Cambridge Karate Club

English - Storming a fortress; Small

Bassai Sho is the minor form of the two Shotokan katas developed from the kata originally known as Passai. While there are overall similarities in the structure, and indeed some identical moves, Bassai Sho has quite a different feel to Bassai Dai, emphasising balance and quick turning moves, as opposed to the power of the latter. It contains a large number of open handed techniques, right from the opening haishu awase-uke through to the closing morote hiki-otoshi pulldowns.

There is considerable variation in the way in which the end of this kata is performed. In the club we start with an open-handed gyaku-kaisho-uke, pulling the hands back and down while moving into neko-ashi-dachi. Then turn to face 45 degrees to the right, and step out with the right foot and hand performing a wide sweeping block, pulling back again to neko-ashi-dachi. The first is slightly similar to Sensei Shirai's below, the second is how Sensei Kanazawa performs both.

Video links

Videos from YouTube

Sensei Kanazawa

His ending is like the second side of ours.

Sensei Shirai

His ending is similar to the first side of ours.