Shotokan Brown belt Kata

[mal103]

I learnt in a Dojo that had just Bassai Dai for most of the time whilst a Brown belt but have since moved to having lots more now I run my own club. I'm not associated to anyone but have adopted a lot from the group that I now train with, including some of their syllabus and the Kata order.

Just wanted to know where this order sits with other Shotokan schools, I researched a lot of big associations and found them to be as below but I've just had another look about and it seems several clubs have extended their training Kata so that by the time you work through the 5 Heian/Pinan's and Tekki 1 then you get to 1st Kyu and Bassai Dai.

So... (apologies for spelling)

Taikyoko/Kihon Kata for 10th kyu

Heian/Pinan 1-5 for 9th to 5th kyu

Tekki/Nihanchu 1 for 4th Kyu

Bassai Dai for 3rd Kyu Brown belt

Hangetsu for 2nd Kyu Brown + 1

Jion/Empi for1st Kyu Brown +2

As they spend longer at 1st Kyu they are also expected to have a working knowledge of Kanku Dai for when they grade to Blackbelt

If any Black belts train with me then I would expect them to know all of the above.

The last for are often referred to as Brown belt Kata, what about your system?

[quinteros1963]

9th-Taikiko sho

8th-Heian sho

7th-Heian ni

6th-Heian san

5th-Heian yon

4th-Heian go

3rd-Tekki sho

2nd-Bassai dai

1st -Bassai dai

BB -Bassai dai/Kanku dai/Jion/Jitte or Empi (Choice of)

[Kanku65]

In my present ISKF region, to grade for black belt we must know...

White-Blue:

All 5 Heian

Purple:

Tekki Shodan

Brown:

Bassai Dai

Ji'On

Kanku Dai

Empi

[wagnerk]

Not sure if it's still the same (as I've switched arts/styles a while ago), but this is what is was as I graded:

10th kyu: Taikyoku Shodan (half Kata)

9th kyu: Taikyoku Shodan (Full kata, from now on all kata's are full)

8th kyu: Heian Shodan (Peaceful Mind Level 1)

7th kyu: Heian Nidan (Peaceful Mind Level 2)

6th kyu: Heian Sandan (peaceful Mind Level 3)

5th kyu: Heian Yodan (Peaceful Mind Level 4)

4th kyu: Heian Godan (Peaceful Mind Level 5)

3rd kyu: Tekki Shodan (Horse Riding level 1)

2nd kyu: Bassai Dai (To Storm a Fortress)

1st Kyu: Kanku Dai (To view the Sky)

1st Dan: Enpi (Flying Swallow), Jion (From the temple of Jion), Jitte(Ten Hands), Ji'in(Temple Grounds), Wankan(A Proper Name)

Time wise, it was 3 month between each grading up to 3rd Kyu, then every 6 months, with the grading to Shodan "averaging" about a year (after 1st kyu). However few did it within 6-9 months of passing their 1st kyu, others took years... (I use the term "averaging" loosely).

-Ken

[mal103]

Thank you for your time in replying

For those that have a choice of Kata for Black belt (Jion, Empi, Kanku-Dai etc) are you expected to know all of the Kata and choose your best one, or do you only have to know one?

[Harkon72]

I did shotokan karate to 2nd kyu. I did:

Kihon Kata 1,2.3.4.

Heian Kata 1,2,3,4,5.

Tekki Shodan

Tekki Nidan

Bassai Dai

Kanku Dai

In the grading, you could be asked to perform any of the above until the examiner was satisfied.

[Kanku65]

For shodan grading we get to choose one of the 4 brown belt kata, but the instructor may chose any of the above kata to be executed after we've demonstrated our choice.

The most common choices by the instructor are tekki shodan or one of the 5 heians. however, it is not unheard of for one of the advanced katas to be called by the instructor.

[wagnerk]

For us, we had to chose a favourite one but we also had to know the others as the examiner could call out 1 or all of the others as part of the grading.

[bassaiguy]

In my Shotokan branch by shodan we expect our students to know:

Taikyoku 1-3

Heian 1-5

Tekki 1-3

Bassai-dai

Kanku-dai

Empi

Jion or Hangetsu

Students are expected to be able to perform all of the listed kata, but focus on one or two to demonstrate bunkai.

By brown belt students may not know Tekki 2 & 3, Jion or Hangetsu, but the others are expected.

After shodan the sky is the limit, but honestly, who can really master 26 kata?

[student_karateka]

I learnt in a Dojo that had just Bassai Dai for most of the time whilst a Brown belt but have since moved to having lots more now I run my own club. I'm not associated to anyone but have adopted a lot from the group that I now train with, including some of their syllabus and the Kata order.

Just wanted to know where this order sits with other Shotokan schools, I researched a lot of big associations and found them to be as below but I've just had another look about and it seems several clubs have extended their training Kata so that by the time you work through the 5 Heian/Pinan's and Tekki 1 then you get to 1st Kyu and Bassai Dai.

So... (apologies for spelling)

Taikyoko/Kihon Kata for 10th kyu

Heian/Pinan 1-5 for 9th to 5th kyu

Tekki/Nihanchu 1 for 4th Kyu

Bassai Dai for 3rd Kyu Brown belt

Hangetsu for 2nd Kyu Brown + 1

Jion/Empi for1st Kyu Brown +2

As they spend longer at 1st Kyu they are also expected to have a working knowledge of Kanku Dai for when they grade to Blackbelt

If any Black belts train with me then I would expect them to know all of the above.

The last for are often referred to as Brown belt Kata, what about your system?

I train in the Ko Sutemi Seiei Kan style of karate which is relatively younger than Shotokan but in many respects very similar to Shotokan (which I went to yonkyu in in the 90s). Here are the kata requirements:

1st kyu: I'm actually not sure what the names of these katas are; one of the three is a weapons form involving the Sai. There are 3.

2nd kyu: Bassai Dai, Enpi, and Sushi no kun sho (a bo kata)

3rd kyu: Sanchen, Nohai (the blind man's kata), and an in-house kata they call nunchuku ichi which is the weapons form for this rank

4th kyu: Pinan Godan, Seisan, and an in-house kata they call bo ichi which is the weapons form for this rank

5th kyu: Pinan Sandan and Yon

6th kyu: Pinan Shodan and Nidan

7th kyu: Fukyugata ichi and ni.

8th kyu=white belt in our system

In our system a 1st kyu brown belt is expected to know all of the above which by my count is 18 kata in all.