Katas Of Shito Ryu

Hi everybody! I am a Wado student and not familiar with Shito Ryu. Can anyone explain me why are there so many katas in Shito Ryu? Is there a principle of training your mind by memorising all these katas? Please, I'd like to know.

im not familiar with shito ryu, can you tell me how many kata there are?

There are registered 43 Tokui katas of Shito Ryu in the WKF competition rules. In addition there are 5 Pinan katas, Geki Sai katas and Taikyoku katas.

I teach my group 53 plus a few extra versions I have learnt over the years. Each Shito-Ryu school will have around the same give or take 5-10

Wow

That's a lot of kata to learn.

I have yet to meet anyone who knows them all.. but in May i will hopefully be attending a workshop with Soke Mabuni ....

maybe because of the fact that Mabuni studied shuri te and naha te and wanted to have all karate techniques in one style.
And if Kata is the soul of Karate, then Shito ryu is the style with the biggest soul!

maybe because of the fact that Mabuni studied shuri te and naha te and wanted to have all karate techniques in one style.
And if Kata is the soul of Karate, then Shito ryu is the style with the biggest soul!

I think the soul of kata is not quantity but quality.

One Kata can be superior to 50 if they are not done well.

I practice Shito-Ryu style karate, and my sensei told us there are somewhere around 60. It is to train the mind, to keep it sharp. If you've engrained so many different combinations in your head, when it comes time to use them in self defense or kumite, they will flow naturally. We practice kata as if we're facing an opponent, not just going through the motions. (I am unfamiliar with other styles, this is not to imply we're the only style who practices kata this way). We learn goju-ryu style kata as well, and although when we belt test we use our style kata, the goju katas at our respective belt levels are expected to be performed at the testing.

I have to ask if there is more than one kata attached to each grade for the kyu levels?

The reason for my question is that at my dojo (as in most Shotokan dojos i believe) we do them on at a time and study them really deep and hard. But if you have to learn more than one kata to become i.e 7.kyu doesn't that seem a bit much? I don't know I haven't attended school very much in my life.

Then I would also like to ask you. What is the minimum amount of time you have to train between grades? By that I mean for how long do you have to train as a minimum as 10th kyu before going for the 9th kyu test?

I hope you notice that i'm only currious, and not trying to dizz your style as Shito-Ryu interests me very much, it's just not a choice in my area, in fact I think there is only one Shito dojo in my country. (But don't get me wrong, I love Shotokan very much).

This is Mabuni's original list of 28 kata.

1. Pinan1-5
2. Naihanchi 1-3
3. Rohai
4. Bassai Dai
5. Bassai Sho
6. Kosokun Dai
7. Kosokun Sho
8. Matsukaze
9. Jion
10. Jutte
11. Jiin
12. Nijushiho
13. Wanshu
14. Chinto
15. Seisan
16. Gojushiho
17. Seiuchin
18. Seipai
19. Chinte
20. Unsu
21. Sochin
22. Kururunpha

This I got from a very reliable source. It can be verified in Mark Bishop's book.
Peace.

Above is the number of Kata practised in my system of Shitoryu. There are around 57 on that list but some of the classifications may be up for question. On top of these, the higher grades at my club train in Chatanyara no Kushanku, Annan, Paiku, Heiku, so over 60 kata. Seito Shitoryu [Kenzo Mabuni] lineage also practise Kensho, Kenpaku, Kenshu, all Kata which Kenwa Mabuni is the creator of. They however don't formally train in the Bassai, Wanshu or Chinto variants amongst others e.g. Tomari.

It's a mixed bag really, within association, for example Shitokai, there will be clubs within that also practising Kata which are not in their set syllabus.

Too many Kata can only be a good thing. The only problem is when the Kata is being rushed through.

Most obviously the reason we have so many is because Mabuni Sensei was famous for his encyclopedic knowledge of kata. So it naturally follows that anyone that obsessed with kata and its importance would create a style with that many kata. I actually appreciate all the katas. If nothing else Mabuni Sensei trying to synthesize the different styles made it possible for Shito Ryu karateka to run the entire field. Advanced students wouldn't have a problem training with other schools. I'm currently at 33 katas. I can train with Shotokan or Goju Ryu. We are amazingly versatile.

I train in Hayashi-Ha Shito ryu and we have around 60 total. I don't know all of them, only 25 so far.

Sorry for the long post.

I train in Itosu Shito-Ryu down in Australia. We have just changed our whole grading and belt system to help with the problem of have so many kata. Previously, when you went up a belt you learnt a new kata, and usually only one (I say usually because there are some exceptions, we learn all the pinan kata early, but at red belt we are also taught Naifanchi Shodan). This system worked alright however, because there where people of every belt, there would be a class of 30 doing 20 different katas. With Shihan trying to analyse, critique and help people seperately, which can be rather difficult.

Now our grades are split up into rotations. Each rotation goes for ten weeks, and in that 10 weeks we will focus solely on that kata, and with larger groups focused on that kata, knowledge and understanding of that kata is gained a lot quicker. Shihan can look at the group as a whole and develop certain parts of the kata the he feels that class is lacking.

Oh the club is also split into 5 groups, up to 8th Kyu, 7th Kyu to 3nd Kyu, 2nd Kyu to To-Kyu (Shodan-Ho), 1st Dan to 2nd Dan, and 2nd Dan and above. Each group learns different kata, and there are different amount of rotations between when you are able to grade.