The K-Zone: Kevin's Shotokan kata notes: heian yondan

Performance line for heian yondan; the starting position is shown as a blue spot

0. Preparation. The kata proper starts in yoi (`ready' or `attention') stance. Your feet are about shoulder-width apart, toes pointing north, hands in fists just in front of your waist. If you're doing it for a competition, there will be certain formalities, such as a bow before assuming attention stance.

1. Double-handed block to the west in back stance. Look decisively to the west, step out with your left foot into back stance, then block at head height with both right and left open hands. This move is similar to the first move of heian nidan, except that the hands are open, not fists, and (at least in most schools), the move is very slow. As in nidan, you're doing an inside block at head height with the left arm, and a rising block at head height with the right. Purists insist that, at the end of the move, your right index finger should point at your left wrist.
      As in nidan, the move starts with a dropping of the hips, and a step out to the west, before the blocks. Consequently, your torso does not move much as you step into back stance. In the JKA style, your fists should open into open hands before starting the block, not during the block. In some styles, this first move starts by shooting the hands out to the right (east), before blocking from this extended position. However, followers of JKA simply open the fists and start the block with the open hands near the right hip.

2. Double-handed block to the east in back stance. Look decisively to the east while rotating on your heels into a new back stance with the right foot foward. While rotating, bring the open hands down to the left hip, and repeat the slow double blocks. The rotation should be fast, the blocks (in most styles) slow.

3. X-block to the north in front stance. Look decisively to the north, and bring both fists to your right shoulder. then step out to the north the your left foot, into front stance, while blocking strongly downward with both hands. You're doing an ordinary downward block (gedan barai) with your left hand, reinforcing it with your right. Consequently the right hand should be on top of the left during this move. 4. Reinforced inside block to the north in back stance. Step north with your right foot into a new back stance; as your foot lands, inside block with the right arm, supported by the left fist.

5-7. Back fist, side snap kick, and elbow strike to the west. Step up with your left foot to your right knee, in preparation for the snap kick. At the same time, pull both fists to the right hip. Your shoulders and hips are still square to the north, while your left knee should be pointing to the west (so far as this is possible if you're over 40). Balance in this position for a fraction of a second, then back-fist strike to the west at neck height with your left fist. With your left arm still extended, execute a side snap kick under your left arm, to about rib height. Withdraw the kick back to your knee, then step down with the kicking (left) foot into a new front stance, facing west. Bring your right elbow around to strike at head height, and bend your right arm so that your elbow slaps into your left open palm. This elbow-strike-against-palm is representative of doing an elbow strike while pulling your opponent's head into your elbow with your right arm. However, since you don't have an opponent in the kata, it would look untidy to mime this action, hence the palm slap.
      In some styles (including JKA Shotokan) this move is actually two distinct moves: the first move consists of stepping up and raising the knee in preparation for the kick, while the second move is the kick and elbow strike. In these styles, you should ensure that, when your knee is raised, you allow a distinct pause before launching the kick.

8-10. Back fist, side snap kick, and elbow strike to the east. This is the mirror image of move 5-7. Turn on your heels and raise your right knee to face east; then back-fist strike, kick, and elbow strike as before. If you're being pedantic, you should not simply turn and raise your right knee. Instead, you should take a half-step back with the extended left leg before turning. Why? Because otherwise the next moves will be off the centreline of the kata (you'll be about two feet too far east), which purists regard as unsightly.

11. Low block and knife-hand strike to the north. This is a tricky move to do elegantly. At the start of this move you're in front stance, right leg forward, left elbow on right palm. Now, look north, and block sharply downwards with your left knife-hand (so your left palm ends up about near your left knee). At the same time, bring your right hand up to your head so that your your right palm is facing outwards (away from your head), with your knuckes almost touching your forehead. What you're doing with your right hand here is cocking it for the second part of the move.
      The next part of the move is a knife-hand strike with the right hand at neck height. To prepare for this strike, turn quickly on both heels so that your feet point north. Then rotate your hips and shoulders to face north, and use this movement to drive your right hand around in a wide arc to strike at your opponent's neck. You should have your right hand palm-up for this move, so you strike with the little finder side of the hand. To give additional momentum to the move, withdraw your outstretched left hand to head height, palm open and facing away, knuckles near on your forehead. Your left hand is thus prepared to catch or deflect a blow to your head.
      During this move you are in a kind of front stance -- your left leg is in front with knee bend, while your right is behind and locked straight. However, if you've done the move properly, your stance is much wider than normal -- as wide as a normal front stance is long.

12-13. Front snap kick, stepping back-fist strike to the north. This is another difficult move. First snap kick at midsection height with your back (right) leg. This kick goes under your outstretched right arm, which stays where it is. After the kick, remain balanced on your left leg. Press down with your left hand (which has remained in front of your forehead during the kick), and draw back your right fist to your left shoulder. Step sharply down and forward with your right leg, while striking at chest height with the back of your right fist. The power of this strike comes from the forward momentum of your whole body, not the movement of your right arm, which remains bent with your fist only a foot or so from your chest throughout the step. As you step and strike, kaia, and bring your left foot up behind your right, so that left little toe is touching the ground just behind and to the east of your right heel. After the kiai hold this posture for a second or two.

14. Double inside block to the south-east. Use your left foot to rotate your whole body to the left on your right heel, so that you end up facing south east with your right foot slightly in front of your left. You should end up in something very close to a cat stance (except that your feet are slightly too close together for a real cat stance). As soon as you are facing south east, step out with your left foot into back stance. At the same time as the step, bring your arms together in front of your chest, wrists crossed and knuckles pointing away from your body. Then inside block with both arms.
      You should finish this move in back stance, but with your shoulders square to the direction you are looking, that is, south east. Your left and right fists should be at shoulder height, both at the same distance from your shoulders. This is only possible if your shoulders are square to the south east, or very close to it. This is not an easy posture to maintain unless you are very supple in the hips. It's almost impossible to keep your hips in the proper back-stance position, while your shoulders are at 90 degrees to them, but it's necessary to try.

15-17. Front snap kick, double punch south-east. Bring your right knee up sharply to as close to chest height as you can get, and snap kick to chin height. As you withdraw your kicking foot, step forward (south-east) into right front stance and punch with the right fist at midsection height. Immediately punch again (reverse punch this time) with your left fist.
      Note that the first punch (right fist) is not cocked; you have to show that you can do a strong punch without the benefit of a full range of movement. As you do the first punch, withdrawn your non-punching (left) hand to your hip, so that the second punch gets full strength.

18. Double inside block to the south-west. Step back with your right foot to your left foot, while rotating on your left heel so that you face south-west. At the same time draw both fists back to your hips, and then raise them to wrists-crossed position at chest height. Step out with your right foot into back stance, facing south west, and inside block with both arms. This move is essentially the same as move 14, except that you are only turning through 90 degrees, rather than 135 degrees.

19-21. Front snap kick, double punch south-west. These moves are the same as moves 15-17, except that you're leading with a left kick, then punching left-right, rather than the other way around.

22-24. Three reinforced inside blocks to the south. Look south. Bring both fists to your right hip, and step around with your left leg so that you're in back stance, facing south. Inside block with your left arm, supported by your right. Then repeat this move as you step forward into right back stance, then again into left back stance. At this point you should be very close to the point the kata started.
      It's important to get strong reinforced blocks in these moves, which is only possible if you bring hip and shoulder movement into play. As you step forward each time, your shoulders turn square to the south while your fists draw back to your hips. Then your hips and shoulders rotate to face east or west (or as close as you can get) while your swing up the blocking arm.

25-26. Knee strike to the south, knife-hand block to the north. Turn sharply on your heels so that your feet point south and you're in a very narrow front stance. At the same time, shoot your hands out at head height, as if to grab your opponent's head. Then bring your right knee up, while pulling the imaginary head down to make contact with it. Kiai on this move, and hold for a second with your knee raised.
      While balancing on your left leg, rotate your shoulders and hips through 180 degrees to face north. Then step back into back stance with the right leg while doing a knife-hand block with your left hand.

27. Knife-hand block to the north. Step forward with your right foot into a new back stance, and knife-hand block with your right hand. Your left foot should be positioned very close to the point the kata started.

28. Finish. Pull back your right foot alongside your left, so you come to attention.

Here are a few things to bear in mind when practising yondan.

• When doing the combination kick and double punch, the fist on the same side as the kicking leg punches first. This is different from heian nidan, with which students practising this kata are by now likely to be familiar. In nidan, the front snap kick is followed by a reverse punch; in sandan it is followed by a stepping punch. I've seen endless numbers of grading candidates fluff the kata at this point. Ideally, the punch should reach its target infinitessimaly before your foot touches the ground.
• There are three opportunities for sloppy balance to embarrass you in this kata. The first two opportunities are when moving from the side snap kicks to the elbow strike. It's very easy to kick out, then drop straight down into the front stance. However, this does not demonstrate good control of the kicking action; in a competition the judges will be looking for you to withdraw the kicking foot right back to your knee, balance, and then step down neatly into front stance.
        The other place where you need to be careful is the second kiai move -- after the knee strike, it is again tempting to drop your leg down into back stance directly after the strike. If you do this, when your foot lands you'll be facing away from the opponent coming at your from the north. Since the opponent to the south has, we assume, been conclusively dealt with by a knee in his face, there's no need to be facing south anymore. Consequently you need to turn north before dropping into back stance and blocking.
• The first kiai move is a strike, not a block. You're striking chest or throat height with your back fist, but the force comes from your forceful step forward, not from your arm action. Consequently, you should facing square to the north when you land, not half-square like you would if your were blocking.