Talk:Heian series

Why "yon" and not "shi"?

Each Kanji for the numbers 1 to 5 has an On and Kun pronounciation. The 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Heian katas use the On pronounciation, but not the 1st and 4th. Does anyone know why?

1. ichi - Heian Shodan 2. ni - Heian Nidan 3. san - Heian Sandan 4. shi - Heian Yondan (yon is actually the Kun pronounciation?) 5. go - Heian Godan

Best regards Michael Schøler, Denmark —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 85.82.135.187 (talk) 12:51, 6 March 2007 (UTC).[reply]

My understanding is that "ichi/ni/san/shi" translate to "1, 2, 3, 4" whereas "sho, ni, san, yon" translate to "1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th". Not sure though. Mango juice^talk 14:45, 6 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Heian = Streamlined Pinan?

I would dispute the line that says "The Heian kata were a product of Anko Itosu's effort to streamline several kata, namely the Pinan series, into forms suitable for teaching the gross body movement skills of karate to young students."

Since, to all intents and purposes, the heian and pinan kata are identical save for a couple of changes (e.g. cat stance into back stance - which is hardly a "streamlining" process), I would dispute that the heian kata are anything other than the pinan kata with a more Japanese name. Is this the "streamlining" in question? Making the name easier for Japanese speakers? That doesn't tally with the assertion that this was done for the benefit of Okinawan youths. Rather than change the section immediately I thought I'd put it to discussion first. Shinji nishizono 12:49, 28 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

As far as I've been taught, heian and pinan are different pronounciations of the same characters (平安). --Cubbi 19:53, 17 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]