RyuShiKan stated:
The Pinan Katas are on here as well. Notice how he the guy steps to his left instead of the right for the opening move.
Sensei Mike stated:
I am curious. Which kata are you referring to?
RyuShiKan stated:
I think it was Pinan Shodan.
RyuShiKan,
I am not sure I understand why you pointed out a Pinan starting to the left, rather than the right.
Perhaps you were referring to the Matsubayashi Shorin Ryu Naihanchi Sandan. Naihanchi Shodan and Nidan open to the right, but Naihanchi Sandan opens with the left foot, where the right foot is what is common. It is not a mirror image, as the direction continues off to the right, as in the other variants.
Of course the Pinans all open to the left. I am not familiar all Okinawan systems, so I don't know if this is absolutely universal, but have seen representations of almost all the mainline Itosu students (Chibana, Funakoshi, Toyama, Mabuni, Nakama, Nakamura, but still working on Hanashiro.) And in these videos, we have the Nagamine, (a Kyan student) variants as well.
I am reasonably certain that Pinan kata in all these lineages begin to the left. Do you have knowledge of a system going to the right?