Shotokan Kata · Beginner (5th Kyū)
Step through all 23 movements. Each shows the technique, the stance, the direction you turn, and which side performs it. Use the arrows or press play. The figures are simplified schematics — pair them with the written sequence below and your instructor.
Heian Godan is the graduation piece of the Heian series. It brings together everything the first four taught — stances, blocks, kicks, combinations — and adds the two things a student has been building toward: flowing, connected motion and, for the first time, leaving the ground. The jump is not a flourish; it is a lesson in staying composed and landing in a strong, balanced posture ready to fight on.
Created by Ankō Itosu around 1905 and renamed from Pinan to Heian by Gichin Funakoshi, the fifth kata keeps its number in both systems — Shotokan’s Heian Godan is Shitō-ryū and Wadō-ryū’s Pinan Godan.
A text reference for the whole kata — the back-stance blocking openings, the X-block and grab sequence, the jump, and the closing windmill (manji) blocks.
| # | Technique | Stance / turn |
|---|
JKA counts 23 with kiai on 12 & 19; some charts (e.g. themartialway) number the same two kiai moves 11 & 18 depending on how the grab/pull beats are counted. The single jump is at move 18 — the crescent kick (move 15) is a kick, not a jump.
Heian Godan adds the jump and several distinctive hand shapes. Each links to a full breakdown in the techniques glossary.
Heian Godan’s dramatic shapes hide practical grappling-range answers.
Deflect a punch, counter with a reverse punch, then draw in and land a hook punch to the ribs as you close the gap — a compact entry against a committed attacker.
The X-block traps a punch or kick; opening the X seizes the wrist; the pressing block drags it down and off balance; the lunge punch finishes — catch, control, strike.
Read practically, the jump evades a low sweep or leg attack and repositions you behind the attacker, landing crossed-legged with an X-block already covering the next threat.
The jump is about control, not altitude. Land softly with bent knees in a stable kosa-dachi — a loud, stiff landing is a fault, however high you got.
Move 15’s crescent kick should strike your own open palm cleanly with the sole of the foot — sweeping past it or missing the palm shows a lack of control.
The closing manji-uke is a down block and an upper block driven together by the hips; students let the two arms drift apart or lag.
Godan rewards connected, flowing motion between its bursts. Chopping every move into isolated stops loses the kata’s character.
At a purple-belt (5th kyū) test — the last colour before brown — examiners want a controlled, balanced jump with a quiet landing in a strong kosa-dachi, a crescent kick that strikes the palm cleanly, windmill blocks driven by the hips, genuine flow between combinations, the two kiai in place, and an accurate embusen. Requirements vary by association — confirm the exact standard 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 Heian Godan performed at full speed by senior instructors, watch reference footage:
▶ Watch “Heian Godan” 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.
You’ve finished the Heian series — see all five in the Heian hub, or return to the kata library.