Ninja Kamae Vs Karate Stances - Understanding The Difference Between Dynamics And Mere Mechanics

Almost everyone who knows anything about the martial arts is familiar with the idea

of "stances." And, to the average person who tends to call every martial art, regardless of actual name, "ka-roddy," these stances are nothing more than the static body poses that you will fight from.

Hence, the commonly referred to term of, "Fighting stances."

And while, to the untrained eye of the beginner or casual observer, they may look the same, what few people understand is that the body postures of Ninjutsu are, in reality, very different from the conventional "stances" used in almost all of the commonly available fighting styles out there today. In fact, most people, including students new to the art of ninjutsu, tend to see these "poses" as merely "necessary evils" to be gone through and learned so that they can get to the really "cool stuff." And, it's only after years of training, or making the breakthrough to the level of understanding that is required for Mastery, does the student realize that these basic pieces of the art...ARE the "cool stuff."

To understand the difference between the "karate stance" and the Ninja's "kamae" (pronounced "kah-mah-eh" or sometimes, "kah-my"), we only need to look at the Japanese word used to describe each, and the Sino-Japanese kanji character used to write it out. This is a good place to begin a deep level understanding of almost any of the concepts, principles, and exotic skills found in the martial arts of Japan.

And, Ninjutsu is no exception.

The Japanese word for "stance" is tachi. It can also be pronounced dachi as the second syllable in a word, phrase, or term.

The word tachi or dachi typically refers to the position of the body from the waist down. It usually represents or implies a starting position.

While the word kamae literally means "posture." The kanji itself means, "base." Where tachi pointed to the "starting position" and the position of the lower body, kamae points to the posture of the "entire body." This includes not only the physical posture, but also the posture of the mind, spirit, and attitude of the Ninja defender.

The easiest way to understand kamae is by understanding that you are never NOT in kamae. And, while I talk about this in other related articles, suffice it to say here that, while a tachi is something to be "taken up," to be "constructed"...

Your kamae is something that comes from the inside - out. It is not something arbitrarily chosen. But rather, your kamae - the physical position of your body that is visible to the world - is a reflection of what is going on in your head and in your heart.

So, we could say that the difference between the stances of "karate," and the postures of the Ninja's self defense arts is that:

1)The tachi (dashi) is something taken up as a starting point, while...

2)The Ninja's kamae are "states of being" - singular unifications of the body, mind, and spirit aligned in the same direction - to be recognized and used as tools for the successful accomplishment of the task at hand.

by: Jeffrey Miller

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