How I Accidentally Created a New Karate Style — And Why I Could No Longer Call It Wado-Ryū - By Sensei Liam Musiak

Before anything else, I need to be transparent:

For three years, I used the term “Evolved Wado-Ryū” to describe what I taught.

At the time, I genuinely believed I was still inside the Wado structure — just modernising it, adapting it, and making it more realistic for today’s world.

But as time went on, something became undeniable:

I wasn’t teaching Wado-Ryū anymore.

Not even close.

And after extensive conversations with Wado karateka all over the world, from long-established instructors to highly respected senior grades, a united message came through:

Continuing to call my system Wado — even with the word “Evolved” — would be disrespectful to Wado-Ryū and to its karateka.

Not maliciously…

Not intentionally…

But simply because what I had built had drifted far outside the Wado identity.

That honesty was difficult — but necessary.

So a decision was made.

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🔥 I Had Accidentally Created a New Style

Not on purpose.

Not out of ego.

Not to rebel against tradition.

It happened naturally, over years of work:

• Building full syllabuses from White Belt to 6th Dan

• Creating kata from scratch

• Designing bunkai systems unique to my own thinking

• Developing the A.A.E.E.L., V.E.R.B.A.L., F.I.G.H.T. and S.T.A.N.D. codes

• Writing self-defence frameworks rooted in criminology, psychology and law

• Inventing pressure tests like Court of Conflict and March of the Dan

• Creating a realism-first grading structure, not a time-served one

• Running chaotic scenario training, normal-clothes hours, and street-focused drills

Piece by piece, year by year, the system drifted further from Wado-Ryū.

Until eventually, without realising it, I had stepped completely outside it.

That is why calling it “Wado” — even with extra words attached —

would now be disrespectful to the art, its lineage, and everyone who practises it.

So the only honest and respectful choice was:

Step away.

Name it properly.

Give it its own identity.

And that is how Jissenkō Ryū Karate was officially founded.

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🔥 Why 6th Dan Was Chosen — The Real Reason

A question that naturally comes up:

“Why 6th Dan?”

Here is the truth, nothing hidden:

Because I developed Jissenkō Ryū up to the 6th Dan level.

Not 7th.

Not 8th.

Not 10th.

Just 6th.

That is the level of curriculum I wrote.

That is the highest syllabus I completed.

That is the rank where my system currently peaks.

So when the founding members sat together — including my senior students and my brother James — the conclusion was simple:

The rank must match the system I actually built.

Not higher.

Not inflated.

Not ceremonial.

Just honest.

This was agreed collectively, signed formally, and grounded in the actual work behind the art.

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🔥 Why This Was the Most Respectful Path

This decision wasn’t about ego.

It wasn’t about leaving Wado to “do my own thing.”

It was about respect.

Respect for Wado-Ryū.

Respect for its lineage.

Respect for its karateka worldwide.

Calling something “Wado” when it no longer resembles Wado…

is unfair to the style and to everyone who trains it.

By breaking away and naming what I created, I’m:

• Protecting the integrity of Wado-Ryū

• Acknowledging that my system is different

• Honouring the traditionalists who helped shape me

• Being honest with the public and my students

Jissenkō Ryū is not Wado-Ryū.

It grew from my background, yes.

But it evolved into its own martial art — unintentionally at first, and now fully recognised.

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🔥 The Truth

I didn’t mean to build a new style.

I didn’t plan it.

I didn’t force it.

I simply followed realism, truth, practicality, pressure-testing, and full-contact understanding until one day…

it became something else entirely.

And staying under the Wado name would disrespect the very people who helped give me my foundation in the first place.

Walking away wasn’t rejection —

It was respect.

And now, Jissenkō Ryū Karate stands honestly as its own system, built on realism, integrity, and purpose — and no longer mistakenly wearing the identity of another art.

🔥🥋 A new era begins — respectfully separated, and truthfully defined. 🥋🔥