Shotokan Kata
Bassai Dai ( To Storm A Fortress)

This shotokan kata is a very strong karate kata. This kata is an essential part of the shotokan karateka’s early physical conditioning and development.

In many shotokan karate associations, Bassai dai is the first intermediate kata to be taught. Basai dai usually comes after the 5 Heian kata and Tekki Shodan have been practiced thoroughly and a certain level of expertise has been reached. Normally, brown belt (3rd Kyu) level, is the first time Basai dai is practiced thoroughly.

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Shotokan’s Gankaku is an advanced kata practiced mainly by black belts. The original name for gankaku is chinto. Stories are told of a Chinese sailor named Chinto, who was shipwrecked off the coast of Okinawa. To survive, Chinto stole from the crops of the local Okinawan people. Sokon Matsumura, a Karate master, was sent to stop Chinto. In the fight that followed Matsumura found the Chinese sailor to be an excellent martial artist, because of this Matsumura trained with Chinto to gain an understanding of his martial techniques.
Gichin Funakoshi changed the name, Chinto to Gankaku when he took Karate to Japan. Chinto, meaning ‘fighter from the East’ was now Gankaku, meaning ‘Crane on a rock’.

Gankaku is a black belt kata. The original name for gankaku is chinto. There are stories referring to a Chinese sailor named Chinto, he was supposedly shipwrecked close to the shores of Okinawa. In order to survive, this Chinese sailor took from the local Okinawan crops. A local Karate master by the name of Sokon Matsumura, was sent to stop this Chinese thief. They had a fight and Matsumura found Chinto to be an incredible martial artist, shortly after this Matsumura trained with Chinto to learn these starnge Chinese martial techniques.
Master Gichin Funakoshi changed the name from Chinto to Gankaku when he took Karate to Japan. Chinto, translates as 'fighter from the East' Gankaku means 'Crane on a rock'.

Gojushiho sho (54 Moves) has its origin in the Phoenix Eye kung fu style. Its name derives either from the repetitive movements of a bird pecking a tree-trunk, or from the staggering and hesitant steps of a drunken man. In some styles of karate, including Shotokan, there are two versions of this kata - Gojushiho Sho and Gojushiho Dai. An advantage of the two versions of the kata is to better master the difficult techniques presented therein, but not without facing some confusion, for many sequences are the same and others only slightly different. The embusen of both Gojushiho Sho and Gojushiho Dai are nearly identical. Gojushiho Sho begins straight off with a wide variety of advanced techniques and, as such, is highly recommended for study. Gojushiho Dai consists of many advanced open-handed techniques and attacks to the collar bone.
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Kata Video Tutorial Number 12
Hangetsu is generally taught at the brown belt level in most shotokan karate organizations.

Master Gichin Funakoshi renamed Seisan to hangetsu when he took shotokan karate to mainland Japan. Hangetsu translates as half moon, there are several semi circular stepping actions performed throughout the kata.

Hangetsu is taught differently, by senior shotokan sensei, some sensei teach strong, loud breathing, with dynamic body tension performed throughout the whole of the kata. Other sensei move smoothly, with silent breathing, only tensing the muscle groups at the end of each move.