Kanku Dai Kata

What is Kata?

In Karate, kata is a sequence of moves organized into a pre-arranged fight against imaginary opponents. The kata consists of kicks, punches, sweeps, strikes, blocks, and throws. Body movement in various kata includes stepping, twisting, turning, dropping to the ground, and jumping. Kata is not a performance or a demonstration, but is for individual karateka to practice full techniques– with every technique potentially a killing blow (ikken hisatsu), while paying particular attention to form and timing (rhythm).

The standard kata in (Shotokan) Karate are:

Kanku Dai Kata

This kata is famous for being Master Funakoshi's favourite kata, and was often used in his demonstrations that he performed in his mission in popularising karate in Japan. He stated that this kata contained all of the art's essential elements.

The kata Kushanku was first introduced by a Chinese kendo expert to the small island of Okinawa, one of the Ryukyu Islands, passing the kata onto an expert Tode Sakugawa of the Shuri-te style, and it from here originated the Kanku-Dai we practice today. Also known as Kwanku, this kata is translated to mean 'To Look To The Sky', with the opening sequence being of symbolic significance, and representing the attitude of the kata. In the book Dynamic Karate M. Nakayama practices this opening sequence on a cliff edge, with the sun cast over his body. Below, it is noted that the kata represents the modesty in karate.

This can be taken to mean that we should place our karate in the context of the world, and to look to the sky we see how small we are in relation to the rest of the world. This is very humbling, and in many ways breeds the idea that you are forever a student, not just of karate, but of the world.