Kata Focus - Bassai

Bassai (or Passai) is found in various martial styles from Japan, China, Korea and Okinawa. It is unknown exactly where this Kata originates, although there are many theories. 

Bassai is one of the oldest Kata (with the only possible exception being Seisan). 

Bassai is prominent in both Shuri-te and Tomari-te, it is known that Bushi Matsumura taught this Kata and today there are two main versions (among others), ‘Matsumura Bassai’ and ‘Tomari Bassai’. 

Anko Itosu was a student of Bushi Matsumura and mainly studied Shuri-te, but it has been said that Matsumura told Itosu to learn the Tomari version of this Kata from Kokan Oyadomari. This means that in general, the students of Itosu (including masters such as Gichin Funakoshi, Choshin Chibana and Kenwa Mabuni) taught the Tomari version of this Kata, rather than ‘Matsumura Bassai’. It should be noted that later down the track some masters made a point of learning both versions.

There are two types of Bassai taught by Itosu, ‘Bassai-Dai’ and ‘Bassai-Sho’. 

Bassai-Sho is the smaller and is solely designed for defence against an opponent wielding a rod or stick.
The theory is that when Itosu was young, his father would tie him to a pole and attack him with a Bo (wooden stick) in order to teach him to defend himself.
Later in Life, Itosu created ‘Bassai-Sho’ and ‘Kanku-Sho’ based on their larger counterparts for Bo defence as a result of this childhood experience.
I have also read this story regarding different masters too (Matsumura for example), so it's difficult to know exactly how accurate it is, as is the case with many legends of the old masters.

It is thought that the techniques in Bassai originate in either in ‘Five Element Fist’ Kung Fu or ‘Leopard-lion’ style Kung Fu, but this is only speculation as the history of the Kata before even Matsumura is unknown. 

The name ‘Bassai’ (meaning ‘to extract from a fortress’ or ‘remove an obstruction’) comes from Gichin Funakoshi, originally from the Okinawan ‘Passai’. 

Gichin Funakoshi renamed many Kata in order to make them sound more poetic and meaningful for the mainland Japanese.

Shotokan - Bassai-Dai

Shotokan - Bassai-Sho

Wado Ryu

Chosin Chibana (Shorin)

(with nice Okinawan music)

Tang Soo Do (Korean)

 Tomari Bassai

Matsumura Bassai

Comment below to share any thoughts or opinions you might have.  :)

Thanks for reading.
Derm

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Information Sources (to the best of my memory):
Books:

Karate-Do Kyohan: The Master Text By Gichin Funakoshi

Web:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passai

http://www.theshotokanway.com/bassaishonotes.html

http://www.theshotokanway.com/bassaidaikatanotes.html

http://www.downloadkarate.com/karate-articles/bassaidai