I'm surprised that there has been no mention of the Kihon Katas . In Shito-Ryu , we have 17 basic (kihon) kata. 4 for white belts , and 3 for each belt up to brown , with a Heian as well, for each belt above white. Then again , we are known as the style with many kata.To test for Shodan , we must also learn Sanchin, Heian Godan, Jitte, Jiin, and Jion , for a total of 25 Kata!

Whoah! That's alot of Kata , how many total in your style of Shito Ryu?

Anyway, we used to start people out with a Hookiyu Kata, which is a paired down Gekisai kata, now we just start with Gekisai dai ichi and Gekisai dai ni.

We also used to marginally use some Hookiyu or Fukyu kata that were similar to Taikyoko, from my own perspective I felt people were spending too much time memorizing patterns and not enough on application and princples, so I am fine with 2 "beginner" kata personally. Of course before any formal kata we usually teach sandangi and kihon drills etc.

Guess I'm spoiled. First night of class teacher gave me the option of learning training kata, or classical kata, first.

I chose classical. To his everlasting chagrin, I'm sure, as my basics suck.

Sorry,but if you are doing 25 kata before shodan testing for shodan you aren't learning kata in my opinion, only how to perform the movements.

Too many people have too many kata in their curriculum imo.