Steve O’Riley and Bill Taylor, two Rutherford County karate school instructors, will host Kaza Taka Ohtsuka, the future grandmaster of Wado-Ryu Karate, at their schools on Oct. 30 and Nov. 1.
Ohtsuka will be giving lessons on the fundamentals of Wado-Ryu to all of the students from both schools when he visits. He will also examine the students to makes sure they are living up to the standards of Wado-Ryu.
“Wado-Ryu is an international system of karate that is still directly under the founding body in Japan,” O’Riley said. “Kaza Taka comes over once a year and teaches all the students who want to be involved with the training, in different seminars.”
Wado-Ryu was founded in 1938 by Ohtsuka’s grandfather Grandmaster Hironori Ohtsuka, and was born out of both Jujitsu and Okinawan-style karate. The name means “way of peace or harmony.” It is a multidimensional fighting system that incorporates kicking, punching, inside fighting (the use of elbows and knees) and grappling.
“Fighting is the last resort in solving a problem,” O’Riley said. “We try to teach our students positive attitudes and to look for peace inside themselves. We want our students to live in peace and harmony with all people.”
O’Riley has been teaching karate for about 20 years. He has two schools one in Smyrna at 667 Presidents Place, and another located at 2444 Morris Gentry Blvd. in Antioch. Ohtsuka will visit his school in Antioch Nov. 1.
O’Riley is serious about karate. He has trained in Brazil with the only ninth-degree black belt outside Japan, and in 2002 he trained with the grandmaster in Japan. Currently he is a sixth- degree black belt and has won numerous awards from the Wado-Ryu Federation, including “fighter of the decade” from 1990 to 2000, the federation president’s award twice and the grandmasters award once.
Taylor is no newcomer to karate himself. He began training here in Murfreesboro in 1972, in what was at the time the only karate school in town, located at 110 E. Vine St. He excelled under the tutelage of his teachers, Newton Harris and Bill Herzer, and in 1978 he received his black belt. This was quite an accomplishment at the time because he was only 16, and under federation rules you could not receive your black belt until the age of 18.
He went on to become the second- ranked kickboxer in the world and trained in Japan under the founder of Wado-Ryu and in Paris. Today he is a seventh-degree black belt and runs two schools here in Murfreesboro, one at 1205 Park Ave. and the other at 1820 NW Broad St. Ohtsuka will visit his Broad Street location on Oct. 30.
“Kaza Taka is going to reinforce the good, sound fundamentals of karate that we teach at our schools,” Taylor said. “What he likes to do when he visits America is a bit of quality control. He wants to make sure we are practicing authentic Wado-Ryu that his grandfather would be proud of.”
If any here in Murfreesboro are interested in going to see Ohtsuka, Taylor invites all to come and observe on Oct. 30th at 6 P.M. Taylor’s school has observation rooms which wrap around the teaching areas and they will be able to meet the future grandmaster after his lessons.
“We are honored that the future grandmaster would come to our school,” Taylor said. “He can teach at any of the Wado-Ryu schools around the world. It’s great that he is coming here to Murfreesboro.”
