The 18 kata of Matsubayashi-ryū — an attribution table

Matsubayashi-ryū, as founded by Shōshin Nagamine in 1947, preserves 18 kata. The number itself is worth pausing on: Nagamine selected this set from a wider inheritance, drawing on his three principal teachers — Ankichi Arakaki, Chōtoku Kyan, and Chōki Motobu — to produce a curriculum that spans several centuries of Okinawan karate transmission.

This article is a reference table: who created or preserved each kata, roughly when, and the transmission path by which it reached Nagamine and entered the Matsubayashi curriculum. It’s the kind of document I want to refer back to — and have readers refer back to — rather than read straight through.

The curriculum is traditionally learned in the order given below, which is also the approximate order of historical layering: Nagamine’s own foundation kata first, then the Itosu-era pedagogical kata from the early 1900s, then the older Kyan-lineage material, and finally the kata with the deepest historical roots.

The foundation kata — Fukyūgata

#	Kata	Creator	Approximate date	Source / transmission
1	Fukyūgata Ichi	Shōshin Nagamine	1940–41	Nagamine’s own creation, designed as an introductory kata for general karate propagation
2	Fukyūgata Ni	Miyagi Chōjun	1940–41	Miyagi’s creation for the same propagation purpose; taken into the Matsubayashi curriculum by Nagamine

The two Fukyūgata (“promoted kata”) were created in parallel by Nagamine and Miyagi Chōjun as part of an early-1940s Okinawan initiative to create accessible introductory kata for school and public teaching. That Miyagi’s Fukyūgata Ni — a kata rooted in Naha-te / Gōjū-ryū sensibilities — became part of Matsubayashi’s core curriculum reflects Nagamine’s ecumenical view of Okinawan karate.

The Itosu curriculum — Pinan and Naihanchi

#	Kata	Creator	Approximate date	Source / transmission
3	Pinan Shodan	Itosu Ankō	1901–07	Itosu → Kyan → Nagamine
4	Pinan Nidan	Itosu Ankō	1901–07	Itosu → Kyan → Nagamine
5	Pinan Sandan	Itosu Ankō	1901–07	Itosu → Kyan → Nagamine
6	Pinan Yondan	Itosu Ankō	1901–07	Itosu → Kyan → Nagamine
7	Pinan Godan	Itosu Ankō	1901–07	Itosu → Kyan → Nagamine
8	Naihanchi Shodan	Ancient; pre-Matsumura	Pre-19th century	Possibly Chinese origin; transmitted through Shuri-te, preserved by Matsumura and later by Motobu Chōki, from whom Nagamine learned it
9	Naihanchi Nidan	Itosu Ankō	Early 1900s	Itosu’s extension of the Naihanchi principle; through Motobu to Nagamine
10	Naihanchi Sandan	Itosu Ankō	Early 1900s	Itosu’s further extension; through Motobu to Nagamine

The Pinan series was Itosu’s creation during his years teaching karate in the Okinawan public school system (beginning 1901, with formal introduction typically dated 1907). Itosu distilled principles from older, more complex kata — most notably Kūsankū — into a graduated sequence suitable for young students. Pinan Yondan in particular preserves Kūsankū’s hammer-fist-during-kick motif; it is the clearest bridge between the Pinan series and its parent kata.

Naihanchi Shodan is older than any identifiable creator. It comes down through Shuri-te as the fundamental kata of the tradition — the kata on which, Motobu Chōki famously held, all other kata are commentary. Nagamine learned Naihanchi from Motobu, whose devotion to the kata was legendary. Naihanchi Nidan and Sandan were constructed by Itosu as curriculum extensions, in the same pedagogical push that produced the Pinans.

The Kyan transmission — intermediate black-belt kata

#	Kata	Creator / source	Approximate date	Source / transmission
11	Ananku	Chōtoku Kyan	Circa 1895	Kyan’s own creation; transmitted directly to Nagamine
12	Wankan	Matsumora Kōsaku (Tomari-te)	Mid-19th century	Tomari-te lineage; Nagamine received it in his Kyan training
13	Rōhai	Matsumora Kōsaku	Mid-19th century	Tomari-te; transmitted to Nagamine through his Kyan training

Ananku appears to be a Kyan original, developed during his mature years. Wankan and Rōhai are Tomari-te kata preserved by Matsumora Kōsaku — the Tomari master who is the central figure for the Tomari-te inheritance in Matsubayashi. Chōki Motobu also studied with Matsumora, and both Motobu and Kyan passed these kata into Nagamine’s training.

The older-lineage black-belt kata

#	Kata	Creator / source	Approximate date	Source / transmission
14	Wanshū	Chinese envoy Wang Ji (tradition); Matsumora Kōsaku (kata as we have it)	1683 attributed; Tomari-te development thereafter	Tomari-te → Matsumora → Kyan → Nagamine
15	Passai	Oyadomari Kōkan (Tomari-te)	Mid-to-late 19th century	Oyadomari’s Tomari-te version, not the Matsumura Shuri-te version; via Kyan to Nagamine
16	Gōjūshiho	Matsumura Sōkon	19th century	Shuri-te, Matsumura line; via Kyan to Nagamine
17	Chintō	Chintō (Chinese sailor, legendary); Matsumora Kōsaku	Mid-19th century	Tomari-te; the legendary Chinese sailor Chintō taught Matsumora, who formalized the kata; via Kyan to Nagamine
18	Kūsankū	Kōshōkun / Kung Hsiang Chun (Chinese envoy)	1761 demonstration	Demonstrated by the Chinese envoy Kūsankū in 1761 (documented in Tobe Ryōen’s Ōshima Hikki, 1762); taught Tōde Sakugawa, who taught Matsumura; via Kyan to Nagamine

These six kata carry the deepest historical layers. Kūsankū, attested in the 1762 Ōshima Hikki as a kata descended from a Chinese envoy’s demonstration in 1761, is the oldest piece in the curriculum by documentary evidence. Chintō carries the memory of a shipwrecked Chinese sailor teaching a Tomari master in the mid-19th century. Wanshū traditionally dates to 1683, though the kata as we have it is a Tomari development of later centuries.

Passai deserves specific attention: Matsubayashi’s Passai comes through Oyadomari (Tomari-te), not Matsumura (Shuri-te). The Oyadomari Passai is distinct from the better-known Matsumura Passai of Shōtōkan and other Shuri-te styles. This is a specific inheritance Nagamine made through Kyan, who preserved both lineages but transmitted Oyadomari’s version forward.

Stream classification — Shuri-te and Tomari-te

Matsubayashi is distinctive among the Shōrin-ryū branches in consciously preserving both the Shuri-te and Tomari-te streams. The 18 kata divide:

Shuri-te roots (8 kata): Pinan Shodan through Godan, Naihanchi Shodan through Sandan, Gōjūshiho, Kūsankū. (Ananku sits ambiguously — Kyan’s creation drew on multiple sources but is generally classed Shuri-te.)

Tomari-te roots (5 kata): Wankan, Rōhai, Wanshū, Chintō, Passai (via Oyadomari). These trace through Matsumora Kōsaku in Tomari.

Matsubayashi originals (2 kata): Fukyūgata Ichi (Nagamine) and Fukyūgata Ni (Miyagi).

The choice to preserve both streams is a philosophical and pedagogical statement — Nagamine believed the two traditions illuminated each other rather than competed. Shuri-te’s long lineage of bodyguard-to-the-king techniques (Matsumura line) meets Tomari-te’s rougher, more practical sensibility (Matsumora line) in the same curriculum.

A note on “18”

The number is not accidental. Okinawan karate has a long-standing association with the number eighteen — most famously, the Chinese luóhàn (羅漢, eighteen arhats) traditions that influenced the Fujian martial arts from which much of Okinawan karate descends. Nagamine’s choice of 18 kata is a quiet acknowledgment of this longer lineage. It is also a curriculum of manageable depth: eighteen kata, each offering years of study, is enough work for a lifetime.