Japanese in Karate 24 “other stances”

★  Neko-ashi dachi

“Niko” means ‘a cat’ and “dachi” is ‘a stance’.
Neko-ashi dachi is like “kokutsu dachi”(explained in blog no.22) but you put 90% of your weight on the back leg(knee is bent) and 10% on the front leg. The front “chusoku” is just touching the floor so that you can kick anytime, just like a cat can jumps up lightly and quickly.

★  Tsuru-ashi dachi  /  Sagi-ashi dachi

“Tsuru” is ‘a crane’, “sagi” is ‘a heron’, both are the name of birds which have long legs, and they both often stand on one leg. So these are the stances just like those birds, standing on one leg and the other leg is bent so that you can kick freely. In Tsuru-ashi dachi , the foot is placed on the side of the other leg. In Sagi-dachi, the foot is placed bent behind the other leg.

★  Kosa  or Kousa

“Kousa” means ‘cross’. Crisscross

★  Hanmi

“Han” means ‘half’ and “mi” means ‘body’. You don’t stand with both shoulders facing forward but rather turn slightly (half body) so only the front shoulder faces forward. It makes the opponent difficult to attack you.

★  Han kiba-dachi

“Han” means ‘half’ so this is a half “kiba-dachi”. You open the legs half wide from kiba-dachi.

 ★  Suri ashi

“Suri” means ‘to scrub’ and “ashi” is ‘foot’. It is a movement when you move the leg without lifting up from the floor, like scrubbing the floor with feet.