Kūsankū (kata)
open hand karate kata
Kūsankū (クーサンクー) is a kata of karate and is practiced mainly in the Shuri-te lineage. It is also called Kūshankū (クーシャンクー), Kōshōkun (公相君) or Kankū (観空).
Variations of Kūsankū include Dai and Shō, which have been known since the early 20th century, but today differ from school-to-school. Additionally variations exist, such as Chatan Yara Kūshankū. There is a theory that Kūsankū originated with Kōshōkun (Okinawan dialect: Kūsankū), who visited Okinawa during the Ryukyu Kingdom in the mid-18th century, but no primary historical evidence has been found to substantiate this theory.
In Shotokan, the kata has been known as Kankū (観空, lit. 'gazing at the sky') ever since it was renamed in 1935 by Funakoshi Gichin. This kata is also practiced in Tang Soo Do as Kong Sang Koon (공상군) in Korean according to the hangul rendering of the hanja 公相君. Most schools of Tang Soo Do only practice the "Dai" version but a handful do practice both the latter and "Shō" versions.
Overview
Kūsankū is a cornerstone of many styles of karate. It is characterized by the use of flowing techniques that resemble those found in White Crane Kung Fu.
The public source identifies “Kūsankū (kata)” as open hand karate kata. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Kūsankū, kata and hand.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kūsankū (kata)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.