the "kata" are a series of five empty hand forms taught in many karate styles. the pinan kata originated in okinawa and were adapted by anko itosu from older kata such as kusanku and channan into forms suitable for teaching karate to young students. when gichin funakoshi brought karate to japan, he renamed the kata to heian, which is translated as "peaceful and safe". pinan is the chinese pinyin notation of 平安, which means also "peaceful and safe". korean tang soo do, one of 5 original kwan of korea, but not taekwondo), also practice these kata; they are termed, "pyong-an" or "pyung-ahn", which is a korean pronunciation of the term "ping-an".