Meikyo

Meikyo was originally called Rohai and was developed by Kosaku Matsumora in the Tomari te tradition. Itosu sensei then took the core form and developed three variations. These three kata can still be seen today but in Shotokan Funakoshi sensei took the three patterns of Itosu sensei and reversed his master's creation process, distilling the three forms into one again (though this is vastly different to the original developed by Matsumora sensei and in fact is almost unrecognizable as having developed from a common kata when compared to the Shito ryu and Wado ryu versions of Rohai. It should also be mentioned that the Shito and Wado versions also differ from one another).

Funakoshi sensei also took this chance to rename the kata Meikyo, which means 'bright mirror' and is said to refer to the need to constantly polish one's basic techniques even when learning more advanced waza. The form blends movements that are unique with others that are the most fundamental to Shotokan.

Following Kanazawa sensei you can see Funakoshi sensei himself doing the form way back in 1924.

Master Kanazawa performing Meikyo

Sochin

Sochin came down to the Shotokan syllabus from Seisho Arakaki, a Naha te master. Unusually though it was not introduced by Funakoshi sensei but by his son, Yoshitaka 'Gigo' Funakoshi, a man many people believe to have played a key part in deepening the stances of Shotokan and making it more dynamic and 'harder' in style as compared to its Okinawan roots. Still, this was another kata that Funakoshi sensei tried to change the name for mainland Japanese, and this time he succeeded. Formerly the pattern was called Hakko.

This form itself is a very powerful kata. The name means 'Tranquil Force' and the pattern promotes the use of a wide, deep, powerful stance that roots the practitioner to the ground making him supposedly immovable in the face of danger.

Master Kanazawa performing Sochin

Hangetsu

Hangetsu means 'Half moon' though originally it was known as Seisan. In its variations it is the most widely practiced form across all the different karate styles. The opening movements, and moreso the breathing and pelvic movements, closely resemble Sanchin, though this form switches to swifter, lighter techniques towards the end.

The kata introduces a stance suitable for close quarters fighting and the look and feel of the first half of the form are distinctly 'un-Shotokan'. However, the pattern has a strong pedigree and it is known that it was being taught by Seisho Aragaki by 1867. This kata or, more precisely the Uechi ryu version of Seisan is what led author Nathan Johnson to the conclusion that it was originally intended to be a sai form but came to be performed without the actual weapons. This is covered in the book The Great Karate Myth.

Master Kanazawa performing Hangetsu

Gankaku

Gankaku was originally named Chinto, supposedly after a shipwrecked Chinese sailor trapped on Okinawa who taught it to 'Bushi' Matsumura. Funakoshi sensei again changed the name for his mainland Japanese audience with the new name meaning 'Crane on a Rock', so-called because of the distinctive one-legged stance employed at different points. The form may have its origins in Five Ancestors Fist, a type of kung fu popular in Southern China and which includes a form named Chen Tou, which is pronounced Chinto in Japanese. Movement #10 (at 0:37) is highly reminiscent of Crane style kung fu poses, though this is much clearer in the original Okinawan versions where the same move is executed in a cat stance rather than a front stance. The kata also continually returns to the theme of taking a stance balanced on one-leg, again highly reminiscent of a crane and a (slight) variation of a stance found in Crane kung fu.

The kata was practiced in both the Tomari te and Shuri te schools before it came down to Funakoshi sensei and entered the Shotokan syllabus. Here the form was modified and became more linear. It is a difficult kata to perform well and a popular choice in competition.

Master Kanazawa performing Gankaku

Enpi

Enpi is sometimes also written and spoken as Empi. The name can be literally translated as 'Flying Swallow', though the original name of the form was Wansu. This was another kata that had its name changed by Funakoshi sensei when karate came to mainland Japan, though in this case the name change stuck.

It is believed that the kata can trace its origins in Chinese martial arts, from which it entered the Tomari te system. The predominant theory on its development is that it was a kata practiced and taught by the Chinese diplomat Wang Ji, known as Wanshu in Okinawa, who arrived in Tomari in 1683. Wang Ji practiced Fujian White Crane kung fu and taught connections in the Tomari area. It came to Funakoshi sensei via Itosu sensei.

Older versions of Wansu / Wanshu are almost unrecognizable when compared to the Shotokan version, though there are some more recent interpretations - such as the version found in Wado ryu - that are somewhere between the more traditional Okinawan versions and the more recent Japanese ones. Certainly the Shotokan kata makes greater use of pauses and slowed movements but suffers from being less complex and nuanced than those forms seen in pure Okinawan styles.

Master Kanazawa performing Enpi

Chinte

Chinte supposedly traces its origins back to Chinese martial arts though when it precisely entered into Okinawan karate is unknown. The form is an unusual one in the Shotokan syllabus as it continues to employ more circular movements, thereby indicating that it escaped, at least to an extent, the simplification process carried out by Itosu sensei and Funakoshi sensei that make many traditional kata more linear and direct and shaped the development of Shotokan as we know it today.

Funakoshi sensei also tried to change the name of this kata once in Japan to Shoin but the new name never caught on. The original name literally means 'Strange hands' and the pattern emphasizes hand movements above all else, employing a wide variety of different strikes to weak (pressure) points on the opponent. The kata emphasizes close-quarters-no-rules combat and is a very useful and interesting one to learn from the point of view of investigating karate as a pure martial art.

The final stages of the kata are a little confusing as they involve the practitioner hopping back to his original starting point. Precisely why this is done is unknown though one suggestion is that the original closing movements have been forgotten and lost and the hops simply return the karateka back to his original starting position, thereby making everything 'neat and tidy' as all the other forms begin and end in the same position.

The kata was not one of those described in Karate Do Kyohan.

Master Kanazawa performing Chinte

Jitte

Jitte is the third 'temple' kata (along with Jion and Jiin). The original name was Jutte, meaning 'ten' (ju) 'hands' (te) but is most commonly referred to nowadays as Jitte though the meaning of 'Ten Hands' has remained. Funakoshi sensei tells us that the name implies that a person skilled in this form is as competent in fighting as ten men. The kata comes down to us through the Tomari te stream and is believed to have its origins in China, though clearly more Okinawan style movements have either been added or have replaced whatever was there originally. The pattern does however start with the distinctive left hand covering the clenched right fist.

The most common bunkai interpretation of the movements that are unique to this kata is that it is to be used against a bo (staff) wielding opponent but it has also been argued that in fact the kata was originally intended to practice bo techniques in an empty-handed fashion. In other words, certain of the movements are best understood if the practitioner actually himself held a bo. That at least some of the older kata of various styles were (arguably) intended to represent movements with actual weapons has been picked up on by Nathan J. Johnson in his book The Great Karate Myth. Of particular interest are the opening movements. According to Nathan Johnson, who examines Sanchin and Seisan (Hangetsu in Shotokan), the hand movements replicate how a pair of sai would have been held. This is more clearly seen in Seisan but, Johnson argues, these movements have been replicated and modified in Sanchin so that the lower hand is now palm down rather than palm up - as seen in movement #2 in the video below. Of further interest here is that the name of the kata is also the name of a weapon very similar to the sai except it has only one prong (for catching and controlling another weapon) whereas the sai has two prongs.

Master Kanazawa performing Jitte

Jion

Jion is another kata from the Itosu line, taught to him by 'Bushi' Matsumura and then passed in turn from Itosu sensei to Funakoshi sensei. It is believed that the form has its origins in China but was modified, as many patterns were, by Itosu and this more-linear version is the one that has come down to us through the Shotokan school.

The kata begins from a stance with the left hand covering the right fist, indicating a Chinese origin and, more specific to Okinawa, a Tomari te root. This stance is seen in other forms such as Bassai Dai and demonstrates a common place of origin.

The exact meaning of the name has been lost. It is taught as one of the three 'temple' kata (the others being Jiin and Jitte) but is is unlikely that the name is a reference to a famous Buddhist temple of the same name on mainland Japan. One author has seen a different kanji (Chinese character) used in reference to this form, though using the same pronunciation, to mean 'to develop techniques to condition the body.

Master Kanazawa performing Jion

Jiin

Jiin is another of the 'temple' forms (along with Jion and Jitte) and its name means 'temple ground'. As with the others in the series, the pattern opens with with left hand placed over the clenched right fist, making it a member of the Tomari te school with origins almost certainly in China. Unlike Jion and Jitte however, this kata entered the Shotokan syllabus at a later date. In Funakoshi's master text Karate Do Kyohan there is no mention of this kata. When it was taught Funakoshi tried to change the name to Shokyo but it didn't stick.

Like many of the Shotokan forms this varies from the original as taught on Okinawa and movements at the end of this kata are missing as compared to the purer Shorin ryu version. In the original there is an upward block / lunge punch combination executed first to the practitioner's left and then repeated again 180 degrees to his right.

Master Kanazawa performing Jiin

Kanku Dai

Kanku Daiis yet another one that Funakoshi sensei changed the name of when he brought karate to mainland Japan. On Okinawa the form was known as Kusanku or Kwanku and was believed to refer to the name of the Chinese martial artist who first taught it. It is believed that the pattern was passed down from the man Kusanku to 'Tode' Sakugawa, then from 'Bushi' Matsumura to Itosu sensei from whom Funakoshi sensei learned it.

Popular opinion holds that the five Pinan / Heian kata were developed by Itosu sensei on Okinawa to include key movements from Kusanku (perhaps along with the two 'lost' Channan forms) interspersed with more basic techniques to make teaching easier to larger and younger classes. Master Kousaku Yokota (Shotokan Karate Myths) suggests that Heian Nidan is a simplified version of this kata in its entirety. Consider also that Shotokan's Heian Nidan is still taught as Pinan Shodan on Okinawa, or the first form learned perhaps betraying the importance of Kushanku on its development and the key role this latter pattern plays in the Itosu system.

Author Nathan Johnson offers a very different idea in his book The Great Karate Myth when he argues that originally this kata was meant to be performed with a pair of sai. In particular, the 'knife hand block' is interpreted by Johnson to be a block with a sai. In the Okinawan version this move is performed in cat stance which, Johnson again argues, allows a swift front kick to kick away the weapon trapped in the prong of the sai or to kick the weapon wielding hand. As with his theories on the Tekki kata however, he offers no direct evidence for his hypothesis.

Johnson also notes that we do not in fact know if 'To te' Sakugawa learned Kusanku 'as is' or if his version is a synthesis of something (or various things) he was taught.

The name of the kata means 'To look to the sky', a reference to the simple but compelling opening movements of the form as the arms are slowly raised with a small triangle formed between the hands.

Master Kanazawa performing Kanku Dai