Learning Suparimpei Kata

Goju Ryu Suparinpei - Morio Higaonna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foShuqYrbuw&t=28s

Once upon a time (do not all great stories begin that way, I had a great thirst to understand what I was not supposed to see.

This goes back a long way (probably into the mid 1990s) I had a real hankering to understand a Goju Kata 'Suparimpei'. 

Now in my time I had heard about that kata, however I never saw it an any tournament. I once bought a book about Goju kata (around 1982) but that kata was not in the book. The story went around that the kata was only for the most advanced dans, and that they did not perform it in public. In those years in Pa. at tournaments I saw many very good Goju black belts, but never performing Suparimpei kata.

Then I moved in NH in 1985.There was a good Goju program there, but I never saw them perform Suparimpei either.

When Panther productions offered a Hiagonna video of the form I bought it, but truthfully did not see what all the fuss was about.
Then around 1990 Panther offered a new series of video tapes of Morio Higonna with single videos of each of the Goju kata. Of course I purchased the Suparimpei tape. It went into more detail, but again I really did not see what the fuss was about.
For I had learned many advanced forms from many, many systems which were much more complex. So I set my interest aside.

A few years later when the local Goju program switched to becoming a Shorin Ryu program, two of those dans choose to switch to my program. One of them Doctor Harper (a 3d Dan in Goju) was also a member of my tai chi group.

Then one Sunday morning, awaake early as I always was, for some reason the kata Supreimpe, came into my head.
So about 5am (3 hours before my tai chi group class on my driveway, I decided to watch my Supreimpe video. Doing so I got the idea in my head I could learn the kata, likely as so many sections were repetitions. So for two hour I broke those sections down and went over and over them. Sometime after 7am I went outside and began to run what I remembered, over and over.
 

Doctor Harper came to class early that day and after he left his car began to watch me intensely. Then when I concluded my practice he began to question me.

Doc- "Where did you get that form from?"
Me- "I just taught it to myself this morning from my video tape.  It took me about 2 hours to be able to remember it."
Doc- "Why did you do that?"
Me- "Because if I ever would judge the form I wanted to do so honestly."
Doc- "When I practiced Goju, we were told the form was reserved to the 5th Dan's and above"

I continued to work on the form, for myself only. I never taught it or shared it with my students.
 

Then I recalled an article about Teruo Chinen Sensei in an old British Martial Arts magazine. In the article Chinen Sensei stated for his purposes I could see Suparimpei being taught 2nd after Sanchin.  I know he was being speculative at that time.

I have a lot of respect for the Goju system. I do understand the effort needed to get into that form correctly. On the other hand I still do not consider it the most complex form in Goju.

But what do I know?

Suparimpei bunkai goju-ryu karate Morio Higaonna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3xzFEDUDV8