Renraku's...Yes or No?

[Aefibird]

angelag said:

Hmmm I can just see the initial student drop out if you confront them with Kanku Dai and say "That's your kata, that is!". We start with kihon kata and even then we see people nearly spontaneously combust with the "complicated" pattern. Kanku dai is a nice kata but it's just so LONG. I think the break down of the heian kata are a lot more user friendly, and I do wonder if the general dislike of them comes from a sort of snobbery from people aware that they were formulated for primary school children. (Not aimed at anyone on here, just a general observation).

Yeah, I know and I CAN see the point to having the Heian kata. I'm just not a big fan of them that's all.

[Shorin Ryu Sensei]

aefibird said:

Well, as an introduction to karate it's good, but everything in Heian kata can be found in other kata, such as Kanku Dai and Bassai Dai.

As you're probably aware, the Heihan kata are taken from the Okinawan Pinan kata. They are both the same, but also radically different in many ways from what I've seen. There are movments, techniques and bunkai in the Okinawan versions of the Pinan kata that are unique to those kata and not found elsewhere in other kata of ours, including the Passai kata. Somewhere along the way I suspect that things were changed and principles were lost or not considered important. Not that that is a bad thing...just noting the differences.