Pinan 1

Explanation and History of Pinan 1

The Heian (Peaceful/Calm Mind) kata originated in Okinawa where they were known as the Pinan kata. While many styles still use the Okinawan name (which means the same), in Shotokan they are usually known as the Heian kata, a name change instigated by the style’s founder Gichin Funakoshi when he introduced karate to Japan in the 1920s.

The set of kata were probably developed from much older forms from China known as Chiang Nan and/or Kushanku (Kanku Sho and Dai may also originate from these kata) and later developed by Okinawan Master Anko Itosu at the turn of the twentieth century.

According to legend, Itosu (or maybe his teacher Tode Sakugawa) was taught Chiang Nan (pronounced Channan in Japanese) from a Chinese diplomat and martial arts expert who lived in Okinawa called Kung Hsiang Chun. Though the original form is now lost, it is thought that it was extremely long so was divided up into five separate kata to make it easier to learn.

An alternative theory is that Itosu, who had taken the previously secretive martial art into the schools in Okinawa, found that children often had trouble learning the kata that were on the syllabus so he devised the Pinan kata group to aid this.

It is believed by some that he took moves from the Bassai and the Kanku sets in particular and arranged them so they gradually got more difficult through the various Pinan kata, allowing his younger students to progress from very basic moves to more advanced ones.

Zen Shotokai