Channan : Heart of the Heians

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Summary: Kata Origins
Review: Channan: Heart of the Heians, by Elmar T. Schmeisser, explores the possibility of the modern day Heians as derived from the chinese kata Channan-Dai and Channa-Sho. The author makes no definitive claim that his studies are absolute, but presents his research in a sound historical manner leaving the reader to make his or her own decision regarding the origins of the Heian kata based on the research presented. The book is loaded with simple-to-follow, step-by-step, photos of Channan-Dai and Channan-Sho and accompanying text for each step. In a simple straight forward way, the author clearly illustrates apparent or perceived correlations between the Channan kata and the modern day Heians. An added plus in this book is the way it is laid out; the book is designed in such a way that keeps the reader flowing seamlessly from one photographic illustration to another. Only two things might have improved this well produced book and research, one of which is nearly impossible to do on the printed page, showing the transition moves in sequence, and crisper photographs with a higher quality camera. Overall, regardless of these two minor shortcomings, this book is a fantastic work and will be greatly appreciated by anyone who enjoys the study of traditional Japanese kata, bunkai, and kata origins.

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Summary: Dr. Schmeisser Continues to Break New Ground
Review: This is the first book of it's kind to my knowledge. Dr. Schmeisser presents for us two kata, Channan Dai and Channan Sho, of Chinese origin, that he believes are the root kata that Itosu Yasutsune used as the source material to create the 5 Pinan kata (known as Heian in Japanese styles). Dr. Schmeissar's writing style and organization is extremely logical. There's no fluff here, just the meat. He begins by providing us with a background and historical context of these kata to convince us of his theory. This chapter is chalked full of fascinating footnotes from the research that he did. He then takes us right into Channan Dai and Channan Sho, showing the movements with pictures and detailed written description with full Bunkai. In the fourth chapter, he relates the Channan sequences and bunkai to their respective Heian sequences, teaching us bunkai for the Heian kata. The 5th chapter is a historical note discussing the kata origins and the question of whether they are the root kata of the Pinan/Heian. The chapter demonstrates to me the author's professional integrity and honesty by admitting that his theory cannot be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt but provides us his reasoning and allows us to make our own judgement. The last chapter provides us with a photographic sequence of the kata to use as a reference for learning. This is, perhaps, the only place in the book where I find fault which, quite possibly, could be due to my own short comings. I found it hard trying to follow the sequence and often got confused on which direction I needed to go in or what my feet needed to do during some of the turns and transitional movements (I'll need the video to get my performance correct). In my opinion, more photos of the transitional moves would have alleviated this for me. Despite this small fault, I believe this to be an extremely valuable book and there's no other like it on the subject. I highly recommend it.