(OKINAWA SHORIN-RYU SHIZOKU)

Some Notes On Bassai Kata
By Harry Cook, B.A. - Classical Fighting Arts (Issue #1)

History

Bassai (Passai) kata is often said to have been primarily associated with the great Okinawan karate master Sokon “Bushi” Matsumura (1809-1902). Other Okinawan instructors developed their own versions of Bassai including Matsumora Bassai, Oyadomari Bassas, Itosu Bassai, Kyan Bussai, Chibana Bassai, Ishimine Bassai, and others. The Japanese systems of Shotokan, Wado Ryu and Shito Ryu also developed their own distinctive versions of Bassat, Some styles teach a major (dai) and minor (sho) versions of Bassai, and it is often said that Bassai Sho was developed by the great master, Yasutsune Itosu (1827—1906). While details of the various versions differ, there is an underlying similarity and some aspects are found in all versions. For example, the opening hand posture which features the clenched right fist covered by the open left hand is standard in all versions. This opening posture is usually explained in one of two ways:

1. The covered fist implies a wish not to use force, i.e. the weapon is covered rather than raised in a threatening way. This is often perceived as a concrete example of Gichin Funakoshi’s precept Karate ni sente nashi (There is no first attack in karate).

2. This posture is a fragment of the original Chinese form that may have been the source of the kata. The clenched fist stands for the sun while the open hand represents the moon. In Chinese the character formed in this way is pronounced Ming (Bright)1 and thus recalls the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), the last native Chinese dynasty which was replaced by the invading Manchu’s who established the rule of the Ching emperors. It is said that many patriotic societies wanted to overthrow the Ching and return the Ming to power, and so when they trained in martial arts they used the covered hand posture to remind them of the aim of their training. Certainly the Boxers who rose in China at the end of the nineteenth century made use of the slogan “Fan Ch’ing Fu Ming” (Overthrow the Ching, restore the Ming), and the covered hand posture is still seen in Chinese systems, both as a greeting or salutation and in the forms.

The Name

It is interesting to note that Gichin Funakoshi wrote the name Bassai in his first two books (1922, 1925) in kana (syllables) rather than kanji (Chinese characters). Other writers also used kana rather than kanji, including Choki Motobu (Okinawa Kempo Karate Jutsu Kumite Hen, 1926), Nisaburo Miki (Kempo Gaisetsu 1930), and Mizuho Takeda (Karate Kempo, 1933). This may suggest that either the name had never been written down, but was passed on through oral tradition, or that the writers used kana to enable their Japanese readers to understand the Okinawan pronunciation of the kata (Pass as) as the older more obscure Chinese characters may have been relatively unknown. Funakoshi first seems to have made use 0f the characters for Bassai (at least in his books) in his magnum opus Karate Do Kyohan (1935). The first character PA (Chinese) BATSU (Japanese) means “to extract,” “to root up” and is often used in Chinese compounds meaning “to capture a city,” “to break up a camp”, “to root up a mountain” (i.e. to show extraordinary strength). The second character SAI (Chinese) FUSAGU or SAI (Japanese)3 , means “to block up, to stop up, obstruct”. In Chinese the SM character can be used to transliterate foreign sounds.

Richard Kim, on page 44 of his The Weaponless Warriors (1974), says that Bassai means “to breach or go through fortifications:’ This translation or something very similar is usually said to be the meaning of Bassai, but if we look at the characters used by Gichin Funakoshi in 1935 it is difficult to see how this explanation is arrived at.

The first character is not a problem as PA/ BATSU means to use strength in some way and as one does not “extract a city” or “extract a castle” the idea of capture/attack/storm etc. is obvious from the context. However the second character dearly does not mean a fortress or castle of any kind.

However other writers did make use of two characters that do mean “to storm a fortress.’ The first character is the same as that used by Gichin Funakoshi, but the second is the Chinese character CHAI which means “a stockade, a military outpost; a walled village.” I believe that the character FUSAGU/SAI (to stop, obstruct) should actually be the character which is read as CHAI (fortress) in Chinese. The two characters are very similar and it is easy to confuse them; either Gichin Funakoshi made a mistake or this was an error introduced by a typesetter when the book was printed. Just such an error can be found in Karate Nyumon (1943) where the character KAN (winter)5 is written instead 0f the character fix SAT (the characters look very similar) in the kata list on page 58 where Bakan is written instead of Bassai.

This is the compound which appears in Genwa Nakasone’s book Karate Do Taikan (1938). In this work, the Shorin Ryu master Choshin Chibana performs Bassai. He uses the character (6) to write Bassai. The second character is cognate with the Chinese CHAI meaning a fortress or stockade. (See Mathews Chinese English Dictionary, Harvard University Press, 1972 p13 character 116).

This combination of characters is also used by Yasuhiro Konishi and Kanei Mabuni when they demonstrate Bassai kata in their works. It should be noted than when senior Shotokan master Taiji Kase wrote his l8 Kata Superieurs Karate-Do Shotokan Ryu (Sedirep, 1982) he also used these characters.

The characters used by Gichin Funakoshi in 1935 have subsequently been used by many Shotokan writers including Hirokazu Kanazawa, Tesuhiko Asai, and Shojiro Suglyama. This version was also used by Shorin Ryu master Shoshin Nagamine m the English language version of his Essence of Okinawan Karate-Do (1976). However in the earlier Japanese edition of his book he writes Bassai in kana rather than kanji.