Nekoashi Dachi
猫足立ち
Literally: cat-foot stance
Cat stance of karate: all the weight on the bent back leg, the front leg touches the ground only with its toes and stays free for a kick.
Quick Facts
⚠️ Common Mistakes
The back foot turned out too far (forty-five to ninety degrees instead of roughly thirty), the knee not pointing the same way as the foot, and the weight shifting forward instead of back.
Katas containing this technique
About
Nekoashi dachi, literally cat-leg stance, shifts the entire weight onto the bent back leg. The front leg carries no load and touches the ground only with the toes, lined up with the back heel; the back foot is turned out twenty to thirty degrees. The knee, shin, and instep of the front leg form a single line, vertical in Shito-ryu, inclined in Shotokan. Because the front leg carries no weight, it can be lifted instantly into a kick or pulled out of an attack's reach. This sets the stance apart from the back stance kokutsu dachi, where the front leg still bears some load. Karate literature holds the two stances were once used interchangeably, and that kokutsu dachi only lengthened later, during karate's development in Japan. In Shotokan, nekoashi dachi belongs to the kata Bassai Sho and is used extensively in Gojushiho. The Shito-ryu version of the kata Sochin alternates it with a forward stance, while the Shotokan version rests on fudo dachi.