Sushiho Kata?

[gojoinstructor]

ok, I am going to be testing for my Sandan this fall and I have started working on 1 of the 2 katas that I need for the requirements. The one kata is Sushiho. For part of our test, my instructor requires us to research the meanings of the katas. This one has been tough to get. In our curriculum, we have gojushiho (our meaning is 54 steps) and nijushiho (our meaning is 24 steps), but the meaning for sushiho has been 'lost' according to my instructor (personally I think he knows, he just wants me to research and learn some of the history behind it, which is fine)

 

 

 

Well I started researching the meaning of it on the internet and I have come up with a few different issues:

 

1) From https://www.masutatsuoyama.com, Sushiho means 54 steps. Sushiho is derived from the words Useshi, the Okinawan pronunciation of the kanji characters for 54 (pronounced Go Ju Shi in Japanese), and Ho, meaning walk or step. Other karate styles call this advanced kata Gojushiho. But we have a gojushiho in our style already, so this did a good job at confusing me.

 

2) I found another website that had gojushiho and sushiho as seperate katas and one was 54 steps and the other was 64 steps.

 

So, based on that I am just trying to find the real meaning for the kata. According to my research Master Funakoshi derived these kata from northern Chinese kempo and Shorin Ryu. But I am unable to track down the "truth" behind the meaning and now I am more confused about the seperation between gojushiho and sushiho. Any help would be appreciated..

[koryu]

These are the best and most accurate descriptions to my knowledge that I could find, I hope this helps you in your quest to obtain the meaning behind this kata.

 

 

This kata, symbolically speaking, serves as a tool to remind us of the impact the steps we take in our daily lives has on our destiny. The steps we took in the past are linked to those we are taking today, which as a result will have an effect in those taken in the future. So we can say, that the achievements of today are a consequence of steps taken (hard work) in the near or far past. Also, this kata reminds us of our roots, family, teachers or those who also, taking their own steps in live contributed to where you are today.

Means literally 54 steps. Originates from Shuri-te Okinawan schools, which were heavily Northern Chinese influenced. There may have been a link between the name and the original form of this Kata, and the number 54 has close links to Buddhist philosophy. This Kata is a variation of Gojushiho Dai

[Gyte]

I did a search on the internet about the kata Sushiho and found the following information on a German site :

 

http://www.kcdw.de/kampfkunst/kata2.htm#r

Bedeutung: 54 Schritte,

 

Sushiho wird von den Wörtern Useshi, der in Okinawa verwendeten Aussprache der Kanji-Schriftzeichen für 54 (im japanischen Go ju shi ausgesprochen) und Ho, für Gang oder Schritt, abgeleitet. Eine Japanische Kata neueren Datums, gegründet von Masutatsu Oyama aus dem Kyokushinkai. Als Grundlage zur Sushiho diente die Kata Gojushiho (siehe dort), sie ist eine sehr hoch entwickelte Kata, wird aber in verschiedenen Stilrichtungen sehr unterschiedlich ausgeführt.

 

Rough translation for non-German speakers:

 

Meaning: 54 Steps,

 

Sushiho is derived from the word Useshi, the in Okinawa used pronunciation of the Kanji-character for 54 (in japanese spoken like Go ju shi) and Ho, meaning walk or step. A japanese kata of newer date, grounded by Masutatsu Oyama from Kyokushinkai. As a base for Sushiho served the kata Gojushiho (see there), it is a very heigh developed kata, but is in different styles very differently practised.

 

I just love to translate. Hope this helps.

[gojoinstructor]

so literally both katas mean 54 steps. Hmm.. Not really sure what my instructor is looking from me on this one, but I will do some more research and put together a quick findings paper. Thanks for everyone's replies...

[informer]

you are testing with a kata that you have known for less than one year?

[gojoinstructor]

Yup .. testing this fall so I have about 9 months to learn it. Why?

[informer]

hito kata san nen

[kotegashiNeo]

Three years one kata eh couldn't agree more

[gojoinstructor]

3 years for 1 kata? Wow, kinda extreme. Shouldn't take you more than a month to learn most katas. Perfecting it, well that is a different story, but 3 years? Not being disrespectful, but IMHO you have some slow learners.

[mattys]

When testing with a kata, you shouldn't have learned it, you should know it. That's why they say three years is nessicary. When you get to the rank of sandan, those are the types of things that matter.