I wrote about Kongō no Kon recently, which was created by Taira Shinken based on elements taken from Sueyoshi no Kon, Sesoko no Kon, and Soeishi no Kon. Then Mr. Y, one of the inquirers, asked about another kata called Kongō he had heard several years ago and which was published in the Karate-dō Taikan in 1938, and that it was a variation of Shūshi no Kon.
And that’s right. At that time, Taira reformed old-style Shūshi no Kon and renamed it Kongō no Kata. Actually, the exact title of the chapter in question reads “Kongō no Kata (formerly known as Shūshi no Kon.”
However, at some later point in time, Taira reversed this, created Shūshi no Kon Shō and Dai, and then at some point created Kongō no Kon as a completely different kata. This must be seen in context with Taira trying this and that since the 1930s through to the 1960s.
Anyway, Taira’s 1938 attempt of “Kongō no Kata (formerly known as Shūshi no Kon)” is still interesting. It is composed of illustrations and accompanying text. There are several things to note and some technical specifics that are quite intruiging. Therefore, I made a video explaning everything and showing the kata for consideration.
In addition, and since it was sitting on one of my drives anyway, I prepared an English translation of the kata. As a side note, I took the photos of the kata from the Karate-dō Taikan in 2009 in the study of the late Nagamine Shōshin sensei at the Kōdōkan, Matsubayashi-ryū Honbu Dōjō in Naha Kumoji, with the consent of Nagamine Takayoshi sensei. That was an original 1938 edition, but I used a cheap camera or phone (I don’t remember) so the quality is not good.
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