When my Sensei visited last summer he left me with three kata to practise. Meikyo, Wankan and Bassai Sho which dutifully I have done. At least until my aged knee starts bothering me. Especially with Meikyo.

this past two weeks I have been adding it to the students repertoire. I was fortunate enough that by the time I hot shodan I probably had all the katas up to an including those required for 2nd dan. This was partly down to the need for competition kata to ensure I wasn’t judged directly against an opponent so I could change a kata before going onto the mat. Not ideal but if you are confident it can work to your advantage. The other reason was SEKU had regular annual week course on the Isle Of Wight, this course over 7 days had lots of content not normally done in normal training. Brilliant if you can go to courses, and training with people you know but only see at competitions is excellent for advancing your own technique.

So Bassai Sho, a short but technically excellent kata with plenty of light and dark moments. Points of power, finesse and balance. Areas of skill, strength and best of all fancy footwork. All encompassed in just over a minute with 34 moves.