Nippon Budō Seishin-Kan

After bowing and announcing the name of the kata ("Shinsei") ...

Yōi (cross open hands at groin level in musubi dachi) and kiyomeri kokyū (purification breaths)
Kamaete (shift both feet simultaneouslyinto nami heikō dachi while closing hands into fists at hip—not knee—width)

	1	Turn (Naha-te method) 90 degrees left into hidari sanchin dachi with hidari age uke
	2	Step forward into migi han-zenkutsu dachi with migi oizuki
	3	Step back with right foot into hidari kōkutsu dachi with hidari gedan barai
	4	Turn (Naha-te method) 90 degrees right into migi sanchin dachi with migi age uke
	5	Step forward into hidari han-zenkutsu dachi with hidari oizuki
	6	Step back with left foot into migi kōkutsu dachi with migi gedan barai
	7	Step forward into hidari sanchin dachi with hidari kakete uke
	8	Right foot choku geri, landing forward in migi shikō dachi with migi agezuki, followed immediately with migi uraken uchi, migi gedan barai, and hidari kagi zuki with kiai
	9	Turn (Naha-te method) 90 degrees left into hidari sanchin dachi with hidari kakete uke
	10	Step forward into migi sanchin dachi with migi kakete uke
	11	Left foot choku geri, landing forward in hidari shikō dachi with hidari agezuki, followed immediately with hidari uraken uchi, hidari gedan barai, and migi kagi zuki with kiai
	12	Turn (Shuri-te method) 180 degree right into migi neko-ashi dachi with migi yoko ura-shutō uke
	13	Step back with right foot into hidari neko-ashi dachi while sweeping left hand across the front of the body in haitō uchi to the right hip
	14	In place mawari uke (ude-karami nage)

.......... NOTE:  zanshin yame is NOT performed in Shinsei
Naotte (perform tekagami movement while drawing left foot back into musubi dachi)
Rei (bow)

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Shinsei is the first Naha-te kata (template of effective self-defence techniques) taught to students of Shimabukuro-Ha Shitō-Ryū karate-dō.   It provides the beginning student with an introduction to some of the noticeable differences between Shuri-te and Naha-te.   The first of these differences is found in Naha-te mawari-kata (Naha-te turning methods).  In Shuri-te, the foot closest to the direction of the turn normally leads (i.e., left foot for a left turn, right foot for a right turn, and rear foot for a rearward turn).  But in Naha-te, this is usually reversed, so the right foot moves to initiate a left turn, the left foot initiates a right turn, and the front foot steps across to perform a rearward turn.  This occurs on the first movement of Shinsei, with the right foot stepping forward to initiate the left turn.

Another key feature of Naha-te kata is their frequent use of sanchin dachi, which is also introduced in the first movement of Shinsei.  Named for the kata, Sanchin, in which it is the only stance employed, sanchin dachi often proves to be awkward for beginning students, so it warrants further explanation.

As shown in the diagram at left, sanchin dachi is shoulder width from heel to heel, with the heel of the leading foot (left foot in the diagram) aligned with the ball of the trailing foot (right foot in the diagram).  The outside edge (sokutō) of the trailing foot is parallel to the direction of the stance, as in heikō dachi, but the sokutō of the leading foot is angled inwards about 30 degrees.  Your body weight should be centered between the feet, both side-to-side and front-to-back, as indicated by the intersection point (+) of the vertical and horizontal centre-lines in the diagram.  Ankles, knee, and hips should all be bent so that your height is the same as in han-zenkutsu dachi, but the back and neck must remain straight; not bent or hunched forward.

Counter-balancing muscle tension is maintained at all times in sanchin dachi.   The feet are continually pulling inward, as if the ground was splitting apat along the front-to-rear axis in the diagram and you are trying to pull it back together with your feet.  At the same time, both knees are pushing outward.  The buttocks are squeezed together as tightly as possible—as if holding a $100 bill that someone was trying to remove.  And the abdominal muscles are tightened as if you are trying to pull your belly-button and anus toward each other, tilting your pelvis slightly upward.

Together, all these opposing tensions should tighten every muscle in your body from the waist down!

When moving in sanchin dachi, the active foot slides across the floor in an elliptical pattern, as depicted in the diagram at right, its path nearly grazing the stationary foot as it passes, then sweeping forward to a point well beyond its final position before circling back to its ending point less than a single foot-length ahead of its starting position. The stationary foot simply pivots outward on the heel until its sokutō (outer edge) is parallel to the direction of the stance.

This footwork is a more exaggerated version of the less eliptical pattern of foot movement employed in Shuri-te.  It only occurs only twice in Shinsei:  with the left foot in Step #7, when moving from shikō dachi to sanchin dachi, and with the right foot in Step #10, when stepping forward from hidari sanchin dachi to migi sanchin dachi.

Performing this circular footwork pattern correctly is one of the most important training aspects of Shinsei, as it prepares students for subsequent Naha-te kata in which sanchin dachi is more prominently featured.

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When learning any new kata, it is important to remind oneself of the adage: "Manabu no tame ni hyakkkai, jukuren no tame ni senkai, satori no tame ni manga okonau" (学ぶのために百回、熟練のために千回、悟りのために万回行う.).  A hundred times to learn, a thousand times for proficiency, ten thousand repetitions for complete understanding.   A related Okinawan saying is "ichi kata san nen" (一型三年):  one kata three years.  Think of it this way:  it takes about 40 seconds to perform Shinsei.  So in just ten minutes per day for only ten days (or twenty minutes a day for just five days), you can learn the correct sequences of movements in Shinsei.   But to become truly proficient-to be able to perform it correctly, and with the speed, power, timing, and bushi damashii (samurai spirit) necessary to make its techniques effective in a real self-defence situation will take a thousand repetitions, which equates to 100 days at ten repetitions a day.   And to fully understand and apply all of its principles, nuances, and variations will take 1,000 days (three years) at ten repetitions per day.

As you perform Shinsei repeatedly, you should grow increasingly aware of the differences in movement, footwork, tempo, and timing between it and the Shuri-te kata you've learned previously.  This awareness will lead you to think about why those differences exist, and what those differences might mean in terms of  bunkai (step-by-step analysis) and ōyō (practical application).   For instance, how does the use of sanchin dachi or shikō dachi instead of han-zenkutsu dachi or zenkutsu dachi affect the appropriateness and use of a given technique?  What does it suggest about the opponent's proximity and/or actions?  Or weight transfer, balance, vulnerability to counter-attack, etc.?

The word bunkai (分解) literally means "disassemble and analyse."   It is the same term Japanese sports officials use for the slow motion frame-by-frame analysis of the video of a contested referee's call, and it has a similar purpose and application in budō.  It involves examining each technique in minute detail, as if frozen in time, to determine its potential uses and the factors that make it most effective.

Ōyō (応用) means "effective use" or "practical use," so ōyō is the application of the knowledge gained from bunkai.   Once you have analysed every movement of the kata and determined both its intended use and the principles that make it effective, you will be able to use each of the techniques in the kata against the types of attack for which it is best suited.  Although this takes years (at least three), it doesn't mean you have to study only one kata for three years.  Since many kata share some of the same movements, you can be performing bunkai and perfecting ōyō on several kata at once!

The ultimate purpose of analysing and perfecting kata is to develop a methodology and a habit of analysing and perfecting every important aspect of one's life:  knowledge, skills, capabilities, behaviour, attitudes, ethics, motivation, ambitions, desires, ideals, beliefs, values, relationships, and character.  

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