Wado Ryu or Ashihara

[Lungefisk]

Oi

I have trained shotokan karate some years ago, but the club that i trained in closed and i later moved to a new city... Now i want to train karate again, but i dont want to train shotokan again...

I have been looking around on the net a bit for a good club near me, and ive found both an Ashihara karate club and a Wado Ryu club...

Which should i choose and why?

[moriniuk]

I'm presuming that you have done a little research and already know something about the two styles.

Wado will not be too different from the Shotokan that you have already done. A little less rigid perhaps. The katas and basic sparring will be similar.

Ashihara uses one fighting stance similar to kickboxing. More street orientated fighting techniques, some of which are similar to Muay Thai. The katas are unique to Ashihara and nothing like those from traditional styles. The sparring is generally heavier contact.

Which style you chose depends on what you want from karate. In my opinion neither style is better than the other, they are just different, and both have much to offer.

I personally train in both Ashihara and traditional karate styles as well as Muay Thai and Tai Chi and get something from each.

Why not try both styles and see which you prefer?

[Lungefisk]

Good idea

I will take a few lessons in each style, and see which offers what i want to train the most...

I cannot train both at the moment because of the cost... i have to choose one of them...

[Dobbersky]

Lungefisk

my perfect question, I study and Teach Ashihara and study Wado Ryu,

They are I feel quite similar but different at the same time.

Wado takes a more traditional stance on things, using traditional Kata and applications it is more akin to shotokan but with more Tai Sabaki and not as rigid.

Ashihara, this is Kyokushin based and follows its own kata and syllabus regime. The Kata are not like any you would have studied before and are more akin to Muay Thai in a Gi than traditional Karate.

wow I just read moriniuk's post its vertually the same lol.

I would recommend as you have stated doing some lessons of each and decide from there.

Note, don't try to study both along side each other until you are atleast Brown belt in one

Good luck in your journey and what ever decision you make IS the right one.

Osu!!!

[Wa-No-Michi]

Style of karate is one thing, but if you are just starting out, (or re-starting) I would (as others have said) look at the clubs you have on offer.

You will learn the best karate from the best instructor, not style IMO.

To find a good Wado instructor I think your chances are limited, but that doesn't mean to say that the clubs in your area don't teach Karate well.

[swadoryu2000]

Well, in my opinion, both styles are great ones. But it depends on the instuctor and his/her teaching methods. I haven't heard much of the Ashihara style, but I understand it is more Kyokushin, and their style of combat is more contact-oriented. Again, whatever you feel more comfortble doing.

[Espina]

I practice two karate styles: Ashihara and Goju Ryu. They are both karate, but as stated above, they are different.

Goju Ryu is more traditional. The training techniques are far more "simpler" than the ones from Ashihara, since Goju Ryu uses training gadgets from many years ago (I´m sorry for my english, it's not my native language).

For example, Goju Ryu uses a huge heavy clip-shaped metal ring, a hammer called Chising, jars full of water, etc.

Ashihara, on the other side doesn't use these kind of gadgets. The training is more orientated like Kyokushin or Muay Thai, where you kick and hit a lot of sandbags and pows (as well as your training partners hehehehe).

The main differences I´ll have to say are the way kumites are performed (remeber, they are both karate, so they can't be that different either).

Goju Ryu is a lot like shotokan. You fight with gloves, and every time a point is made the fight is stopped. You can kick from the belt up and can punch from the belt up too (even at the face), but the punches can only be tsukis , there no way you can throw a hook or anything like that.

You need to be pretty agile for this kind of karate, since it's focus on hitting fast and first.

On the other side, Ashihara uses elbows, knees,kicks, punches, etc. You can kick just about any part of the body and punch the same, but not in the face (the punching part, feel free to kick the head every time you want). The kumite is not stopped until time is up.

Many people states that this kind of karate (incorrectly called full contact) is tougher than traditional karate. I don´t think that there is a tougher karate. As I mentioned, they are all karate, you just need to find the one that fits you the most

I recommend you watch some videos form Benetello, Biamonti and Pina to get a glimpse of Traditional Karate Kumite.

Also, these links will show you some traditional kumite from Japaneses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki4J2y687tM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6LPxs1zbmE

For Ashihara kumites, please search for the "Sabaki Challenge" on you tube. Particularly the one from '97 is pretty good . You can search also for a guy named Kurbanov, which practices Kyokushin (a lot similar to Ashihara).

I heard one time that Ashihara is the Karate style practiced by the japan policy and military. I don't know if this is true, but I wouldn't be surprise if so, because as I read before, this particular kind of karate is a lot street fighting focused.

I hope this information helps

Osu