Karate Stances

Johnlogic121 · Orange Belt

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
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First Grandmaster - Montgomery Style Karate; 12 year Practitioner - Bujinkan Style Ninjutsu; Isshinryu, Judo, Mang Chaun Kung Fu, Kempo

bushido_man96 · KF Sensei

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.
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DWx · KF Sensei

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.
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"Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it." ~ Confucius

DisgruntledGirl · Orange Belt

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 · Pre-Black Belt

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.
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ps1 · Black Belt

tallgeese · Red Belt

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 · Orange Belt

Zanshin · Purple Belt

GOM · Orange Belt

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

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