Naihanchi, the Essence of Karate?

So, I finally sat down and wrote out what I have been researching for some time about Naihachi kata. There are so many different spellings and different character possibilities that

I figured only somebody with a lot of time on their hands, plus a knowledge of Chinese and Japanese characters, and a good understanding of history, could take this subject on.

Unfortunately, that guy wasn't available so you have to settle for me.

内  半 地    Naihanji Stealthy steps (supposedly)

内          Nai inner/inside

半          han/ban              half

地          ji/chi                      earth

Other character sets have been used to try to translate it, including:

内歩進          Inner foot advance or inner step

内畔戦                        Inner shore battle, or Inner War

内範置          Inner range placement or Internal Rule

鉄騎                             Iron cavalry or Iron Knight

Wikipedia says it translates to “internal divided conflict.”

Well!

Before the creation of the Pinan kata by Anko Itosu, (and the subsequent change of the name to “Heian” by Gichin Funakoshi), Naihanchi would traditionally be taught first in Tomari-te and Shuri-te schools. This indicates to us its importance. Gichin Funakoshi learned the kata from Anko Asato. “Funakoshi renamed the kata Tekki (Iron Horse) in reference to his old teacher, Itosu, and the form's power.” (No, he renamed this kata and all the other Shotokan kata so that the Japanese wouldn’t be offended by the Okinawan “peasant” names of the forms.) 

In the early days of karate training, it was common practice for a student to spend two to three years doing nothing but Naihanchi, under the strict observation of their teacher. Choki Motobu, famous for his youthful brawling in the red-light district, said that

Naifuanchin kata (Naihachi) contained all that was needed to become a proficient fighter.

In the 1960s a Chinese Boxing practitioner named Daichi Kaneko, studied a form of Taiwanese white crane kung-fu, known as “Dan Qiu Ban Bai He Quan” (Half Hillock, Half White Crane Boxing). Kaneko, an acupuncturist who lived in Yonabaru, Okinawa, taught a form called Neixi (inside knee) in Mandarin. This form includes the same sweeping action found in the nami-gaeshi (returning wave) technique of Naihanchi.

Neixi is pronounced Nohanchi in Fuzhou dialect, which could indicate Neixi is the forerunner to Naihanchi. Neixi is also the shortened form of the Chinese Mandarin characters 内 Nei (internal/inside), 方 Fang (place/location), and 膝 Xi (knee), so Neifangxi. This is closer to the original Nifanchin pronunciation. Taking this one step further, in Classical Chinese, Nei could have had a double meaning. One straightforward reference to the inside knee and one indirect reference to soft styles of traditional Chinese martial arts such as Tai Chi.

Naihanchi is the first kata in Motobu-ryu, Shorin-ryu, Okinawa Kenpo, Shotokan and Shindo Jinen-ryu, to start with a technique to the right instead of the left. 

Itosu is reported to have learned the kata from Sokon Matsumura (1809 – 1899), who learned it from a Iwah, a Chinese cast-away living in Tomari. Itosu is thought to have changed the original kata. The form is so important to old style karate that Kentsu Yabu (a karate master and student of Itosu) often told his students 'Karate begins and ends with Naihanchi' and told his students they must practice the kata 10,000 times to make it their own.