Gojushiho dai

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Gojushiho Dai (Japanese: 54 Steps, Major) is the major form of a kata practiced in Shotokan karate, which has its origin in the Phoenix Eye style. Its name derives either from the repetitive movements of a woodpecker pecking a tree-trunk, or from the staggering and hesitant steps of a drunken man. The advantage of the two versions of the kata is to better master the difficult techniques presented therein, but not without facing some confusion, for many sequences are the same and others only slightly different. The embusen of both Gojushiho Dai and Gojushiho sho are nearly identical. Gojushiho Dai consists of many advanced open-handed techniques and attacks to the collar bone.

Gojushiho-Dai and Gojushiho-Sho are two versions in Shotokan of the same, single Shorin style kata called Useishi (54) or Gojushiho. Originally, the names were reversed so that Dai was called Sho, and Sho was called Dai. The name change seems to have happened sometime in the 1960's or 1970's.

Contents

[edit] Execution

[edit] Video reference

Karate Online.org videos of all major kata and training advice from the online karate resource


Gojushiho Dai kata diagram

[edit] References

[edit] See also

Bunkai, Kata, Shotokan