Gankaku Dachi
岩鶴立ち
Literally: crane-on-a-rock stance
One-legged balance stance of the crane, named after the Shotokan kata Gankaku, formerly the Okinawan Chinto.
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Gankaku dachi, crane-on-a-rock stance, is a one-legged balance stance. The practitioner stands on one leg and holds the other raised; the stance tests stability and is the culminating element of the kata after which it is named. The kata Gankaku is the Shotokan name for the older Okinawan kata Chinto, known to both tomari-te and shuri-te. Legend has it the name Chinto belongs to a Chinese sailor whose ship wrecked off Okinawa's coast; Sokon Matsumura, bodyguard of the Ryukyuan king, is said to have fought him to a draw and then learned from him. Introducing karate to Japan, Gichin Funakoshi renamed the kata Gankaku, possibly, per historians, because of the anti-Chinese sentiment of the time, replaced its front kicks with high side kicks, and simplified its floor pattern into straight lines. The kata is highly dynamic: it alternates many stances, strikes at different heights, and a rare turn on one leg. The one-legged stance in it is not decoration but a test of balance in the middle of motion.