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'.

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.

Heian nidan is the second kata in the heian (pinan) kata series, this kata is more complex than the first heian.

This is the first shotokan kata that has kicks, nukite, gyaku uchi uke, haiwan uke, ura zuki, tetsui, uraken, moroto uchi uke and several block strike combinations.

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Kata Video Tutorial Number 5
Heian yondan is the fourth kata in the heian series, of which there are 5 kata. This shotokan kata, in most shotokan dojo, is the required kata when testing for 5th kyu (purple belt), although some shotokan organisations have a slightly different grading system.

Heian yondan has juji uke (x block), simultaneous double open handed strikes and blocks, kosa dachi (cross legged stance) is used for the first time, kakiwake (v block), hisa geri (knee attack) and a total of five kicks/knee attacks.

Kihon kata or Taikyoku Shodan(the original name), is the first kata practiced by many shotokan groups.

The founder of Shotokan karate, Master Gichin Funakoshi, developed six taikyoku kata. The six taikyoku kata are,

1. Taikyoku Shodan
2. Taikyoku Nidan
3. Taikyoku Sandan
4. Taikyoku Yondan
5. Taikyoku Godan
6. Taikyoku Rokudan
Some shotokan groups still practice these six basic kata, but the majority of shotokan dojo do not and have taikyoku shodan (kihon kata), or heian shodan as their first kata.