heidan shodon because that the first kata. shotokan karate

I teach ten no kata as the first one
It has all the basic blocks. Althought they do not test them on this kata I more use it as an excersie
The first required kata I teach is taikyaku shodan

I know ten no kata is seldom taught, but I find it a nice drill for beginners to use.
I mainly teach shotokan and I also teach shito ryu. I teach these as 2 seprate styles and don’t combin them

I used to train Shotokan and Budokai for almost 9 years, and i started off with Heian Shodan, lol because it was my 1st kata, it was the toughest to learn, but later on it was easier.

Well….in ISKF Shotokan; you learn Haydan Nidan first. You learn this first because it has the first two basic stances (Front and back stance) and the first two blocks. and also a punch.

In Sansei Goju Ryu; you learn Datchi Kata. This has no arm techniques and lots of stances. This is taught first because it has all of the basic stances (front, back, cat, square, etc.) and lots of hip rotation.

In our class we teach Seisan. Isshin-Ryu is strange it kind of goes by the teachers, or associations preference.

Chon Ji Yon

I first teach Fukyugata Ich.
We have 18 kata in our system. This is the first kata. Shorin Ryu (Matsabashi Ryu).

I study Goju Ryu karate.
We learn these two kata first:
Gekisai Dai ichi
Gekisai Dai Ni

Good question. I sometimes teach Naihanchi Shodan first. Other times I teach Pinian Shodan first. I teach the Ryukyu Kempo version of the kata. I teach the same Ryukyu Kempo versions of the kata that Seiyu Oyata teaches. I teach each student slightly differently. The decision as to what kata they learn first is decided on a student by student basis.