leaves their centre line open. By contrast, I (a very inexperienced fighter of about 4 months ) keep my leading hand around nose height, quite far out, but with the elbow still bent and tucked in, with the whole arm coming slightly across my centre-line. And my ready-hand slightly away from my body at belt height just in front of my navel. Mimicking, some what, the fighting stance done during drills. Am I just doing it wrong or being too defensive? Thanks.

Yes joesteph, it's one of those cases where the block's not actually just a block. I haven't done the knife defence we used it in in a while but I'm sure the distance was more than a foot as the attacker is moving into you and you step into him as he does, so the distance cleared between the two of you, combined, is greater than just the single step the defender makes as your both moving.

We were taught to use it as a block-come-strike against over-head weapon attacks, where you step in to the attack and strike to their arm above the elbow... done correctly, I'm told, it can easily break the attackers arm, between the armpit and the elbow. If their wielding a bat/bar (rather than a knife) then that is even more weight that will leverage against them when their arm comes to a sudden halt.... But, to be honest, I would probably be running rather than blocking if I was unarmed and some one was swinging a weapon at me... if there was no one else that needed immediate protection from said attacker

A simple answer, that some one who would ask that question would understand: Aren't people in the armed forces, the world over, trained in unarmed combat/MA as part of their standard training? Aren't these also the same people carying some of the world most devistating personal fire arms AND facing off against people carrying such weapons. Which must mean that people a hell of a lot more experienced in confrontation than the guy asking the "guns Vs' ma" question think that guns dont make unarmed combat redundant.