Sochin
壯鎭 · Sochin
Literally: „Calm power“
Also known as: Hakko
A kata by Aragaki Seisho, brought into Shotokan by Funakoshi Yoshitaka. It rests on the deep fudo dachi stance, where slow passages alternate with explosive ones.
Quick Facts
About the kata
Sochin came into Shotokan from Shito-ryu. According to the English Wikipedia, it was taught in Okinawan Naha-te by Aragaki Seisho (1840–1918); it was brought into Shotokan by Funakoshi Yoshitaka, son of Funakoshi Gichin, and according to historyoffighting.com he shaped today's Shotokan version in the late nineteen-thirties. His father tried to rename it Hakko, "eight storms," but the name never caught on. The Shotokan version rests on the deep fudo dachi stance, "immovable" or "rooted," which, after this kata, is also nicknamed sochin dachi. Slow, deliberate movements alternate with explosive passages, and Wikipedia emphasizes the rhythm. According to themartialway.com.au, the most distinctive technique is muso gamae, a combined upper and lower block; the kata also includes kizami mae geri, yoko nukite, naiwan hineri uke, and jodan mikazuki geri. The number of movements differs by counting method: karatevancouver.ca gives 36, the revised JKA version has, according to themartialway.com.au, 41 counts with two kiai (on the 30th and 41st), and volume 10 of the Best Karate book series counts 40. On the WUKF list from April 2024, Sochin is a tokui kata for Shotokan, Shorin-ryu, Budokan, and Shisui-ryu.
The kata in different styles
| Style | Name in the style | Movements | Kiai |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shotokan | Sochin | 41 | 2 |
| Shorin-ryu | Sochin | — | — |
Meaning of the name
The name is written with the characters 壯鎭. The English Wikipedia translates it as "calm power" or "to protect peace." Karatevancouver.ca breaks it down into so (mighty, forceful, grand) and chin (to subdue, to calm), which also gives the interpretations "great subduing" or "vigorous calm." Historyoffighting.com adds "strong calm" and "immovable"; according to GKR (gkrkarate.com), these translations relate to the rooted fudo dachi stance.
Creator and history
According to the English Wikipedia, Aragaki Seisho was born in Kumemura or on Sesoko Island and died in Naze; among the katas Wikipedia attributes to him is Sochin. According to GKR, Mabuni Kenwa, the founder of Shito-ryu, probably learned the kata from him. Historyoffighting.com gives a legend according to which it was passed from Aragaki to Higaonna Kanryo and only then to Mabuni; Mabuni later taught Funakoshi Yoshitaka for a time, and this is how Shotokan gained Sochin, Nijushiho, and Unsu. The sources disagree on where to place the kata. The English Wikipedia links it to Naha-te while also classing it with the karate of Shuri; GKR speaks of an origin in Naze but says today's styles took the kata over from the Shuri lineage. Wikipedia mentions an older origin in the Chinese dragon kung fu style only as a possibility.
Differences between styles
In Shotokan the kata is practiced mainly in the fudo dachi stance. According to the English Wikipedia, the Shito-ryu version alternates more stances, among them nekoashi dachi and zenkutsu dachi; the April 2024 WUKF list lists it separately for Shito-ryu under the name Sochin (Aragaki ha). In Go-Kan-Ryu, which derives from the Shotokan lineage, Sochin is, according to GKR, the only kata in which the long fudo dachi replaces zenkutsu dachi. Karatevancouver.ca writes that Sochin is practiced today only in Shito-ryu and Shotokan; the WUKF list, however, also lists it for Shorin-ryu, Budokan, and Shisui-ryu.
Bunkai – applications
GKR reads the techniques of Sochin more as joint locks and grips than as literal blocks. It considers the simultaneous upper block and hammer-fist strike tetsui to the groin, called jo-ge sen-no-sen in the kata, an unlikely application. It interprets the circular movement in taisho uke and manji uke as scooping under or overpowering the opponent's grip; according to the same source, manji uke is meant to catch and pull the opponent in. The left hand, which clenches and extends forward after the second kick, it reads as grabbing and pulling the opponent, or alternatively as controlling distance.
Competition status
Key Tip
In fudo dachi, the practitioner should feel rooted in the ground: the rear leg stays bent and the hips are turned at roughly 45 degrees.
Techniques in the kata
Related katas
- Variants: Aragaki Sochin
Further sources on this topic (7)
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sōchin
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arakaki_Seishō
- karatevancouver.ca/kata/sochin
- historyoffighting.com/the-blog/the-history-of-sochin
- themartialway.com.au/sochin
- gkrkarate.com/about-gkr/black-belt-3rd-dan/sochin-history
- wukf-karate.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/OFFICIAL-WUKF-KATA-LIST-07-AP…