History

History and Philosophy of Te-Ashi-Do Freestyle Karate

Te-Ashi-Do Freestyle Karate was founded in 1997 by Sensei Mark Fry, which was adapted from "Hon-Te-Ashi-Do" taught by Sensei Gary Robbins.

Te-Ashi-Do literally means "way of hand and foot" and has been designed to be as close to a "complete" system as possible.

Students would expect to learn a mixture of techniques based in four major sections:

STRIKING: Useing punches, kicks, knees, elbows and open handed techniques.

LOCKING: Use of joint manipulation, ground and stood locking and choking, restraints and submission techniques

THROWING: Use of hipthrowing, sweeping and joint throws. This are closely resembles Aikido and Judo in their basic forms.

WEAPONS: Use of Escrima (short sticks) singly and in pairs, Jo staff, Wakazashi amd Katana blades to a basic level.

The idea of Te-Ashi-Do, that seperates it from alot of other styles, is the way that it is taught. There are no real "set moves" or katas. The idea is to learn the individual techniques and how they work, then the student learns how to link it together based on their own fighting preference.

Thus a bulky fighter would maybe be more inclined touse grappling and "power" stirkes, whereas a slender fighter may uise more flexibility and speed thecniques with quick joint locking, to achieve the same aim.

This method of teaching promotes each student to express themselves in their own way, thus making Te-Ashi-Do a true "art" form!