Heian Shodan (平安初段)
Meaning peaceful mind 1st level
Taken from our 8th Kyu Red belt karate examination. https://www.shotokankarateonline.com/our-karate-community-memberships/
Heian Shodan is the first kata of 5 in the 5 Heian Kata series.
The first Heian kata focuses on stances zenkutsu dachi (front stance) and kokutsudachi (back stance).
Strikes oi zuki (stepping punch), Tettsui uchi (hammer fist strike) and blocks age uke (upper block), shuto uke (knife hand block).
Heian shodan is an excellent kata for shomen (square facing) and hanmi (side facing) practice.
The body and hips should be square (shomen) for the stepping punches and (side facing) hanmi for the blocks.
This is the first time a karateka practices shuto uke (knife hand block), kokutsudachi (back stance) in a shotokan kata.
There are four knife hand blocks in this kata.
Heian Shodan is the required kata for 8th Kyu red belt here at SKO.
Some Shotokan Dojo practice this kata with a few differences.
When executing age uke, some dojo stretch their marking arm out straight, whereas we simply open the hand in the age uke position as can be seen in the tutorial below.
Another slight difference can come with tetsui uchi, some Dojo do a much smaller movement on the strike and some Shotokan Dojo leave the front foot still.