Neko Ashi Dachi and Ko Kutso Dachi

[Wa-No-Michi]

Hi Wa-No-Michi

What are the other two? I know reverse cat stance, and I have seen a short version (e.g. in Pinan Yodan, Bassai Dai, Wanshu) and a long version of this (in Niseishi). Are they the other two or are there others I don't know about?

As mentioned in Japan they are not so bothered about specific categorisation of stances, however in Wado Katas, cat stances can generally be found in the following guises:

Shomen - Hips forward = Short Cat Stance

Hanmi - Hips Half = Cat Stance

Ma-Hanmi - Hip more than Half = Long Cat Stance

Gyuaku - Reverse Cat Stance

WNM

[ps1]

What stances are those, in English?

Cat stance and Back Stance

[ps1]

NO matter what styles I am in, these two stances always look differant no matter what the style is. From Goju to Shotokan to Uechi Ryu. They are all differant. I dont understand why these two are always differant? Can someone shed some light for me please

Hi Traymond,

The important thing to remember about stances is that they are only a small part of a greater movement. That is, each style has stances because they feel that particular position is an important transitional step to a full movement. They are not meant to be stagnant fighting positions.

That said, they differ because various styles believe that important transitions occur in slightly different locations. Some styles lift a leg with weight distribution "x" while others believe that weight distribution "y" is better. Generally, they evolve from what worked well for a particular system's founder. That's they way it worked for him/her, so it was passed on in the same manner. This is also why various instructors make slight changes to the stances. Multiply those changes and variations over the number of instructors/styles out there and you can easily see why there are great differences in the way they get performed.

As for what is correct for each stance. The answer is that the only correct version of the stance is the one the founder of the style used. Otherwise it's a variation/ adaptation of the stance. The same process happens with all the techniques of a system. Before to long...bing bango...you have a new system.

[sensei8]

This is a perfect explanation of how styles in the Martial Arts differ, stances in this case, one from another.

My style teaches...

Neko Ashi Dachi: 95% of the weight on the back leg and 5% on the front leg

Kokutsu Dachi: 75% on the back leg and 25% on the front leg

:::me singing::: You say tomatoe and I'll say tomatoe...la la la la....yippee

[Erin]

This is a perfect explanation of how styles in the Martial Arts differ, stances in this case, one from another.

My style teaches...

Neko Ashi Dachi: 95% of the weight on the back leg and 5% on the front leg

Kokutsu Dachi: 75% on the back leg and 25% on the front leg

:::me singing::: You say tomatoe and I'll say tomatoe...la la la la....yippee

That's basically it for my style too.....

Lovely singing there.

[granitemiller]

Both have to do with weight on the front and back legs, cat stance is something like 90/10 (back/front) and the other 75/25

[FushinRyu]

wow! i just noticed that they do look kinda alike! anyways... i was taught that neko ashi dachi was that all your weight is on your back leg and absolutely no weight on your front leg to be used as a defensive stance for fast front kicks. and kokutsu dachi was two thirds of your weight on your back leg and the rest on your front leg... but the reason for it isn't really quite clear to me now that you think of it...

[benjamin]

Where I train, the main differences are that cat stance is the ball of the foor, and as you say has maybe 5% of the weight on it.

Back stance the front foot is flat, similar to zenkutsu (forward stance). But the back foot has maybe 75% of the weight on it.

Neko ashi dachi is a lot shorter stace generally. If you want Kata example to look up videos and see what I mean, check out Heian Nidan/Sandan where a lot of the moves are executed in kokutsu, against wankan, which uses neko ashi dachi at the start.

[Blade96]

Dag, I must 've been doing neko ashi dachi about a month ago and didn't even know thats what i was doing.....

because my sensei never told me....

just kept telling me to keep my heel up off the floor....and saying my name right in front of the other students without explaining what i was doing or why but from reading this it looks like thats what i was doing

Still dont know if thats what i was doing. to this day he never told me

[ps1]

You're answering your own question. The styles are different because they perform things differently. Therefore, the way they perform their stances are going to be different in order to fit in with their fighting style.