Bassai is one of the most popular forms among Asian martial arts styles. There are actually two forms of the Bassai series; Bassai-Dai (Bassai Major) and Bassai-Sho(Bassai Minor). Bassai-Dai was originally known as Passai-Dai, but was more commonly referred to as Matsumura-no-passai. The original Passai form was developed by Bushi(Sokon) Matsumura, and was one of the first forms taught to Anko Itosu. After years of practicing the form, Itosu developed the Passai-Sho form, which is seldom practiced today.
The form was added to Shotokan Karate by Gichin Funakoshi. Funakoshi apparently altered Bassai slightly in incorporating it into his Karate system. It is Funakoshi’s version of Bassai-Dai that was brought to Korea. The version taught as part of Tang Soo Do differs only slightly from the Shotokan version. In Korea, the form is referred to as Pal-Sek.
The most common interpretation of Bassai is “to penetrate the fortress” or “breaking the fortress.” An alternative interpretation of the form is more descriptive of the intention of the form - “to break through the enemy’s defenses by shifting and finding the weak points.” This interpretation accurately describes the variety of techniques and shifting stances in the form.