Kanku Dai (to look to the sky, major version)
aka: Kusanku, Kushanku, Kosokun
If there is one kata that typifies Shotokan karate, it is probably Kanku Dai, the favourite kata of Gichin Funakoshi. Many of its sequences can be found among the Heian kata, leading to speculation that it is the source for those forms. Kanku Dai is the longest kata in the Shotokan school, with sixty-five moves, and features a sudden drop to the ground and, later, a tobi nidan geri.
History
Kusanku supposedly represents the teachings of a Chinese martial artist of the same name/title (also known as Kung Hsiang Chun), who visited Okinawa in 1756 as part of the retinue of the Chinese envoy, Ch'uan K'uei. Like Passai, it features in many schools and styles with variations.Gichin Funakoshi changed the name to Kanku Dai in the 1920s, reflecting the opening sequence and suggesting a prominence to the do (way or path) of karate-do. It was the kata he performed at Shuri Castle for the Crown Prince of Japan (later Emporer Hirohito) in Okinawa in 1921. ~ GE
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