Favourite Kata - If you were able to keep 5 what are they?

hawkfish · Orange Belt

It's tough to pick only five but here goes:

Gojushiho Sho
Gankaku
Bassai Dai
Nijushiho
Taikyoku Shodan
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Doug
Shodan, Shotokan Karate & 1st Kyu, Iaido

ShotokanMaster.com
ShotokanPlanet.org

GojuRyu Bahrain · Orange Belt

Sesan, Sepai, Seyunchin, Kanku Dai, and Sanchin...

As Goju Ryu is clearly my preferred style I am a bit surprised that Kanku Dai made it on my list, but I feel it does add a lot to my Karate. Few years back the list would have been different, but Sesan remains my favorite form since I first learned it..
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Goju Ryu (Yushinkan since 1989), Shotokan (JKA since 2005)

mushybees · Orange Belt

Pinan Sandan
Kushanku
Naihanchi
Chinto
Wanshu

JR 137 · Black Belt

Wayofaswede · Orange Belt

Go ho no uke (first learned, most trained and therefore most fluent)
Shuto Roppo (like the "swordlike" feeling in the hand strikes)
Pinan Nidan
Pinan Shodan
Pinan Sandan

(Pinan Yondan and Godan will probably replace two of these when I learn them - yondan is for next kyu

)
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The path so far: 2 kyu Karate (Shito-ryu), 3 kyu Aikido (Aikikai), 5 kyu Judo, 9 kyu Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu

Not a day without a kata

Spodo Komodo · Blue Belt

I quite like Pinan Sandan but I can see why people don't, it is the first kata that has moves which, to quote a student "don't look like karate". I think once you get into the context and bunkai of Pinan Sandan it begins to look more sensible but to the student meeting it for the first time it is neither graceful nor classic punchy-kicky style.

My favourite kata are:

1. Naifanchi - I love this kata, it can be powerful and graceful and you can practice it in a corridor.
2. Pinan Godan - nice powerful moves, short and punchy.
3. Bassai - interesting twists on familiar combinations from other kata.
4. Seishan - full of contrasts, so unlike anything else.
5. Wanshu - (the version with the maegeri in each of the main combinations) the constant contraction-expansion combinations makes this kata fizz with energy.

The only kata I dread is Kushanku but only because:
1. I sometimes drift off into one of the Pinan kata by mistake.
2. The drop in the second half aggravates my dodgy knee.
On a good day it is a great kata but I have messed it up so many times I am apprehensive about it even twenty years after first learning it.

Fat Cobra · Green Belt

Naihanchi Shodan
Tomari Seisan
Pinan Shodan
Passai
Niseishi
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Yondan in Ryukyu Kempo
Head of the Shubu Kan Dojo in Carthage, NY
(United Ryukyu Kempo Alliance)

Ethanb42 · White Belt

Older post but I'm new so heck with it haha
I choose
Pinan shodan
Nidan
Sandan
Yodan and godan

I feel the pinans belong together and form a good fighting system in themselves. If I only had them I would be happy, still glad I have other katas though because they are fun.

Wado Heretic · Green Belt

I thought this would be rather challenging due to the number of the kata I know, but I found it surprisingly easy once I put my mind to it.

Naihanchi Shodan - The root Kata of most systems of Shuri Te descended systems of Karate, and it contains the principles of body alignment and dynamic motion essential to perform techniques effectively. Plus, it is my favourite Kata.

Uechi no Sanchin - Though I personally prefer Higoanna no Sanchin, the Uechi no Sanchin more readily demonstrates, and contains, the Hard-Soft dynamic at the heart of Naha Te and Fujian Chuan'fa. Again, choosing it as the root kata of most Naha Te descended systems.

Miyahira no Seisan - Simply my favourite version of Seisan that I have learnt, in contrast to Itosu no Seisan and Aragaki no Seisan. However, I have chosen Seisan as it is a kata found in all three of the predecessors of Karate. Motobu Choki cites it as one of the oldest Kata practised on Okinawa. Furthermore, Seisan seems to have been the definitive kata of Chotoku Kyan's approach to Karate, and thus representative of Tomari Te.

Kusanku Dai - Likely the first Karate Kata with a history we can trace. Created by Sakugawa "Tode" Kanga: the de jure founder of Karate. It is also the primary source for the Pinangata, so far as sources reveal. If I could not have the Pinangata as a whole I would want the Kata which contains as much of the same knowledge as possible. Admittedly, I am biased towards them as a Shorin-Ryu practitioner.

Kyan no Chinto - Again, just because it is one of my favourite Kata, and it is characteristic of Shuri-Te and Tomari-Te. It contains techniques that seem to inform the Pinangata, and it is also a very challenging Kata to perform. The movements and motions also have plenty of possible interpretations. Performing the kata in of itself can be a workout as well.

Just a note on an earlier post. Gekisai Ichi, also known as Fyukyugata Ni
and sometimes called Gekisai Dai Ichi, was developed as a collaboration between Miyagi Chojun of Goju-Ryu and Nagamine Shoshin of the Matsubayashi branch of Shorin-Ryu. It was first taught in 1940 or 1941. Now, Gekisai Sho of the Kyokushinkaikan is evidently based upon Gekisai Ichi. However, aside from a number of techniques proceeding in the same sequence and the shared embusen, the Gekisai Sho of Kyokushin is very evidently the invention of Oyama Masutatsu. The key similarities are from the opening to the sequence beginning with a Mae-Geri and ending with a Gedan Barai off of the back-hand before turning to 6 O'Clock with a Shuto-Uke. After that sequence (which comes exactly from Gekisai Ichi) the Kata is very different. Until that point, it is pretty much Gekisai Ichi with a handful of additional movements, and that is where I imagine the confusion arises from barring the name.
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R. Keith Williams

Bulltahr · Brown Belt

OK , I'll have a go.
A Pinan, Yon.
A mokuso, hmmmmm, I'll take 3, Geki sai dai, Saiha and probably my all time number one, Sanchin!
Not a fancy looking kata, no geri for example, but Sanchin for me is some special, intensity plus! It truely does encompass the mind body and techniques!
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"We don't have any money, so we will have to think" - Ernest Rutherford

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