The ceremonial kata

Blog 1 The Ceremonial kata

Shi Ho Hai

Vaunted in the days where this was the beginner kata, Shi Ho Hai is now represented as the traditional ceremony kata. This blog is going to examine how the kata went from the beginner kata to representing itself in traditional ceremonies.

Hanshi Dometrich talked about this in his book, The Endless Quest. Shi Ho Hai was the traditional starter kata in Japan. The use of the kata started as a tool to teach the basics on moving in all directions. By instilling this kata as the beginning kata, it had to be taken apart and put back together for the student to work on.

Shi Ho Hai demonstrates the deepness of the art and exemplifies the power and majestic beauty of Chito Ryu. The four face movements represent the four directions and pay homage to where the art's origins. If we concede that karate's home is the Okiwinawin islands, than the north would be Japan, East would be the various islands of the Pacific, the west would be China and the south would be the Philippines and Indonesia. All of these areas are a part of how karate became an art.

The graceful step back to a knuckle strike promotes both the grace and balance of Chito Ryu. The initial movement itself is a defensive move, while countering with a strike. This is where Shi Ho Hai becomes interesting as it has moved up the strike point, which used to be a deep strike possibly to the leg or lower stomach. As time progressed the strike moved up toward the chest or possibly an arm that is out. This transition occurred during the last 30 years. Purists recognize this as the normal passage of time and the knowledge downward. Some argye that this transition could change the idea of the idea. The front from this position is a move to show taking the space back, with two additional punches.

By getting to this point, one can see how this kata would take a new person a long time to learn and even longer to perfect. It was not uncommon for this to be the only kata a new person learned and mastered for a year or longer.

The over fist is a unique feature to work towards the end of the kata. The final three punches are done back at the original front position.

The use of Shi Ho Hai should and continues to be used as the ceremonial kata. In the United States Shiho Hai is used as the 7th kata. I hope this article

brought a deeper understanding of Shiho Hai and how it is used.

M. Rodgers