Wankan
Here's the kata Wankan
Wankan is thought to be one of the oldest Kata still practiced to this day, a very short Kata, having been handed down in Ryukyu royal family for many centuries as a royal family Kata. In fact, the name of the Kata translates as "King's Crown","Emperor's Crown", or "King's Victory", which seems to confirm the link to the Ryukyu royal family.
Although Wankan is a short kata it has some unusual moves (at about the half way point), that are not repeated in any other Shotokan Kata.
You can see many more videos on the kata on the squidoo website by clicking on this link
Here's Sensei Kanazawa performing the kata
Here's Tanaka Sensei performing it:
Here's a random dude on the beach doing it. Notice how he looks down at the end when his jeans get wet. No Zanchin!
Here's another version... not very good use of the hips:
Last Updated (Monday, 31 May 2010 20:24)













