Just as the title says, I’m inquiring on your least favorite kata. 

I guess I’ll start, with my least favorite kata being Pinan Nidan. I don’t really have anything against it, it’s a fine kata, I think I just spent too much time on that kata to the point where I don’t really enjoy performing it anymore. 

Any thoughts?

Hot take: I don't like "kihon katas."  For example, Taikyoku (or what Korean arts call Gi Cho Hyung) and Fukyugata.  The most grace I would give is if Taikyoku Shodan was taught only as a template for individual karateka to create their own Taikyokus for blocks and strikes that they want to practice, but never as testable katas with kyu ranks attached to them (I personally have created my own Taikyokus for techniques that are less commonly practiced in Shotokan than other styles, such as gedan shuto-uke and saguri-te).

Outside of that, I'm gonna go with Heian (Pinan) Sandan.  It's the most difficult kata to extract the bunkai from, and every bunki I've ever seen presented, both in person and online, are way too high risk/low reward.

I'll also say that, as Shotokan karateka, we get cheated on Wankan, Empi(Wansu), and Meikyo(Rohai).  I remember reading somewhere that the reason our Miekyo is so basic is because Shinpan Gusukuma specifically designed a version of Rohai that Funakoshi could do at his late age.

I’ve no least favorite kata because every kata teaches, imho. 

It's hard for me to pick just one. Of the kata that I've learned, and can still remember, I would say the Taikyouku kata, and Nakazato Shugoro's Fukyu no Kata and Gorin no Kata. The Taikyouku are really just blank templates of the general Pinan enbusen with arbitrarily chosen basics, and you'll get far more value out of just doing the Pinan series. Fukyu no Kata is an even simpler enbusen (straight line forward, turn around, straight line back) with arbitrarily chosen basics, and again, you'll get more value out of other kata. Gorin no Kata was designed purely to demonstrate karate in front of the International Olympic Committee at the '96 Olympics, so while you can get practical applications from it, since it is a hodgepodge of other kata, it wasn't designed with application in mind, and is really just for show. You'll get more out of just doing the kata it's made from.

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Outside of that, I'm gonna go with Heian (Pinan) Sandan.  It's the most difficult kata to extract the bunkai from, and every bunki I've ever seen presented, both in person and online, are way too high risk/low reward.

Interestingly, Pinan Sandan is the only one of the set that I cared to keep the direct material for in my adult curriculum (I only teach the Pinan series to kids). It's my favorite of the series, and has some great applications!

I will have to echo the sentiments of Furinkazan and Wastelander regarding Kihongata. If you have the time to do kihongata, that time would be better served doing other exercises that help improve your fundamentals. Whether that is pure repetition without the distraction of the kata framework, partner exercises with resistance such as Ude Tanren or Pad-Work, or using striking tools such as Makiwara or Heavy Bags. Also, I would agree that one would get more out of the Pinangata with regards to Shuri Te, and that Pinan Nidan/Heian Shodan is more than simple enough for most people to begin with, and it also contains some novel techniques and ideas for Bunkai too. Thus, my least favourite kata thematically are Kihongata. I find them almost wholly redundant. 

To give a specific kata I would have to say Jitte. It has a feeling of incompleteness to myself, and that it is a collection of techniques spliced together but which have no unifying framework. The Kodokan version does not finish on the four Age Uke/Jodan Uke many styles do, and instead has a sequence from Kushanku spliced onto the end so one ends up facing the way one started. However, I believe that was Higa Yuchoku's innovation rather than it being reflective of an older version. That said, I do find it a useful vehicle, alongside Fyukyugata Ni/Geki Sai Ichi, to start introducing elements of Naha Te to my students at the brown belt level. And it was the first kata I was shown at the Kodokan when I first visited, so it has an emotional connection for me. It is just my least favourite as I always finish it feeling as though there is more to do, and because I cannot grasp its "flavour" I find it difficult to imagine bunkai I am happy with from it. 

To comment on the Pinangata I think that they are probably the kata with the greatest variety in complexity between styles. Because some have opted to keep them comparatively easy for relative beginners, or make them a more direct line towards the older kata they are drawn from, many modern versions lack novelty or nuance which make studying the pinangata themselves worth studying.  In the Kodokan versions, as I learnt them, the sequences taken from Kusanku, Chinto, and Passai are performed in subtly different ways to how they are performed in their point of origin. Which when taken sequentially as part of the whole contextualise the sequences unique to the Pinangata in a wholly different way. Thus, I find benefit in studying them to explore the subtle differences. As one advances and learns how to mature their karate, one can also work back and introduce complexity to the pinangata. Now, in contrast to my study of the Wado-Ryu and Stito-Ryu versions, and being witness to the Shotokan versions, there is an absence of these subtleties and the pinangata lead directly into those styles versions of the older kata. One reason I did swap from Wado-ryu to Shorin-ryu is that I got bored of a sense of sameness throughout the kata, which undermined the sense of value in studying them all. Were I still studying and teaching from a Wado-Ryu base I suspect I would only be teaching Naihanchi, Kushanku, Chinto, and Seishan. 

My least favorite kata would be sanseiryu, but this is not for the reasons you may think.

Sanseiryu is the final official kata in our system, which is required for 4th degree.  Once you've figured out all of the kata before this one, Sanseiryu isn't all that hard to learn.  There is really only one new move in the kata, and in certain aspects it was easier for me to learn and do (somewhat) well than its predecessor, Kanchin.  It looks pretty cool too, and it's fun to perform.  Why, then is it my least favorite kata?

It has to do with how we perform kata in classes.  In our classes, we perform kata at the end of class, when you are already somewhat tired from the rest of the workout.  And we start kata from the first learned kata (not Sanchin, that's usually at the beginning of class), and work our way upwards, repeating each kata 2 or 3 times.  So this means a few things - first, we don't always have time to perform Sanseiryu (depending on how much feedback instructors give on the kata).  Second, on the days we *do* perform Sanseiryu, I've already performed anywhere from 6 to 18 other kata, and this 54-year old body is pretty well exhausted.  When I perform Sanseiryu fresh though it is a LOT of fun.

Ok, not a karateka, but I do dislike some of my forms from TKD. In the colored belt ranks, I don't like Choong Gun hyung. There is a section in the form that I can only describe as being "long;" long techniques that tend to slow the rhythm and flow that I just don't like. I can perform the hyung fine, but I don't enjoy it.

In the black belt ranks thus far, I truly dislike Yoo Sin hyung, for much of the same reasons that I don't like Choong Gun. The beginning starts nicely, with some short, sharp combinations and the moves feel connected nicely. The middle of the form slows down and drags out, due to the "long" techniques, with some funky motions that I don't like.

On 7/13/2026 at 2:21 PM, sensei8 said:

I’ve no least favorite kata because every kata teaches, imho. 

I tend to think about it this way but there were some I did enjoy more than others, I guess.

21 hours ago, KarateKen said:

I tend to think about it this way but there were some I did enjoy more than others, I guess.

Me, as well. Unsu tops my list, even though it’s not officially part of Shindokan.