Master Hironori Otsuka was born June 1, 1892, in Shimodate, Japan, where his father, Dr. Tokujiro Otsuka, operated a clinic. As a boy he listened to a samurai warrior, his mother's uncle, tell thrilling stories of samurai exploits. This may well have been where the first seeds were sown that would later be some of the guiding principles and philosophies of Wado karate.
Otsuka Sensei began martial arts training at five-years of age under his great uncle Chojiro Ibashi (Shintani & Reid, 1998) and by age thirteen was formally studying shindo yoshinryu jujutsu, a traditional Japanese martial art from which modern judo was ......