Seisan Seisan The karate kata (alternate names Sesan, Seishan, Jusan, Hangetsu) literally means '13'. Some people refer to the kata as '13 Hands', '13 Fists', '13 Techniques', '13 Steps' or even '13 killing positions'. However, these names have no historical basis. Seisan is thought to be one of the oldest kata, being quite spread among other Nahate schools. Shito-ryu has its own version and different versions are now practised even in Shuri-te derivatives like Shotokan (called Hangetsu) and in Wado-ryu (called Seishan). Isshin-ryū also adopted this kata. This kata is also practiced in Korean styles such as Tang Soo Do and
Tachikawa-ryu in 1113 by the Shingon monk Ninkan associated with Daigoji, was exiled from Koyasan to the province of Izu after getting caught on the wrong side of a political dispute. In Izu, he met an Onmyoji (Onmyodo: Taoism, Japanese esoteric cosmology) master from "Musashi no Tachikawa (Tachikawa of Musashi Province)" named Kenren (見蓮 also 兼蓮). Together the two created the school of Tachikawa-ryu. Ninkan taught mikkyo to specialist in yin-yang and Yijing divination in Musashi region, and regarded as a founder of Tachikawa-ryu, a heretical Shingon sect. Whether or not they can credited to Ninkan himself, the Taoist elements in