Why do experienced Shotokan practicioners love Heian Kata?

[Kusotare]

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These days I tend to occupy my time with no more than four empty hand kata and typically no more than two forms for each weapon I know. Except in cases where there are no authentic traditional kata such as with the nunchaku. And by authentic I mostly mean "pre Meiji."

Which koryu arts do your kata come from, if I may ask?

It's a little incorrect to use the term "Koryu" in this respect as, strictly speaking, there is no such thing as a Koryu Karate Ryu-ha.

IMO it’s also a little misleading to refer to forms as being pre or post Meiji kata.

Leaving the pinan kata to one side - virtually all Kata practiced in “traditional” gendai karate dojo have their origins back to the Edo period or earlier.

K.

[SteyrAUG]

...

These days I tend to occupy my time with no more than four empty hand kata and typically no more than two forms for each weapon I know. Except in cases where there are no authentic traditional kata such as with the nunchaku. And by authentic I mostly mean "pre Meiji."

Which koryu arts do your kata come from, if I may ask?

It's a little incorrect to use the term "Koryu" in this respect as, strictly speaking, there is no such thing as a Koryu Karate Ryu-ha.

IMO it’s also a little misleading to refer to forms as being pre or post Meiji kata.

Leaving the pinan kata to one side - virtually all Kata practiced in “traditional” gendai karate dojo have their origins back to the Edo period or earlier.

K.

I use Meiji because that was the primary catalyst for the "jutsu" to "do" reformations. And there are many kata that were heavily modified in the 20s and 30s so I use "pre Meiji" to refer to the more original forms. And there are plenty of kata that were added after the fact that never existed prior to the introduction of karate to Japan, yet these styles are considered "traditional" and have a genuine lineage.