Pinan

Meaning:  "Peaceful Mind", "Great Place", "Calm Mind"

History: This kata is considered a Shuri-te kata. There are five different Pinans being shodan, nidan, sandan, yodan, and godan. The origins of these five kata are in great debate. There are basically three different ideas as to were these kata were formed. The first theory places all of the credit for Pinan Shodan and Pinan Nidan to Bushi Matsumura, while Sandan, Yodan, and Godan were created by Itosu (Bushi Matsumura’s student). Support of this theory comes from the fact that Hohan Soken taught only Pinan Shodan and Nidan. This would lead one to believe that he was teaching what was taught to him through the family system. This would mean that Bushi Matsumura only taught Shodan and Nidan to Nabe Matsumura when then taught the two kata to Hohan Soken. Another theory on the origin of the Pinan kata is that Itosu was taught two kata called Chanan Sho and Chanan Dai by Bushi Matsumura and that from these kata Itosu modified and reformatted them into Pinan Shodan thru Yodan. And that Itosu solely created Pinan Godan. The final theory which I believe to be true is that Itosu created all five of the Pinan kata. This theory has the most support that I was able to find. First off if one looks at the Pinan kata they do not appear to be “fighting” kata. Instead the Pinans seem to be more for training of students. Bushi Matsumura only taught students of his choice, however Itosu taught karate in the Okinawan school system. It is believed that Itosu felt that Naihanchi kata were to difficult for the children to learn and be able to perform. This theory can also be supported if one looks at the differences of Pinan Shodan and Nidan. Many people feel that Pinan Shodan is more difficult to master then Pinan Nidan. This would support the theory that Itosu created all the kata in that after trying to teach Pinan shodan to the students he still felt it was to difficult for the children therefore creating Pinan Nidan which appears to me more easy to perform. It was been claimed that the order of difficult of mastery of the Pinan kata are Nidan, Sandan, Shodan, Yodan, and then Godan, with Nidan being the most easy for students to learn. Most people believe that Itosu devised these kata from Kusanku, Passai, or Prong-An. I believe that they were founded from Kusanku. Many of the techniques of Kusanku are reflected in the Pinan kata.  The Pinan kata are called "school kata", do to there development for the school system.  This series of kata are defensive kata.  Every Pinan from starts with the practitioner stepping back or away from the attack.  The Pinan kata is called “Heian” in Japanese.

What to Get Out of These Kata: There is a vast amount of knowledge in the Pinan kata. These kata are taught starting at Yellow Belt (7th Kyu) up through Purple Belt (4th Kyu). These kata while not appearing to be “fighting” kata should be studied by students the same way they would other kata. Pinan Shodan shows students how to shift their weight into a block, namely the knife hand block.  Students learn to kick right behind their punches with as little movement as possible.  Pinan Nidan teaches students to lung punch.  They learn to really put the weight into their punches while stepping into a front stance.  Students learn to keep the weight back until the moment of impact where the weight is shifted forward and into the punch.  Pinan Sandan teaches students how to use a crescent kick, and then how to block by redirecting the opponents punch.  Pinan Yodan teaches students several wrist locks, along with movement in punches and blocks.  Pinan Godan teaches how to apply a wrist lock and strike after blocking an opponents attack.  It also teaches a takedown, where the opponent is throw to the ground, using the back foot to "trip" them.

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