Bassai sho (kata) video
Info about "Bassai sho (kata) video"
There are at least 11 versions of the Bassai: Oyadomari, Tomari, Koryu & Matsumura among them. Bassai-Sho may be one of the other Bassai kata adopted by Shotokan and given the name Bassai-Sho.
These Bassai Kata may be descended from Chinese forms known as Ba Ji Ch’uan. There are 2 forms: Ba Ji Da (Bassai-dai?) and Ba Ji Xiao (Bassai-sho?). Ba Ji Xiao is written exactly the same way as Bassai-Sho. This challenges the popular belief that all -sho kata were created by Itosu.
Bassai-Sho has a unique emphasis on stick defenses and counters. This emphasis upon reacting to attacks from a stick is supposedly typical of an Itosu created kata, since all of the kata that he heavily influenced contain stick-countering techniques within them. Supposedly Itosu’s father used to tie him to a stake and poke at him with a stick to teach him fighting spirit. According to the legend, Itosu was very interested in techniques that would take a stick away from his father. The legend would neatly explain a lot about the origin of stick defense in kata, however, the whole legend is probably just a story with little basis in truth.
The last two sword hand blocks at the end of Bassai-Dai are apparently new creations. The ending of Bassai-Sho is the original ending for our Bassai-Dai kata. This is evidenced by the Shito-Ryu version of Bassai-Dai that still ends with the motions from the concluding techniques of Bassai-Sho. Bassai-sho can be interpreted as a kata done with a bo or, conversely, as a kata for disarming an opponent with a bo.
[From bushidokai.net. Original page is here (pdf)]