what kata has your attention at the moment?

[Shizentai]

Gankaku can be a bit of a beast at times, the last full turn just before the last punch always gives me issues.

Turning around in circles on one foot has always been a bit of a problem for me. I have notoriously floppy ankles and have to concentrate on tensing the right muscles in my lower body to make sure my foot and leg stay together at all times despite the friction of the ground under me. It's good for me to face my weakness I think. There is a lot of room for me to grow there.

I am working on gankaku lately... trying to make it a favorite kata. Right now it's right down at the bottom for me.

I've heard of Gankaku a few times, but never saw it. Just watched it performed by Kanazawa on YouTube. Very cool kata IMO*.Not knowing anything about its history, I'm guessing Kanku/Kusanku has very similar roots, as it looks like Itosu and Funakoshi could have developed Pinan kata from it. Pinan is from Kanku, but looking at Gankaku, if I didn't know better I'd say Pinan came from Gankaku.

*Kanazawa will make any kata look great.

Gankaku is Funakoshi's name for the kata, Chinto. Legend has it that "Bushi" Matsumura Sokon confronted a shipwrecked Chinese man who had been stealing from locals, and we unable to apprehend him, in the end exchanging martial arts training for resources. Chinto is supposedly either the kata Matsumura learned from the man, or the kata that Matsumura made to record what the man taught him. Chinto may have also been the name of the shipwrecked man. All this is legend, of course, and pretty close to impossible to confirm, but it's a neat story. If you search for Chinto, you'll see a wider array of versions than you will get from searching for Gankaku

Thanks for the primer! Say, Wastelander, do you know what the characters are for "Chinto" ? I'm having trouble looking them up. I ask because I had always assumed it was related to the kata "chinte" which means "unusual hands" ... but a man's name starting with "unusual" would be... well- unusual. Assuming this is not the correct character, I wonder what is.

Edited March 24, 2016 by Shizentai

[Oshishinobu]

Gankaku can be a bit of a beast at times, the last full turn just before the last punch always gives me issues.

Turning around in circles on one foot has always been a bit of a problem for me. I have notoriously floppy ankles and have to concentrate on tensing the right muscles in my lower body to make sure my foot and leg stay together at all times despite the friction of the ground under me. It's good for me to face my weakness I think. There is a lot of room for me to grow there.

I am working on gankaku lately... trying to make it a favorite kata. Right now it's right down at the bottom for me.

I've heard of Gankaku a few times, but never saw it. Just watched it performed by Kanazawa on YouTube. Very cool kata IMO*.Not knowing anything about its history, I'm guessing Kanku/Kusanku has very similar roots, as it looks like Itosu and Funakoshi could have developed Pinan kata from it. Pinan is from Kanku, but looking at Gankaku, if I didn't know better I'd say Pinan came from Gankaku.

*Kanazawa will make any kata look great.

Gankaku is Funakoshi's name for the kata, Chinto. Legend has it that "Bushi" Matsumura Sokon confronted a shipwrecked Chinese man who had been stealing from locals, and we unable to apprehend him, in the end exchanging martial arts training for resources. Chinto is supposedly either the kata Matsumura learned from the man, or the kata that Matsumura made to record what the man taught him. Chinto may have also been the name of the shipwrecked man. All this is legend, of course, and pretty close to impossible to confirm, but it's a neat story. If you search for Chinto, you'll see a wider array of versions than you will get from searching for Gankaku

Thanks for the primer! Say, Wastelander, do you know what the characters are for "Chinto" ? I'm having trouble looking them up.

Yeah the histroy of the kata is fascinating, a fun bit of kata history can be found on Iain Abernathy's pod casts. Yeah i know how you feel I have an old ankle injury from foot ball and the tendon on the inside of my ankle will tighten and it is a bit painful. been stretching out my calves in an effort to help with flex but it is a long process.

[Wastelander]

Gankaku can be a bit of a beast at times, the last full turn just before the last punch always gives me issues.

Turning around in circles on one foot has always been a bit of a problem for me. I have notoriously floppy ankles and have to concentrate on tensing the right muscles in my lower body to make sure my foot and leg stay together at all times despite the friction of the ground under me. It's good for me to face my weakness I think. There is a lot of room for me to grow there.

I am working on gankaku lately... trying to make it a favorite kata. Right now it's right down at the bottom for me.

I've heard of Gankaku a few times, but never saw it. Just watched it performed by Kanazawa on YouTube. Very cool kata IMO*.Not knowing anything about its history, I'm guessing Kanku/Kusanku has very similar roots, as it looks like Itosu and Funakoshi could have developed Pinan kata from it. Pinan is from Kanku, but looking at Gankaku, if I didn't know better I'd say Pinan came from Gankaku.

*Kanazawa will make any kata look great.

Gankaku is Funakoshi's name for the kata, Chinto. Legend has it that "Bushi" Matsumura Sokon confronted a shipwrecked Chinese man who had been stealing from locals, and we unable to apprehend him, in the end exchanging martial arts training for resources. Chinto is supposedly either the kata Matsumura learned from the man, or the kata that Matsumura made to record what the man taught him. Chinto may have also been the name of the shipwrecked man. All this is legend, of course, and pretty close to impossible to confirm, but it's a neat story. If you search for Chinto, you'll see a wider array of versions than you will get from searching for Gankaku

Thanks for the primer! Say, Wastelander, do you know what the characters are for "Chinto" ? I'm having trouble looking them up. I ask because I had always assumed it was related to the kata "chinte" which means "unusual hands" ... but a man's name starting with "unusual" would be... well- unusual. Assuming this is not the correct character, I wonder what is.

I also have very wobbly ankles--my feet are naturally pronated, fairly badly, and it messed up my balance quite a bit. As for the characters of Chinto, I'm afraid I don't know. As far as I'm aware, the Okinawans wrote all of their kata names with kana, rather than kanji/hanzi, until sometime after the Meiji Restoration. Really, they wrote almost everything with kana.

[LLLEARNER]

Heinan Shodan is my strongest and weakest. I just started a couple of months ago.

[neilawuk]

Yondan at the moment in prep for my 5th kyu grading in June. Dreading tekki!

[Oshishinobu]

Yondan at the moment in prep for my 5th kyu grading in June. Dreading tekki!

Awesonme Yondan is a bit of a step from sandan, keep at it and rememebr to snap those kicks!! lol

[Karate_John]

Have been giving Sesan the most attention lately, My Renshi is drilling the nuances of the Kata into me.

[Oshishinobu]

Have been giving Sesan the most attention lately, My Renshi is drilling the nuances of the Kata into me.

I love how you can completely change the way you look at a kata with just a couple simple little insights.

[skullsplitter]

I've been learning Jitte the last several months. I'm really liking it and the various applications for it.

[wagnerk]

For me, while I love every form that we do, it's got to be Empi/Wanshu.

It was my main grading kata (Empi) for my 1st Dan in Shotokan karate 14 years ago and it was my grading form (Wanshu) when I went for my 2nd Dan in Tang Soo Do.

And I'm still learning the form now, not just the movements but the different applications: strikes, kicks, throws, locks, etc...