Gojushiho Sho

Quick Facts

About the kata

Gojushiho Sho is one of two versions of the kata that Shorin-ryu knows as Useishi. The name means 54 steps, with the suffix sho meaning "small". According to historyoffighting.com, both versions grew out of a single kata attributed to Sokon Matsumura; themartialway.com.au writes that it was reportedly his student Anko Itosu who split it in two. Which version counts as small and which as large depends on the organization. According to karatevancouver.ca, the names were swapped in the nineteen-sixties or nineteen-seventies at a Japanese championship, where a senior JKA instructor announced Dai and performed Sho; historyoffighting.com confirms the swap but finds the story unlikely. The English Wikipedia instead quotes Hirokazu Kanazawa saying he swapped the names himself on founding SKIF. Themartialway.com.au, which follows the JKA count, states that Sho has a larger frame and is somewhat easier to perform than Dai, despite carrying the label small. Its most typical feature is the ryuun sequence, "flowing clouds": the ryuun no uke block, followed by haishu osae uke or shuto gedan barai and a triple fingertip thrust, shihon tate nukite. In the WUKF kata list from April 2024, it is a tokui kata for Shotokan, Budokan and Shisui-ryu.

The kata in different styles

Meaning of the name

Gojushiho (五十四歩) means 54 steps according to karatevancouver.ca; the suffix sho (小) means small, minor, dai (大) large, main. The English Wikipedia states Sokon Matsumura named the kata Uesheishi, which in Chinese literally means 54 methods. According to karatevancouver.ca, Gichin Funakoshi tried to rename Gojushiho Sho to Hotaku, woodpecker, because of its stabbing techniques; the name never caught on. Historyoffighting.com mentions the same attempt without distinguishing the versions.

Creator and history

Historyoffighting.com regards both versions as Sokon Matsumura's final and finest addition to the Tomari-te system, while karatevancouver.ca instead places them in the Shuri-te school. Who split the kata in two could not be firmly established: themartialway.com.au credits Anko Itosu, but says itself that this is a claim. Both versions share an almost identical embusen according to karatevancouver.ca, and both open with the mizu nagare uraken kamae stance according to themartialway.com.au.

Differences between styles

Torakankarate.com.au states that the kata JKA calls Gojushiho Dai is named Gojushiho Sho in the SKI, and the keito technique, chicken wrist, appears in only one of them. Historyoffighting.com and karatevancouver.ca write that Hirokazu Kanazawa kept the original order of the names; the English Wikipedia cites him the opposite way, saying he swapped the names when founding SKIF because he felt the label sho fit the smaller, harder kata better. The movement counts differ by source: themartialway.com.au gives Sho 65, the book Best Karate 11 also 65 by the same source, karatevancouver.ca 54. In Tang Soo Do, according to the English Wikipedia, Gojushiho is practiced as O Sip Sa Bo.

Competition status

• Sport karate (WKF) — Official kata list · valid from 1/1/2026 ↗
• WUKF (World Union of Karate-Do Federations) – Shotokan — Tokui (free choice) · valid from 4/26/2024 ↗

Related katas

• Variant of: Sushiho