order of Kata

[Zaine]

Taikyoku Gedan / Chudan / Jodan - Yellow

Gecki Sai Dai Ichi - Orange

Gecki Sai Dai Ni - Green

Saifa - Blue

Seyunchin & Tensho & Sanchin - Brown

Sanseru - Shodan

Shisochin - 2nd dan

Sesan - 3rd dan

Sepai - 4th dan

Kururunfa - 5th dan

Suparimpai

Personally, I would favor the following order:

Sanchin - Beginner onward

Gecki Sai Dai Ichi - Yellow

Gecki Sai Dai Ni - Orange

Saifa - Green

Seyunchin & Tensho - Brown

Sesan - Shodan

Sanseru - 2nd dan

Sepai - 3rd dan

Shisochin - 4th dan

Kururunfa - 5th dan

Suparimpai

No Taikyoku? Why not?

[GojuRyu Bahrain]

No Taikyoku? Why not?

Well, (this is strictly my personal opinion - I might be wrong ) the Taikyuko "Katas" do not fit into the Goju Ryu system. Instead, they teach bad habits:

1- stepping forward in Zenkutsu Dachi with Oi Zuki

2- even worse, stepping forward Zenkutsu Dachi with a block

3- mawate; the turns are performed by moving the back foot (moving the body into the attack). In all later Kata, turns always include evasion by moving the body off line (moving the front foot). Obviously this is quickly expanded to throws.

4- promote wrong concept of distance (opponent is simulated too far away).

I believe the intent behind the Taikyuko were to train large groups of beginners in body awareness (so that they know where their left foot and right arm are etc..). I strongly believe in small-group training and there body awareness & coordination can be learned through Kihon, Kihon Ido and partner exercises within the Goju Ryu framework, i.e., in line with later Kata principles.

[Kanku65]

9th Kyu (white) Heian Shodan

8th Kyu (yellow) Heian Nidan

7th Kyu (orange) Heian Sandan

6th Kyu (green) Hein Yondan

5th Kyu (blue) Hein Godan

4th Kyu (purple) Tekki Shodan

3rd Kyu (brown) Bassai-Dai, Jion (your choice)

2nd Kyu (brown) Bassai-Dai, Jion, Empi (your choice)

1st Kyu (brown) Bassai-Dai, Jion, Empi, Kanku-Dai (must know all)

For Dan levels, I do believe you must choose 3 personal katas to train and specialize in.

Dan level katas include:

Tekki Nidan, Tekki Sandan, Bassai-Sho, Kanku-Sho, Jiin, Gankaku, Jitte, Hangetsu, Chinte, Sochin, Nijushiho, Unsu, Meikyo, Gojushio-Sho, Gojushio-Dai

[Shizentai]

These are the kata as I learned them. The rank corresponds to what I was expected to be working on at that time (before ascending to the next rank). In the 14 years since I was a white belt, I've noticed that they've started teaching kids kihon kata to go from 10kyu to 9kyu in my hometown dojo.

9kyu - Heian Shodan

8kyu - Heian Nidan

7kyu - Heian Sandan

6kyu - Heian Yondan

5kyu - Heian Godan

4kyu - Tekki Shodan

3kyu-1kyu - Bassai-dai

1dan - Jion, Enpi, Kanku-dai, Tekki Nidan

2dan - Hangetsu, Gankaku, Jitte

All ranks must know all of their past kata as well as current. 1dan and above are expected to have a tokui-gata to perform as well, typically any non-tekki and non-heian kata, in other words one of the following: Jion, Enpi, Kanku-dai, Hangetsu, Gankaku, Jitte, Bassai sho, Kanku sho, Chinte, Jiin, Meikyo, Wankan, Nijushiho, Gojushiho-sho, Gojushiho-dai, Sochin or Unsu.

[RAM18]

9kyu - none

8kyu - Pinan Nidan

7kyu - Pinan Shodan

6kyu - Pinan Sandan

5kyu - Pinan Yondan

4kyu - Pinan Godan

3kyu - KushanKu

2Kyu - Nihanchi

1Kyu - Chinto

1Dan - Seishan / Bassai-Dai

Some more at 2nd Dan but cant remember them. Wado Ryu likes to be different

[Dani_001]

Gekisai dai ichi

Gekisai dai ni

Saifa

Seiyunchin

Sisochin

Sanseru

Seipai

Kururunfa

Superempei

Seisan

Sanchin we do occassionally in class, becomes more NB for brown. Tensho 4black

http://www.goju-ryu.co.za/index.php/kata

That is the site. We actually learn both sanchin kata.

[mazzybear]

8th Kyu- None

7th Kyu- Pinan Nidan

6th Kyu- Pinan Shodan

5th Kyu- Pinan Sandan + Pinan Yodan

4th Kyu- Pinan Yodan + Pinan Godan

3rd Kyu- Kushanku + any Pinan kata

2nd Kyu- Kushanku + any Pinan kata

1st Kyu- Kushanku + any Pinan kata

This is according to the syllabus, but we can be leanring any of the black belt katas at the same time from 4th Kyu onwards.

From 1st Dan on the SKF (Scottish Karate Federation) pick which two black belt kata will be performed at Dan gradings in the year. They choose from:

Bassai,

Chinto,

Jion,

Jitte,

Nihanchi,

Niseishi,

Rohai,

Seishan,

Wanshu.

M.

[Nidan Melbourne]

No Taikyoku? Why not?

Well, (this is strictly my personal opinion - I might be wrong ) the Taikyuko "Katas" do not fit into the Goju Ryu system. Instead, they teach bad habits:

1- stepping forward in Zenkutsu Dachi with Oi Zuki

2- even worse, stepping forward Zenkutsu Dachi with a block

3- mawate; the turns are performed by moving the back foot (moving the body into the attack). In all later Kata, turns always include evasion by moving the body off line (moving the front foot). Obviously this is quickly expanded to throws.

4- promote wrong concept of distance (opponent is simulated too far away).

I believe the intent behind the Taikyuko were to train large groups of beginners in body awareness (so that they know where their left foot and right arm are etc..). I strongly believe in small-group training and there body awareness & coordination can be learned through Kihon, Kihon Ido and partner exercises within the Goju Ryu framework, i.e., in line with later Kata principles.

I am also a goju practitioner but I disagree with you to an extent but you do have a right to an opinion. The taikyoku Kata are beginner Kata to help students learn how to move into stances. Kihon works well moving forwards and backwards but doesn't really incorporate turns.

The taikyoku Kata does help with the more advanced Kata with manoeuvering and hip movement.

Stepping into zenkutsu dachi with an oi zuki you do have a concept of distance. You can step into an attack and zenkutsu dachi is a stable stance.

[Hawkmoon]

In our Kyokushin dojo :

10th Kyu : Taikyoku Sono Ichi

9th Kyu : Taikyoku Sono Ni

8th Kyu : Taikyoku Sono San

7th Kyu : Pinan Sono Ichi

6th Kyu : Pinan Sono Ni

5th Kyu : Pinan Sono San

4th Kyu : Tekki Sono Ichi , Sanchin

3rd Kyu : Pinan Sono Yon, Tsuki No Kata, Taikyoku Sono Ichi (in Ura)

2nd Kyu : Pinan Sono Go, Gekisai Dai, Taikyoku Sono Ni (in Ura)

1st Kyu : Yantsu, Gekisai Sho, Taikyoku Sono San (in Ura)

Shodan : Tensho, Saifa, Tekki Sono Ni, Pinan Sono Ichi (in Ura), Bo Kihon Sono Ichi

Nidan : Seienchin, Garyu, Tekki Sono San, Bassai Dai, Pinan Sono Ni & San (in Ura), Bo-kata.

The IFK, BKK is much the same:

10 kyu - Taikyoku-Sono-Ichi

9 kyu - Taikyoku-Sono-Ni.

8 kyu - Taikyoku-Sono-San.

7 kyu - Pinan-Sono-Ichi.

6 kyu - Pinan-Sono-Ni.

5 kyu - Pinan-Sono-San.

4 kyu - Sanchin kata

3 Kyu - Pinan-Sono-Yon, Sanchin no kata (Kiai)

2 kyu - Pinan-Sono-Go, Gakisai Dai

1 kyu - Yantsu, Tsuki-No-Kata

1st Dan - Tensho, Saiha, Taikyoku-Sono-Ichi, Taikyoku-Sono-Ni and Taikyoku-Sono-San are performed in Ura.

2nd Dan - Kanku-Dai, Gekisai-Sho, Seienchin, Pinan-Sono-Ichi in Ura.

3rd Dan - Garyu, Seipai, Sushiho.

A person seeking 3rd Dan promotion must also 'create' a kata.

Write it down and offer full descriptions as to what, why where and demonstrate as needed to the grading panel in advance of the grading itself.

Outside the, these are a few others.

Kihon kata ichi & ni, as you might expect, and some kicking katas!

Sokugi Taikyoku sono Ichi,Ni & San

Not many as far as I am aware do these 'kicking kata'.

Sosai developed them to teach and so allow a student to practice the movement/transition between kicks.

[GojuRyu Bahrain]

... Kihon works well moving forwards and backwards but doesn't really incorporate turns.

The taikyoku Kata does help with the more advanced Kata with manoeuvering and hip movement.

Kihon Ido (fundamental techniques in motion) allow for turns and so do partner exercises. Especially, because the turns in Taikyuko are wrong from the Goju Ryu perspective, as I explained before.

Stepping into zenkutsu dachi with an oi zuki you do have a concept of distance. You can step into an attack and zenkutsu dachi is a stable stance.

Punching over long distance is not included in any of the other Katas (that contain the core concepts of Goju Ryu). Neither is Oi Zuki. I just did all Katas and checked. Really. There are only 5 Oi Zukis, one in Sanchin and two in each of the Geckisai forms, which are fairly new themselves. Oi Zuki in Zenkutsu Dachi is a Shotokan concept (appears for example in the Heian Katas, and sporadically in advanced Katas like Jion, Gankaku etc..). But not nearly as often as time is spent on practicing it in Kihon. Based on this my question is: Why should Goju Ryu Karate-ka spend much time on a concept that wasn't important enough for the founder(s) of our art to be included in our core Katas?

(I play the devils advocate here; for my Nidan in Shotokan I have done a lot of Zukis in Zenkutsu Dachi)