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Passai
(japanese: Bassai) “To break, to penetrate the fortress”, “Extract and block the attack”, Passai is one of the oldest form practiced in karate. Its undeniable chinese roots date back many centuries ago and greatly influenced the practice of empty hand arts of combat in Okinawa. This kata should be performed with strength and the stances should show strong 'kime': they are designed to confront numerous opponents up-close. Despite the existence of many different versions, the fundamental principals (blocks, sweeps and projections) remain the same: The opening move, performed in 'kake dachi' stance, should be repeated tiredlessly until balance and strength is obtained. This first movement is a metaphor of the spirit of the whole kata. The techniques then follow each other around strong pivotal motions and are executed as a frontal response to a violent attack. For these reasons, Passai is usually part of the intermediate curriculum of karate schools. Just like most techniques imported directly from China to Okinawa, the Passai kata was assimilated in different fashion along two of the main branches of karate: shuri-te and tomari-te. Thus Passai was learned by Sokon Matsumura from Shuri, and the Oyadomari family in Tomari, from the teaching of Teruya Kishin. After the 19th century, suceeding masters developped the kata and brought their own interpretation and variation. The standardisation of karate saw two different versions, a greater ('dai') and a lesser ('sho') version, brought to mainland Japan by Funakoshi Gishin, based on Anko Itosu's teachings. The 'Bassai' pronunciation, along with its particular kanji, date back from this period. There are over thirty different versions of this kata, based on the different 'ryu' (schools) of karate. The Kokusai Butokukai studies and preserves four of these:
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