Heian Shodan

This is the first technical kata, consisting of multiple blocks, strikes, and stances; compared to the Taikyoku kata which only have one strike, and a maximum of two blocks or two stances. Funakoshi changed the names of these kata from Pinan, in order to make them more appealing to Japanese culture.

This Kata was believed to be developed from pieces of an Okinawan kata called Koshokun, in order to be simpler to learn. At the time, Funakoshi and his instructor were trying to get karate into the Okinawan public school system, and later had the opportunity to get karate adopted into mainland Japan's school system as a form of physical fitness education.