Wado, or Wadoryu is a style of Karate.
Karate is a fighting system that originates from East-Asia. It’s based on very old ways of fighting. It’s a bare handed way of fighting. ‘Kara’ means ‘empty’ and ‘te’ means ‘hand’. So karate is ‘empty hand’
The way of karate is twofold. Karate is training the mind as well as the body.
Karate is not about winning a fight and even much less about picking a fight. Karate is about being able to deal with a fight. Dealing with a fight could mean walking out of a fight. There's nothing stupid about walking out of a fight. However: getting into a fight and getting hit IS stupid. Dealing with a fight could also mean having an attitude so that a fight simply doesn't happen. If you don't go around picking fights, you're much less likely to get into a fight in the first place. Or, if you have a posture that tells people you're not afraid, you're less likely to get attacked.
Other then that, karate is an exciting sport as well. You can use karate techniques in competition. Not to knock someone out, but to see who performs best. You get points by touching your opponent. But you get penalty if you hurt someone in competition. This kind of competition is called ‘kumite’. Kumite means something like ‘hands coming together’. A suitable name for a sport based on the touch of hands (and feet).
You can also do kata competition. A kata is a bit like a theater play. It's a series of attacks and defenses that you perform on your own. But doing a kata is acting as if you are attacked by a bunch of villains. One by one you knock them out. The one who plays the kata best wins the competition.
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