One of Arizona’s oldest dojos was founded in 1976 by Sensei Marlon Moore. The school was originally named Arizona Wado Karate after the style it practices, and has relocated several times in the 50 years since its founding. In 2019, the school was renamed to Chandler Martial Arts Center.
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The Origins of Wado-Ryu Karate
Wado-Ryu Karate is an Okinawan martial art that was founded in 1933 and registered in 1934 by Hironori Ohtsuka. Ohtsuka was a student of Shindo Yoshin-Ryu until he met Gichin Funakoshi. He later split from Funakoshi’s teaching because he believed that they needed to practice actual ways of fighting and not just forms.
The style he founded was called Wado-Ryu, which can mean both ‘Way of Peace’ and ‘Way of the Japanese’. Wado-Ryu is a fusion of Shindo Yoshin-Ryu, Okinawan Karate, and Shito-Ryu Karate. Students today are carrying on both Sensei Marlon’s and Hironori Ohtsuka’s legacies. Chandler Martial Arts Center is now owned and operated by a longtime student of Sensei Marlon’s, Sensei Kelley Hutta.
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Leadership Under Sensei Kelley Hutta
Sensei Kelley brings over 35 years of martial arts experience to Chandler Martial Arts, where she serves as Owner and Chief Instructor. She is a 4th Degree Black Belt in Wado-Ryu Karate and certified through USA Karate (NKF). Sensei Kelly has earned recognition on the national and international stage as a multiple-time US Open Advanced Kumite Gold Medalist, USA Karate National Referee of the Year (2025) and a PKF International Referee.
She is also a Certified National Referee and Regional Judge for both Kata and Kumite, with deep expertise in officiating and competition. Her martial arts journey began in 1990, with primary focus in Wado-Ryu and Wado-Kai Karate, along with additional training in Shito-Ryu, Goju-Ryu, fencing, and other competitive sports.
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A Growing Community and The Next Generation of Competitors
Today, the school has over twenty experienced Black Belts who have spent many years earning the qualifications to teach and share Wado-Ryu. Chandler Martial Arts Center has produced multiple members of Team USA and hosts National Qualifying Tournaments for athletes who want to compete at USA Karate Nationals.
As the school grows bigger, and more young people are joining, several senseis and senior students have stepped in to lead Junior, Weapons, and Children’s classes. This helps to take the load off the owner. The school also has a Capoeira class that comes in late at night to train and, during more advanced Wado classes, a Judo class meets and shares the mats. Because of all the different martial arts meeting and training in one place, this provides unique opportunities to cross-train and just have fun doing different kinds of the same sport.
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With the rise in popularity of karate, many younger competitors are training and emerging, such as the competitive Kata team shown above. These young girls are training in Sparring, Kata (or routines), and even traditional Okinawan weapons.
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Sometimes in training, there are moments when you just know that this is where you are supposed to be, when everyone is laughing and yelling and you just messed up a drill, but you don’t care because you are with your family. When interviewed, several students stated that their favorite moments in the dojo include coming to Monday classes as a rest for the week, and attending Sensei Stan Hillhouse’s Applied Judo classes as a break from routine. They said that training for any amount of time is a good and freeing break from the rest of the week, and for 50 years now, this dojo has been giving people a refuge to train and learn.
