Karate Stances

[Johnlogic121]

I thought that this topic might make an interesting thread. We have many karate practitioners who look through these forums. What I would like people to do is to state their style and list the names of the stances that are in that style. Translating the stance names from Japanese or Okinawon to English would be helpful, and giving some description of what the stances look like would be helpful to people who are unfamiliar with them. My curiosity on this issue is motivated by a suspicion that many styles of karate share the classic stances in common, and the degree to which this is true is interesting to me. I expect that most styles have at least five stances, but some may have fewer or more. The style in which I am a Grandmaster, Montgomery Style Karate, primarily uses a front stance but a side stance is sometimes used. I offered students some additional stances in a footwork document so students could identify them when meeting other karate practitioners, such as the cat stance, crane stance, and horse stance. How many different kinds of stances can we name? - JL

[bushido_man96]

We have a back stance, front stance, sitting stance, a cat stance, and cross-legged stances. Some TKD styles also offer a "fixed" stance, which tends to me to be a bit longer back stance, where the weight is more evenly distributed than in the back stance.

[DWx]

I do ITF TKD.. and there are a lot of stances:

Charyot Sogi/Attention Stance - heels together, 45° between feet, weight 50/50

Moa Sogi/Closed Stance - feet together, weight 50/50

Gunnun Sogi/Walking Stance - front stance?

Niunja Sogi/L-Stance - back stance?, weight 70/30

Annun Sogi/Sitting Stance - horse stance?

Narani Sogi/Parallel Stance - feet parallel, shoulder width

Gojang Sogi/Fixed Stance - this is a foot width longer than L-Stance and weight is 50/50

Nachuo Sogi/Low Stance - same as walking stance but one foot longer

Kyocha Sogi/X-Stance - feet crossed, nearly 100% weight on one leg

Goburyo Junbi Sogi/Bending Ready Stance - various ones of these but basically a preparatory stance for a kick

Soojik Sogi/Vertical Stance

Dwit Bal Sogi/Rear Foot Stance - similar to cat stance?

Waebal Sogi/One Legged Stance - another preparatory stance

Sasun Sogi/Diagonal Stance - very similar to sitting stance

These are just the ones I know.. probably more.

[DisgruntledGirl]

Style: Shindo Jinen Ryu

I will give the Japanese and English names for them... but I dont really know what half of them are yet (just counted and I'd probably know about 10 or 11 of them if I saw them, the others I havent learned yet)

Japanese..........................English

Fudo-dachi.........................Rooted (45) Stance

Gankaku-dachi...................Crane Stance

Hachiji-dachi......................Natural Stance

Hangetsu-dachi..................Half Moon Stance

Heiko-dachi.......................Parallel Stance

Heisoku-dachi....................Feet Together (parallel)

Kiba-dachi.........................Horse Riding Stance

Kokutsu-dachi....................Back Stance

Kosa-dachi.........................Cross Feet Stance

Moto-dachi.........................Short Front Stance

Musubi-dachi......................Heels Together, Feet 45

Neko-ashi-dachi..................Cat Leg Stance

Reinoji-dachi.......................L Stance

Sanchin-dachi......................Hour Glass Stance

Shinko-dachi.......................Side Stance, Feet 45

Shinsentai...........................Natural Position

Teiji-dachi...........................T Stance

Senkutsu-dachi....................Front Stance

[NewEnglands_KyoSa]

We officially have 7 stances:

Choong Bee Ja Seh.............Ready Stance(typically seen in starting and ending forms or drills)

Chong Gul Ja Seh...........Leaning Stance/Training Stance(just a basic front stance)

Hu Gul Ja Seh..............Fighting Stance(also known as a 'cat' stance)

Ke Mah Ja Seh..............Horse Stance

Sa Ko Rip Ja Seh................Open Horse stance(front foot points toward target)

Choi Ha Dan Ja Seh...................Low Stance(knee almost deadened to floor)

Bahl Cha Gi Choong Bee Ja Seh................Ready for kick stance(used only for drills)

and i personally insist that we have an 8th stance...a crane stance which is seen in many of our forms including our Crane Form. so i think it just makes sense that we'd have that too.

[ps1]

Style: Shindo Jinen Ryu

I will give the Japanese and English names for them... but I dont really know what half of them are yet (just counted and I'd probably know about 10 or 11 of them if I saw them, the others I havent learned yet)

Japanese..........................English

Fudo-dachi.........................Rooted (45) Stance

Gankaku-dachi...................Crane Stance

Hachiji-dachi......................Natural Stance

Hangetsu-dachi..................Half Moon Stance

Heiko-dachi.......................Parallel Stance

Heisoku-dachi....................Feet Together (parallel)

Kiba-dachi.........................Horse Riding Stance

Kokutsu-dachi....................Back Stance

Kosa-dachi.........................Cross Feet Stance

Moto-dachi.........................Short Front Stance

Musubi-dachi......................Heels Together, Feet 45

Neko-ashi-dachi..................Cat Leg Stance

Reinoji-dachi.......................L Stance

Sanchin-dachi......................Hour Glass Stance

Shinko-dachi.......................Side Stance, Feet 45

Shinsentai...........................Natural Position

Teiji-dachi...........................T Stance

Senkutsu-dachi....................Front Stance

This is pretty much the same as Shotokan.

However...I believe stances are just fixed replications or snapshots utilized during dynamic moves. That is...standing in a particular stance is very rare if ever used. They are simply positions you may find yourself in during confrontation. Some of those positions are good to use in off-balancing the opponent, others are good for evasion and so on. The key is learning to transition from one to the other seamlessly.

[tallgeese]

Ok, I'm gonna sound like a slacker again but here we go...

We work almost exclusively out of what we call a Front Fighting Stance. Feet a touch wider than shoulder width, with the left in the lead usually. Front foot is slightly turned in to help cover groin kicks. Back foot is pointed forward usualy up on the ball a tad. Hands are up defensively like a boxer guard. Elbows tight. Upper body is primarily forward, with a slight cant to present the jab better and give less of a forward body target.

We might use a seanchin (sp?) stance early on to teach foot work if someone's having a problem. But that's pretty much it.

For defense, bear in mind that it's primarily a training tool ranther than a prescribed fighting position. If attacked, you will rarely be in a stance, but rather reacting from whatever body position you were in when suprised. Becasue if you weren't suprised you would have probibly avoided the conflict.

Considering that, the ideas you take away from stance training are more important than the position itself. In our case, hands up coverring the upper attack avanues, the elbows tight for midsection protection. The lead foot cover the groin and the body prepares for forward assult to counter the attack. The mobility of the stance keeps you training for fluid movement of action.

I would actually bet, although I don't know, that similar things could be said for TMA stances as well. That they are trying to teach practitioners defensive concepts to mentally train themselves with.

Could be anyway?

[DisgruntledGirl]

This is pretty much the same as Shotokan.

Agreed.

While I have never done any other style, from what I have read and from how my Sensei describes a lot of things I'd say the style is like 80-90% Shotokan and as little as 10-20% other styles such as shito, goju, ju-jitsu etc mixed in with I think a tiny bit of purly "original to the style itself" stuff.

[Zanshin]

This is pretty much the same as Shotokan.

Agreed.

While I have never done any other style, from what I have read and from how my Sensei describes a lot of things I'd say the style is like 80-90% Shotokan and as little as 10-20% other styles such as shito, goju, ju-jitsu etc mixed in with I think a tiny bit of purly "original to the style itself" stuff.

I agree with PS1 also. Stances are in effect part of the overall process of Karate. The practice of kihon and therfore the stances found within, are taken from Kata as a means of fine tuning the techniques.

By practicing kata you are learning the transition between stances and how they can be applied to best effect.

[GOM]

We have two types of stances - One for kata performance, and one for karate.