Wadoryu karate was founded by the instructor Hironori Otsuka (1892 - 1982). He began training karate in 1922. Prior to this, he trained judo and kendo at school and learnt Shindo Yoshinryu style jujutsu too. Whilst at university in Tokyo he is thought to have trained in Yoshin Koryu jujutsu. Because of this experience, he had a good understanding of the characteristics of ancient Japanese fighting systems before beginning his study of Okinawan karate.

He learned karate from Gichin Funakoshi (1862 - 1957), who is credited with establishing karate in mainland Japan. Funakoshi began teaching in Tokyo in 1922 and Otsuka Hironori was amongst the first group of students. Later, Otsuka Sensei also trained with Kenwa Mabuni and with Choki Motobu. Funakoshi's karate became known as Shotokanryu but Otsuka studied with him before Shotokanryu had evolved into the distinctive style it is today.

Kenwa Mabuni (1889 - 1952) came to Tokyo in 1928 and stayed for nearly a year before he moved to Osaka where he established his Shitoryu karate style (from which Shukukai style is derived). Mabuni Kenwa was known for the number of kata he knew and taught and even to this day, the various Shitoryu groups train in upwards of 40 different kata and in some groups nearly 60 kata.

Choki Motobu on the other hand was a colourful character in karate history who emphasised training naihanchi shodan kata and pioneered the development of kumite (sparring) techniques whilst his peers focused mainly on kata training. Motobu did not leave a distinct style as the others did, but there is no doubt that he influenced many karate-ka of the period and Otsuka was particularly impressed by him.

Otsuka brought together the skills he learned from these karate instructors and refined them with the principles and some techniques from his earlier training. Around 1934 he established his group calling it the "Dai Nippon Shinko Kai" and then in 1938 renaming it "Dai Nippon Karate-do Shinbukai". In 1939, he and his students gave a demonstration at the 44th Butokusai (martial arts festival) held in Kyoto and at this event he registered the name Wadoryu. Since then, this name has been used (interchanged with Wado Kai) and the foundation of the style recognised as 1934.

Wadoryu was established in the Japanese universities system from its very early days and this helped to popularise the style throughout Japan. By the 1950s, Otsuka Sensei had a strong base of skilled students and instructors, some of whom remain active in the teaching and promotion of Wadoryu karate today.

Wadoryu karate spread to the west after 1945 when Allied military and civilian personnel stationed in Japan began training. The first such person seems to have been Walter Todd who apparently trained in Tokyo's Meiji university club as early as 1948.

It seems like quite a few US servicemen trained whilst stationed in Japan - John Bell for example was probably the first Western person to obtain a black belt after training with Kazuo Sakura, an instructor from Meiji University who established a club in Iwakuni. Another graduate of Meiji University was Yoshiaki Ajari who moved to the States in the late 1950's to attend university. He began teaching karate from then. Meanwhile, a graduate from Tokyo Agricultural University, Koji Takamatsu went to Brazil and began teaching there.

In 1962 Walter Nishioka, another US Serviceman from Hawaii, arranged for Ohtsuka, Kawaguchi, Suzuki and Hirano to visit Hawaii and perform demonstrations. This was only a short visit of a few days.

In 1964, Hiroo Mochizuki visited England (London and York) at the request of the British Karate Federation. Mochizuki was based in Paris and had returned from a period back in Japan during which he had switched to Wadoryu karate. Mochizuki was therefore the first to teach Wadoryu in England although most didn't realise it at the time.

A little later in 1964, Tatsuo Suzuki, Toru Arakawa and Hajime Takashima undertook a tour of Europe and America in which they gave a total of 48 demonstrations over a period of two months. Tatsuo Suzuki was invited back to England to teach and so he returned in 1965 and remained in London for the rest of his life (Suzuki sensei passed away on 12 July 2011).

Suzuki Sensei brought across many instructors to help him establish Wadoryu in the UK and Europe. Initially this included senior karateka such as Teruo Kono (England, Holland, Germany), Yutaka Toyama (England, Germany then Italy) and Atsuo Yamashita (England then Italy). As interest in karate spread, further instructors arrived to support the efforts of the initial group. Amongst them were Masufumi Shiomitsu, former All Japan Champion Hisao Fujii (Holland then England) and Kuniaki Sakagami (Germany then England). In addition to these, some teachers came to Europe directly, including Tetsuya Kojima (Belgium) and Shingo Ohgami (Sweden) so that in total there have been perhaps 40 resident Japanese teachers of Wadoryu karate based in Europe since 1965.

If you would like to read more about the history of the style, then Shingo Ohgami's website is recommended as the authoritative source.