Shotokan Kata · Advanced (Dan grade)
Step through all 27 movements. Use the arrows or press play. These are simplified schematics — pair them with the written sequence below and your instructor, especially for the staff-defence and crane-stance passages.
Bassai Shō is the technician’s Bassai. It keeps the spirit of storming a fortress but expresses it through smaller, subtler, more precise waza rather than raw force. Its heart is weapon defence: two-handed staff blocks catch a bō, and tiger-mouth grasping blocks (the “bassai-uke”) seize and control it. Around these it weaves one-legged crane-stance side kicks and de-ashi-barai foot sweeps — hence its light, springing character.
It was created by Ankō Itosu as the lesser counterpart to Bassai Dai, and shares much of its cousin’s vocabulary, which is why the two are studied together.
A text reference for the whole kata, following the JKA form.
| # | Technique | Stance / turn |
|---|
Accuracy note: JKA counts 27 with kiai now on 17 & 22 (historically 17 & 25). Moves 20/23–25 fuse an outside block + foot sweep + double side punch into single counts. Bassai Shō has no jump.
Bassai Shō’s vocabulary is weapon-defence and control. Each links to a full breakdown in the techniques glossary.
Read Bassai Shō as controlling a weapon and sweeping an opponent off their feet.
The two-hand block meets a thrusting or descending bō and traps it against your forearms; the grasping block then seizes it, so you control the weapon and the wielder in one motion.
Lifting into the crane clears a leg or checks a kick; the side kick strikes while the hands grab and pull the attacker onto it — the first kiai is exactly this catch-and-strike.
The outside block turns a punch aside, the foot sweep takes the attacker’s base, and the double side punch lands as they fall — a complete off-balance-and-finish, drilled to three angles.
Bassai Shō is smaller-frame and more technical — precise, controlled, subtle. Muscling it with Bassai Dai’s big power misses its character.
The one-legged sagi-ashi-dachi must be balanced and still before the kick fires; rushing off an unsteady leg loses the technique.
The two-hand blocks and grasps mean something specific — catch and control a weapon. Perform them with that intent and keep the hands working as a pair.
The de-ashi-barai in moves 20/23–25 must actually take the base — sweep with intent, timed with the double punch.
As a dan-grade kata, Bassai Shō is judged on precise, controlled technique rather than raw power, convincing weapon-defence blocks and grasps, balanced crane stances, well-timed foot sweeps into the double punches, the two kiai, and an accurate embusen. Requirements vary by association — confirm with your dōjō.
The illustrations on this page are study schematics — they show the shape of each move, not a real body in motion. To see Bassai Shō performed at full speed by senior instructors, watch reference footage:
▶ Watch “Bassai Shō” performances on YouTubeOpens a YouTube search in a new tab. Look for JKA / Japan Karate Association or established Shotokan instructor demonstrations for the most standard version of the form.
Or revisit Bassai Dai and Jitte, or return to the kata library.