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Bassai Dai

抜塞大 · Bassai dai

Literally: „Conquest of a fortress, great form“

Also known as: Bassai Shodan, Kyudokan Passai, Passai Dai

The kata's name means storming a fortress: in Shotokan, 42 movements along an inverted T. It derives from the Okinawan Passai, passed down by Matsumura, Oyadomari, and Itosu.

Quick Facts

Martial Arts
People
Form typeKata
OriginJapan
Period of origin19th century
Floor pattern (embusen)丄 shape (inverted T)

About the kata

Bassai Dai is usually the first sentei selection kata in Shotokan, and according to themartialway.com.au the most common tokui kata of choice for the 1st kyu exam. JKA material credits it with 42 movements, two kiai shouts, and roughly sixty seconds; the practitioner moves along the path of an inverted T. Jaap Kooman sees the core of the kata in turning a disadvantage into an advantage through a strong, bold response, whose power comes from hip rotation. Karatevancouver.ca adds the alternation of left and right arm blocks and of the degree of power. Sources regard the yama zuki, the "mountain strike," as a typical technique, which shotokankarateonline.com describes as a U-shaped strike, three such strikes in a row, and a grip with both palms, ryosho tsukami uke. Both shouts, according to shotokankarateonline.com, coincide with the fumikomi stamp and with the final shuto uke block in kokutsu dachi. Themartialway.com.au notes that the gyaku hanmi stance here is harder than in Heian Nidan: because of the trunk's rotation, the front stance must not be shortened. In Kyokushin, according to Kooman, Bassai Dai is often chosen for the black belt exam for the rank of sensei.

The kata in different styles

StyleName in the styleMovementsKiai
ShotokanBassai Dai422
Shito-ryuBassai Dai——
Shorin-ryuPassai Dai——
Wado-ryuPassai——

Meaning of the name

The characters 抜塞 are read bassai. According to the English Wikipedia, the first, in Japanese, means to pull out, and in Chinese also to seize; the second denotes a strategically important place or fortress. Hence the translations "to pull out of a fortress" or "to remove an obstacle" given by Jaap Kooman, Funakoshi's interpretation "to breach the enemy's fortress," and "conquest of a castle" in JKA material. The suffix dai means great, as opposed to the shorter Bassai Sho. One of the main theories links the name itself to a lion dance from the Chinese province of Fujian, called there 拍獅 and pronounced pa sai in the Fuzhou dialect.

Creator and history

The kata comes from the former kingdom of Ryukyu, present-day Okinawa; we have not been able to establish who created it. The English Wikipedia sees a clear line of development from Matsumura no Passai, named after Sokon Matsumura, through Oyadomari no Passai by the Tomari-te master Kokan Oyadomari, to the version of Anko Itosu, who further modified the kata and, it seems, also created the shorter Sho form from it. Karatevancouver.ca looks for its roots in Tomari, since its opening movements are shared with the katas Jitte and Jion. Historyoffighting.com and Kooman also mention a theory of origin in the Chinese form Wuxing quan, the fist of five elements. Gichin Funakoshi, in his 1922 book, gives the name Passai without kanji characters. In 1935 he renamed the kata Bassai Shodan and wrote it with the characters 抜塞初段; today, in Shotokan, it is called Bassai Dai.

Differences between styles

The English Wikipedia describes Matsumura's version as markedly Chinese and Oyadomari's as more adapted to the Okinawan conception. The Shorin-ryu version, it says, is closer to Oyadomari's and is much softer than the Shotokan Bassai Dai; the WUKF kata list records it in Shorin-ryu as Passai Dai. Masutatsu Oyama, who learned it from Funakoshi, brought the kata into Kyokushin. According to Jaap Kooman, he dropped it from the curriculum in the late nineteen-fifties, and after his death it was reintroduced by Shigeru Oyama (IKO) and Hatsuo Royama (KIKO). Korean schools practice related forms under the names Bassahee, Palsek, or Bal Sae.

Bunkai – applications

Kooman and English Wikipedia both read part of the kata as a defense against the bo staff. Themartialway.com.au emphasizes disrupting the opponent's balance and defense against grabs. Shotokankarateonline.com reads the first movement as a strong left-leg lunge with a knee strike and punch, and the fumikomi stamp as a sequence of grabbing, pulling, and stamping.

Competition status

  • Sport karate (WKF) — Official kata list · valid from 1/1/2026 ↗
  • WUKF (World Union of Karate-Do Federations) – Nanbudo — Sentei (selected) · valid from 4/26/2024 ↗
  • WUKF (World Union of Karate-Do Federations) – Sankukai — Sentei (selected) · valid from 4/26/2024 ↗
  • WUKF (World Union of Karate-Do Federations) – Shito-ryu — Sentei (selected) · valid from 4/26/2024 ↗
  • WUKF (World Union of Karate-Do Federations) – Shorin-ryu — Sentei (selected) · valid from 4/26/2024 ↗
  • WUKF (World Union of Karate-Do Federations) – Shotokan — Sentei (selected) · valid from 4/26/2024 ↗
  • WUKF (World Union of Karate-Do Federations) – Wado-ryu — Sentei (selected) · valid from 4/26/2024 ↗

Common Mistakes

Shortening the front stance in the gyaku hanmi position. The fumikomi stamp without lifting the knee high.

Key Tip

Before the fumikomi stamp, lift the knee high and, on landing, sharply pull both fists to the body.

Technique Sequence — Shotokan

Breakdown source: jkakarate.co.uk

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  19. #19
    kiai
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  25. #25a
  26. #25b
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  30. #28b
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    kiai
  44. #42

Related katas

Further sources on this topic (8)
  1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passai
  2. jkakarate.co.uk/shared/images/content/bus_57720/pdf/8-Bassai-Dai.pdf
  3. jaapkooman.nl/karate/kata/bassai_dai.html
  4. karatevancouver.ca/kata/bassai-dai
  5. historyoffighting.com/the-blog/the-history-of-the-bassai-kata
  6. themartialway.com.au/bassai-dai
  7. shotokankarateonline.com/blog/bassai-dai-tutorial-1
  8. wukf-karate.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/OFFICIAL-WUKF-KATA-LIST-07-AP…