To the best of my knowledge the first Karate club to teach Wado Ryu in Wales was the Seki Ryu Kan located in Swansea. In 1965 Jerry Davies and Alan Petherbridge, asked Tatsuo Suzuki Sensei and Takamazawa Sensei if they would organise and set up a club in Swansea.
Later when Sensei Takamazawa left, Jerry Davies was awarded his Dan grade (the first person in Swansea to be awarded a black belt) soon to be followed by Mike Pinney and Keith Thomas (who now runs the Neath Wado Kai dojo and has achieved the grade of 6th Dan).
At this time the club was affiliated to the United Kingdom Karate-Do Wado Kai (UKKW) and had over 100 students based in one dojo. In the course of time some instructor's left to set up their own Dojos, due to this, organisations such as the Welsh Karate Association (WKA) have been created. Today there are numerous karate clubs in Swansea and its surrounding areas, many of which can have their roots, traced back to the Seki Ryu Kan.
The Seki Ryu Kan is presently affiliated to the Wado International Karate-Do Federation and with Neath Wado Kai, Morriston (CRC) and Newport Wado Kai form WIKF (Wales). All our club instructors teach at the highest standard and have all gained their black belts under top Japanese masters in Wado Ryu.
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Last Updated on 5 October 1997 by Mark Thomas