What is your tournament kata?

[Spartacus Maximus]

Years ago when I trained in Okinawa there were different names for the Passai kata and every dojo used either SHO and DAI or Itosu and Matsumura. I found it very confusing because I originally learned them as SHO and DAI. It took me a while to figure out and remember which as which. I also remember losing several points at a tournament because I mixed up the names.

To add to my disenchantment with tournaments in Okinawa and in general, it was later explained to me by several of the big cheeses that there was an unspoken bias against Shorin ryu styles. So much so that finishing in the top three with a Shorin ryu kata was considered an exploit and was only possible with a spectacular and flawless presentation.

Nevertheless I reluctantly entered and stubbornly presented my favourite Passai kata because my teacher was happy with it and thought I should do it. He didn't care if I won and neither did I. All that mattered was that he was satisfied that I had learned it from him well.

[sensei8]

Unsu and Wankan.

Unsu because, for me, it's a dynamic kata; utilizes every principle known!!

Wankan, because, while it's a short kata, it's not how many steps but how well each step is executed.

[armanox]

I've done quite a few different kata for tournament as I've gone through the ranks.

At the white and green belt levels I used Seisan:

(See green belt me doing Seisan in tournament)

At the brown belt level I played around for a bit. Did Kusanku Sho, didn't do that one so well (

if you really want to see it...the jump always killed me). Did Matsumura Passai for a while with pretty good success (

).

The last time I competed (was still a brown belt then too) I used Gojushiho (

). I'd probably use it again if I were to enter another tournament, or go back to Matsumura Passai. Both work rather well for me. Chinto and Kusanku are no goes since I broke my leg/ankle last year