# pinan vs heian



## Manny (Apr 9, 2012)

Forgive my ignorance, what is the diference beetwen pinan and heian katas?

manny


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## dancingalone (Apr 9, 2012)

Pinan was original name/pronunciation for them, roughly meaning 'Peaceful & Calm' (I've also seen some translations as 'Peaceful Mind').  When FUNAKOSHI Gichin moved to Japan to teach, he reversed the order of Pinan Shodan and Pinan Nidan and then also renamed them to Heian, which is the Japanese way of pronouncing the same ideograms.

Technically, the forms are very similar, though the way the Heian series are done usually have strong zenkutsu dachi and kokutsu dachi whereas the Pinan Shorin-ryu versions prefer a shallower zenkutsu dachi and a cat stance or t stance instead of back stance.  Shorin-ryu has a front kick instead of side kick and so on.

If you have a more specific question about a particular part of a kata, I can try to answer more specifically.


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## puunui (Apr 11, 2012)

dancingalone said:


> Pinan was original name/pronunciation for them, roughly meaning 'Peaceful & Calm' (I've also seen some translations as 'Peaceful Mind').  When FUNAKOSHI Gichin moved to Japan to teach, he reversed the order of Pinan Shodan and Pinan Nidan and then also renamed them to Heian, which is the Japanese way of pronouncing the same ideograms.



Didn't know that. So pinan is the okinawan pronunciation of heian, which is the japanese pronunciation?


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## dancingalone (Apr 11, 2012)

puunui said:


> Didn't know that. So pinan is the okinawan pronunciation of heian, which is the japanese pronunciation?



Yes, sir.


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## Makalakumu (Apr 12, 2012)

I don't have my library in front of me, but isn't Heian related somehow to the Heian period in Shotokan mythology?

Sent from my SCH-I405 using Tapatalk 2


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## chinto (Apr 14, 2012)

dancingalone said:


> Pinan was original name/pronunciation for them, roughly meaning 'Peaceful & Calm' (I've also seen some translations as 'Peaceful Mind').  When FUNAKOSHI Gichin moved to Japan to teach, he reversed the order of Pinan Shodan and Pinan Nidan and then also renamed them to Heian, which is the Japanese way of pronouncing the same ideograms.
> 
> Technically, the forms are very similar, though the way the Heian series are done usually have strong zenkutsu dachi and kokutsu dachi whereas the Pinan Shorin-ryu versions prefer a shallower zenkutsu dachi and a cat stance or t stance instead of back stance.  Shorin-ryu has a front kick instead of side kick and so on.
> 
> If you have a more specific question about a particular part of a kata, I can try to answer more specifically.



I agree with the statements above!  same kata modified to japanese sensibilitys and shodan and nidan katas were switched.


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## punisher73 (Apr 16, 2012)

As to physical differences, they will be the differences between styles.

Funakoshi tried to rename all of the okinawan kata when he taught them in Japan to make them sound more "japanese".  Some of the names stuck, and others didn't.  Here are some examples of the more well known Shorin-Ryu katas.

Pinan=Heian
Seisan=Hangetsu
Tekki=Naihanchi
Empi=Wansu
Kwanku=Kusanku
Gankaku=Chinto
Bassai=Passai


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