Orient publishing talks to the author of the
Wado-Ryu uncovered series Frank Johnson.
OP - Frank can you tell us something of your early life with martial arts?
FJ - Happy to. I was born on the 8th of June 1954 in England, I started Judo when I was 5 or 6 years old and also did a bit of boxing.
OP - When did you first find out about Karate?
FJ - It would have been around 1961 or 62. I heard some of the older lads at the Judo club talking about it and trying to do some moves so I just tried to copy them.
OP - When did you come across Wado-Ryu karate?
FJ - I don't recall the exact time but I would have been around 8 or 9 years old. I came across some information by the French karate expert Plee all the writing was in French but it had the pinan katas in it, so I just tried to copy them as best I could, Plee wrote some good books on karate.
OP - Did you find it easy to get information on Wado?
FJ - At first no, but in 1965 master Tatsuo Suzuki opened a club in London and it soon started to get lots of students and photographs and write ups started to be done. Then Sensei Suzuki published a book called karate - Do that was around 1967 or 8 ,in any case it was my bible for years . I remember it had ku-shanku kata in it which was around 3rd kyu grade. So when I did start training at a Wado club, the instructor thought I had been training with Japanese instructors.
OP - When did you start training with Japanese instructors?
FJ - Around 1972 I went on a week's karate training with Tatsuo Suzuki sensei, We practiced for 6 hours a day. By this time he had bought over from Japan some of Japan's top young stars including T meada, Sensei, k Sakagami, Sensei Shiomitsu ,Sensei Tanaba sensei came from Japan to do courses and of course the founder of Wado-Ryu, Master Ohtsuka it was after I had trained with him in England and I decided I would go to Japan and study as soon as I could.
OP When did you pass your first black belt Dan grade? And was it more difficult to get in those days?
FJ - I passed my first black belt dan grade 30 years ago. Was it more difficult to get is a hard question to answer, as you look back everyone thinks it seemed harder probably due to the fact you have improved . I can only say that 78 students took Dan grades and 11 passed, Suzuki sensei was pretty demanding in those days.
OP - When did you first go to Japan to study Wado-Ryu ? And how were your instructors?
FJ - In 1977 my instructors were Hironori Ohtsuka 1st, Thour Arakawa 7th Dan, H Murase and T meada,Murase sensei was champion of Japan at the time.
OP - What kind of training did you do?
FJ - I trained most days from 4.30pm to 9.30pm
OP - You give a fantastic picture of training in your first book Wado-Ryu uncovered, was it that exciting a time?
FJ - In one word yes!
OP - You also did Ryu-Kyu Kobudo up to 2nd Dan, did that help your Karate?
FJ - Yes I realised that Ryu-Kyu Kobudo was very much a part of early Karate, So I tried to find the top exponent in Japan which was without a doubt at the time Master Matakatsu Inoue I had a very interesting time with him.
OP - Frank you are one of few western Karate-Ka to be awarded Dan grades in Japan, how does that make you
feel?
FJ - I don't feel anything really I just wanted to train in Japan. I was fortunate that Master Ohtsuka was still alive. Of course it's nice to get Dan grades off the top Instructors whatever art you do.
OP - What did you do when you returned to England?
FJ - In 1981 I started the budo-arts martial arts company and continued my study of
Wado-Ryu.
OP - You are well known in the high levels of Wado-Ryu around the world because you were the editor of Wado-world magazine, How did that come about?
FJ - I was asked by Masafumi Shiomitsu sensei,. Would I do it, He realised I had the knowledge and ability to put it all together. It was a lot of work but also good fun to do; I interviewed most of the world's top wado-ryu Instructors at the time. The magazine is now a collectors item.
OP - You were also involved with Tatsuo Suzuki video series weren't you?
FJ - Yes, I directed a number of videos with Master Suzuki and also Master
Sakagami.
OP - With all of this background , why have you decided to do 4 books and not dvd or video's?
FJ - I feel books are much better for study, you can look at them with ease. I still feel you can put more into books and I know from my own training they are easier to refer to.
OP - Your first book "Wado-Ryu Uncovered," is an autobiography of your time in Japan you have fantastic stories and technical information in it, and have had tremendous response to the book. How does this make you feel?
FJ - I am happy people are enjoying the book, it's not a very big book, but it has alot in it for the price!
OP - Your second book "Wado-Ryu karate The complete Art Uncovered" is published in November 2005. How long have you been working on this book, as it is a major work being over 240 pages long?
FJ - It has been around ten years; I have done a tremendous amount of research on all 3 technical books.
OP - There are always technical problems with one Wado-Ryu group trying to say the other one is doing something wrong! How have you overcome this in your books?
FJ - Well I'm definitely not political I am only interested in the art of wado-ryu. I have put into the books where I feel necessary for instance kata variation.I have trained in all the major groups from Japan so I know where they are coming from. In any case I have tried to do the books just how master Ohtsuka showed me whenever I can just as he did. Of course Wado-Ryu is a continually evolving art and you can understand why some instructors have changed with time and course, some just can not do the moves so they have made it easier or maybe just different for themselves.
But I still like to do it the old way, as it nearly always turns out the best way in the end, the way it's meant to be!
OP - Frank I could talk to you for weeks, but our web space is limited thank you for your time.
(Frank scoring with a Mawashigeri (Roundhouse Kick) - All Japan 1978)
