Matayoshi Haku Tsuru is an Okinawan White Crane kata. Currently we know of two versions of it and this is the second. White Crane is a style that is thought to have originated in Tibet, worked it's way across Southern China and was subsequently fused into the indigenous martial arts of Okinawa. Many modern karate kata are rooted in the White Crane style so this is a bit of living history for us.

Gankaku means 'Crane standing on a rock' and comes from Okinawan Shorin Ryu. The story goes that a Chinese sailor called 'Chinto' was shipwrecked off the coast of Okinawa and survived by living in caves and stealing from the local population. These people got so annoyed by this that they complained to a local karate expert who was the now famous Sokon 'Bushi' Matsumura. He went down to the cave to confront him but Chinto was too quick, fought back and eventually was able to run away. Matsumura eventually found and befriended the man and learned the style calling it 'Chinto'. The name was eventually changed by Funakoshi to 'Gankaku' which is the name most often used today.

Dai Ni Seisan is a kata practiced by the Uechi Ryu in order to help fill the gap between Sanchin and Seisan. It is also known as 'Kanshu'.

The kata was one of five kata added to the Uechi Ryu by Uechi Kanei, son of Uechi Kanbun who studied Panginoon in China in the late 1800s early 1900s. Uechi Kanbun brought the style to Okinawa in 1910. The style was renamed in Okinawa to Uechi Ryu by his son.