Gankaku - Crane on a Rock

We began the study of Gankaku at Kata Squad training on Saturday 1st May. We only managed to get a little bit done because I spent a bit more time reviewing GoJuShiHo Dai from a previous session. However, we will return to this on the 15th May so for those who will be attending, get some practice in using the videos below. 

On Squidoo.com, you'll find some these videos plus the following descriptions:

"Gankaku meaning 'Crane on a rock', is a black belt Shotokan Kata, also practiced in many other styles of karate. The original name for Gankaku was Chinto meaning 'fighter from the East'. Gichin Funakoshi changed the name, Chinto to Gankaku when he took his Shotokan Karate to Japan.

Gankaku is a very beautiful kata, the difficult moves and balance exercises make Gankaku one of the hardest Shotokan Kata to learn and execute well."

Here's Sensei Tanaka of the JKA performing Gankaku

Here's Luca Valdesi - this is a very modern European version of the kata

And Sensei Kanazawa

Here's an Italian team performing the Bunkai (application) of Gankaku