The different faces of Basai Dai

[IcemanSK]

In my Taekwondo organization we do Basai Dai (that we just call Bassai) at 3rd Dan. When I was learning this kata, I searched Youtube and found that many of the various Karate styles put their own emphasis or uniqueness to it. I found it to be a fascinating study of how different Arts look at the same kata. I don't see it as a bad thing that each style makes it uniquely their own.

Here is our organization's version at one of our tournaments. This is not me, however.

Shotokan:

Shito- Ryu:

Kyokushin:

Tang Soo Do:

In looking for different versions I noticed a wide variety of differences, even within the same style. I noticed that the 2 Korean styles make the side kick higher than our Japanese brethren, but that's kind of what we tend to do. Some styles add, some subtract techniques, but it's a great kata to see how each style interprets it.

Peace

[Wastelander]

The kata that most styles call Bassai Dai is what we call Passai Sho. Here is Kinjo Sensei demonstrating it at one of our style's annual training camps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqB-nFJKb4o

[IcemanSK]

Excellent! I've also heard it called Palsek in some Korean Art circles.

[chiliphil1]

My school did this kata for the black belt grading. We did the tang soo do version you posted above and also just called it bassai.

[ShoriKid]

Just adding something here that I think will open up discussion.

http://www.ikigaiway.com/2014/making-sense-of-passai-an-exploration-of-origin-and-style/

More later when work permits.

[Wastelander]

Matt's article on Passai is definitely a good overview of the different variants of the kata. One that it doesn't include is Tachimura no Passai, because there is no video of this kata publicly available. It would fall in the Shuri category, but is somewhat different from most, although even I haven't seen the whole thing.

The KishimotoDi oral teachings indicate that Naihanchi, Passai, and Kusanku were all taught as a set by "Tode" Sakugawa Kanga. If we look at the systems that contain these kata, and compare their lineages, we can see that this does seem to be the case--every system passed down from Sakugawa, that we know of, has passed on these three kata. There is sometimes a bit of controversy surrounding this because of the commonly-accepted idea that Matsumura created Passai. Personally, I suspect this came about because he modified Passai, so he created his own version of it, rather than having created the original kata, itself.

The version that is usually called Bassai Dai, and which we call Passai Sho, was developed by Itosu based on the Passai he learned from Matsumura. He made changes to the kata to suit his personal approach to karate, which was very focused on power and strength. There may also have been some changes made to make it more easy and safe for mass practice. It's a solid kata, and still contains many good applications, but I prefer the non-Itosu variants of Passai.

[Canadian77]

I'm interested in this thread because I know our system does slightly different versions of the katas. When I look up YouTubes of the katas I have done they all do the same thing, but ours is slightly different, just in certain moves here and there. Bassai Dai will be my next kata, so I am very curious to see if it is the same as any of the ones listed here. I should grade at the end of January, so assuming all goes well I will let you know in February about our version.

[RAM18]

In Wado Ryu we just call it Bassai

Apart from the timing I think the basic form is about the same as the Shotokan one.

[IcemanSK]

Darn it, where is the "like" button when ya need it? Thanks everyone for adding to this thread. Keep 'em coming!

[bushido_man96]

This is a very cool thread! Thanks for all the links to the variations here, and the comments that accompany. Its cool to see the differences in style, stance, and even technical execution of the same form.