Gojushiho Dai is one of two types of this kata - the Dai (Major) and Sho (Minor) versions. Both trace their origins back to Useishi, which also means 'fifty four (Go is five, ju is ten and shi is four, or 5 x 10 + 4 = 54). It seems that the form was known for a short time at least as Hotaku (Woodpecker) but that name, used by Funakoshi sensei, was another that didn't stick so the kata went with a different name but with the same meaning as the original. The name again suggests some influence at least of Buddhism, with 54 being half of the 108 'Defilements' in Buddhist philosophy, though I would argue that these numbers have a far older pedigree than an association with Buddhism would suggest (see also Nijushiho for a longer explanation).
There is an interesting and amusing story that in the JKA syllabus the Dai and Sho versions are reversed. This is due to a high ranking Japanese karateka announcing at an international competition that he would do one kata before promptly doing the other. So as not to embarrass him the Japanese created the fiction that he was in fact correct by uniformly changing the names to refer to the sister kata. Thus Gojushiho Dai became Gojushiho Sho and vice versa. Kanazawa sensei (featured in the video below) was of higher rank and refused to follow suite. The Gojushiho Dai demonstrated below is therefore consistent with the original.
