Chinto / gunkaku

[Shorin Ryuu]

Just to add to some of what was said.

The traditional Okinawan story for the origin of the kata Chinto was it came from the name of a shipwrecked Chinese sailor (it happened a lot in those days). The sailor was stealing food from various farms to survive and Matsumura was sent to track him down. They fought and Matsumura was defeated, so Matsumura tracked him down and asked him to teach him his fighting style, which was passed down in the form of the kata we have today, known as Chinto.

According to John Sells and other martial arts historians, another possible explanation would be interpreting it as "Fighting to the East" or may simply be referring to a city in some eastern district of China.

The thing is, none of the kata ever had their names written down in kanji (Chinese characters). Any such assignation of characters and interpretation from it only happened in relatively recent times.

There are three main types of Okinawan Chinto, the Shuri version (Matsumura lineage), the Tomari version (Matsumora lineage) and the Kyan version (derived from Kyan Chotoku who derived his from Matsumora). There are other variations, of course.

I believe one of the main features of this kata is using the turning of the body as a weapon and principle. I don't mean purely in terms of centrifugal force, but for more close in-fighting purposes.

As far as saying this kata is a [blank] rank kata, I think that statement is humorous. The number of years that karate has had a ranking system is far, far less than the number of years it did not. Criticizing those not in your system for the sometimes arbitrary assignation of rank requirements for learning certain kata is rather narrow-minded. That being said, I believe Chinto is a rather difficult kata, but saying someone shouldn't be learning it just because they don't meet the requirement for your organization isn't something I can agree with. Organizations have their own requirements for their kata, and even these may vary slightly from dojo to dojo. It is mainly used as an aid to help organize training, not to say without certainty that someone can never do a kata without reaching a certain rank, especially considering again how new an innovation the ranking system is and how inadequate it is to truly capture the skill of a practitioner in many instances.

[isshinryu5toforever]

In Isshin-Ryu Chinto is the 5th kata you learn. This would make you a green belt or so.

[ONE TROOF]

Just to add to some of what was said.

The traditional Okinawan story for the origin of the kata Chinto was it came from the name of a shipwrecked Chinese sailor (it happened a lot in those days). The sailor was stealing food from various farms to survive and Matsumura was sent to track him down. They fought and Matsumura was defeated, so Matsumura tracked him down and asked him to teach him his fighting style, which was passed down in the form of the kata we have today, known as Chinto.

Good reply, but Matsumura fought Chinto to a stalemate, he wasn't defeated per se. Every ryuha has a different interpretation of this form. Matsumura performed it on a North-South or East-West line, however you want to look at it. Kyan learned his Chinto from Kosaku Matsumora who performed it on a 45 degree orientation (i.e.: NW-SE line), hence Matsubayshi's and other Kyan influenced styles interpretations.

Regardless--- the kata teaches you throws, groundfighting, standing locks, tai-sabaki (change-body), and conditions you for heightened proprioception, spiral torque, balance, a cool upper-cut to a knee strike move and so much more. It is an advanced form and shouldn't be done, at least in Matsumura Seito or most Shorin Ryuha, before Shodan. You need to learn the basics before moving on to the dynamics entailed in this form.

Great posts. Sorry to dig it back up, but I love this form.

[Killer Miller]

I'm with you ZakariRu. I don't know where Gankaku is a Godan Kata either... I think, if I recall, I tested for Shodan with Kankudai. However, my primary kata was Gankaku and my secondary kata was Kankudai. Nishiyama, nor any of the other JKA instructors, or affiliates, ever had a problem with Gankaku being practiced or performed by us - nor they any of the ever indicate it was a Godan kata.

I would love to see this point elaborated on for clarification.

- Killer -

Gankaku a godan kata? I don't know where you got that, several shotokan orginazations allow you to test for shodan with it.

And as for the whole advanced kata thing (flames here i come) usually the most challenging part about higher katas like gankaku, chinte, sochin,unsu even gojushiho (the jka sho more then the dai) is getting your instructor to allow you to practice them.

[P.A.L]

Gankaku is a 5th Dan Kata, How come? if we do the original kata chinto in color belt level how come a simplified kata becomes 5 dan kata?

[Sandan]

I was delihgted to read this. I plan to do this kata in my next grading and I've been spending a lot of time with it lately. I agree that the ranking system has been around only a short while, whilst people were doing Karate and such like for many years beforehand. However wasn't it still the instructor who decided when to pass on a kata...