ImpakuImpaku

Kanku Dai

観空大 · Kanku dai

Literally: „Looking at the sky, great form“

Also known as: Kanku, Kushanku, Kushanku Dai, Kusanku, Kosokun Dai, Kong Sang Koon

One of the longest katas of Shotokan: according to JKA, 65 movements and two kiai. It is named Looking at the Sky after its opening, when the practitioner looks up through joined palms.

Quick Facts

Martial Arts
People
Form typeKata
OriginJapan
Period of originEarly modern
Floor pattern (embusen)工 shape (H / I)

About the kata

According to JKA material, Kanku Dai is one of the longest katas of Shotokan: 65 movements over roughly ninety seconds. It begins slowly – the hands join before the body, rise diagonally above the forehead, and the practitioner looks upward through the fingers. The kata takes its name from this gesture. Kiai sounds twice, at the fifteenth movement, a fingertip thrust nukite, and at the final jumping double kick nidan geri. Karatevancouver.ca writes that nidan geri is first practiced in this kata. JKA material draws its floor pattern as the letter I, whose vertical line extends beyond the upper horizontal, and calls it plus and minus. Besides the opening, the twentieth movement is also slow, when the left fist is gradually extended downward. According to historyoffighting.com, Gichin Funakoshi said the kata contains all the essential elements of karate, and in the nineteen-twenties he often demonstrated it at exhibitions in Japan. His student Masatoshi Nakayama read the name Looking at the Sky as a reminder of humility. Karatevancouver.ca adds that the Heian series contains sequences taken from Kanku Dai, attributed to Anko Itosu.

The kata in different styles

StyleName in the styleMovementsKiai
KyokushinKanku——
ShotokanKanku Dai652
Shito-ryuKosokun Dai——
Wado-ryuKushanku——

Meaning of the name

The characters 観空, according to Jaap Kooman, are made up of kan, to look, and ku, sky, emptiness, or air; Kanku thus means to gaze at the sky. The attribute dai means great – Shotokan also practices the shorter Kanku Sho. The older name Kushanku, in Shito-ryu Kosokun, refers to the Chinese diplomat Kung Hsiang Chun, whose name, according to historyoffighting.com, was pronounced Ku Shan Ku in the Okinawan dialect.

Creator and history

According to historyoffighting.com, the kata was brought to Okinawa in the 18th century by the Chinese diplomat Kung Hsiang Chun and passed on to Tode Sakugawa of the Shuri-te school. The same site also gives a second theory: Sakugawa created the kata himself and named it in honor of his teacher. The English Wikipedia notes that no primary historical evidence has been found for Koshokun's visit to Okinawa in the mid-18th century. The closest contemporary source is Oshima Hikki, a record by the Confucian scholar Tobe Ryoen from 1762: in it, an officer named Shiohira describes a kempo master, Kusanku, who overcame an attacker with the kumiai-jutsu grip and a leg scissors. Gichin Funakoshi renamed the kata Kanku in the nineteen-thirties; the English Wikipedia gives the year 1935. The shorter Kanku Sho most likely arose from Kanku Dai, according to historyoffighting.com, within the teaching of Anko Itosu.

Differences between styles

The official WUKF kata list from 2024 lists the kata under different names: Kanku Dai in Shotokan, Kushanku in Wado-ryu, Kosokun Dai in Shito-ryu, Sankukai, and Nanbudo, Kushanku Dai in Shorin-ryu, and Kusanku in Isshin-ryu. According to Jaap Kooman, Masutatsu Oyama adopted Kanku into Kyokushin with minor changes; according to theabsoluteyin.com, the opening hand gesture became a hallmark of Kyokushin. The English Wikipedia mentions the Matsubayashi-ryu version, known for its flying kick, and the Korean Tang Soo Do, where the form is called Kong Sang Koon.

Bunkai – applications

Karatevancouver.ca interprets Kanku Dai as attack and defense against eight opponents. Historyoffighting.com sees in it movements typical of Anko Itosu's katas: double strikes and techniques that control or disarm an opponent armed with a staff.

Competition status

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

Key Tip

The kata's opening is slow: according to JKA material, the hands join in front of the body, rise diagonally above the forehead, and the gaze goes upward through the fingers – the kata takes its name from this movement.

Technique Sequence — Shotokan

Breakdown source: jkakarate.co.uk

  1. #1
  2. #2
  3. #3
  4. #4
  5. #5
  6. #6
  7. #7
  8. #8
  9. #9
  10. #10
  11. #11
  12. #12
  13. #13
  14. #14
  15. #15
    kiai
  16. #16
  17. #17
  18. #18
  19. #19
  20. #20
  21. #21
  22. #22
  23. #23
  24. #24
  25. #25
  26. #26
  27. #27
  28. #28
  29. #29
  30. #30
  31. #31
  32. #32
  33. #33
  34. #34
  35. #35
  36. #36
  37. #37
  38. #38
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  40. #40
  41. #41
  42. #42
  43. #43
  44. #44
  45. #45
  46. #46
  47. #47
  48. #48
  49. #49
  50. #50
  51. #51
  52. #52
  53. #53
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  55. #55
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  58. #58
  59. #59
  60. #60
  61. #61
  62. #62
  63. #63
  64. #64
  65. #65a
    kiai
  66. #65b

Related katas

Further sources on this topic (9)
  1. jkakarate.co.uk/shared/images/content/bus_57720/pdf/12-Kanku-Dai.pdf
  2. jaapkooman.nl/karate/kata/kanku.html
  3. historyoffighting.com/the-blog/the-history-of-the-kanku-kata
  4. karatevancouver.ca/kata/kanku-dai
  5. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kūsankū_(kata)
  6. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kusanku
  7. karatebyjesse.com/kusankun-the-oshima-incident
  8. wukf-karate.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/OFFICIAL-WUKF-KATA-LIST-07-AP…
  9. theabsoluteyin.com/kanku