Lewisburg Wado Ryu

Wado Ryu-The Way of Peace

About Us

 

 

This school was originally founded by Mr. Ray Cross and Mr. Don Hendrix under the auspices of Mr. Jerry Potts back in the 1970’s.  Mr. Cross and Mr. Hendrix actually earned their black belts while teaching in the Lewisburg school.  When Mr. Hendrix moved to Alabama and Mr. Cross gave up the school in 1982, Mr. Monroe Carter became the Chief Instructor.

 

 

 

After that time Mr. Carter was fortunate enough to regard Mr. Cecil T. Patterson as his sensei.  Before his death Mr. Patterson was the highest ranking occidental in the Wado system and was named the Father of Karate by the State of Tennessee.  He had trained in Japan while serving in the Navy in the 1950’s and opened the first Wado school in the Eastern United States in 1961.  The original school was in Nashville, Tennessee, but his students and the students of his students spread Wado Karate throughout the Eastern States.  For more information on Sensei Patterson see the U.S. Eastern Wado-Ryu official website.

We lost Mr. Patterson in October 2002.  Today his son, Mr. John Patterson, follows in his footsteps as President of the U.S. Eastern Wado-Ryu Federation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sensei Monroe Carter is presently a sixth-degree black belt and a member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Eastern Wado-Ryu Federation.  Board Members not only help President Patterson with Federation policy but administer black belt tests for our federation on a regular basis.  Mr. Carter was the 2004 recipient of the prestigious Master Ohtsuka Award, which is the highest award presented by our federation.  In order to receive this award, Mr. Carter had to be nominated both by his own students and other instructors in our system.  The final decision was made by President Patterson.

 

Lewisburg Wado-Ryu is a member of the U.S. Eastern Wado-Ryu Federation and is a branch dojo of the International Federation of Wado-Ryu Karate-Do Organizations.  Second Grand Master Hironori Ohtsuka is President and Supreme Master of that federation.  He follows in the footsteps of his father, founder of the way of peace, the late Grand Master Hironori Ohtsuka.  His son, Sensei Kazutaka Ohtsuka, holds the position of Senior Instructor for all affiliated Wado-Ryu schools worldwide.  We urge our students to learn more about the men who have played such an important part in developing the karate we study by following this link to the official U.S. Eastern Wado-Ryu Federation website which contains complete biographies.