Sanchin Dachi
三戦立ち
Literally: three-battles stance
Firm, tensed stance from the kata Sanchin: the back foot's toes in line with the front foot's heel; the base of both Goju-ryu and Uechi-ryu.
Quick Facts
Katas containing this technique
About
Sanchin dachi, literally stance of three battles, is a short, tightly closed stance. The feet stand so the back foot's toes are on the same horizontal line as the front foot's heel, and the whole body stays tensed. The name is read as the struggle to unite mind, body, and spirit. The stance comes from the kata Sanchin, which reached Okinawa from southern China, from Fujian province. It is the basic stance of both Sanchin and Suparinpei, attributed to Kanryo Higaonna, master of the tradition from which Goju-ryu arose. Chojun Miyagi made his own version of the kata for Goju-ryu (sanchin daiichi); Higaonna's version (sanchin daini) was originally practiced with an open palm, later modified to a closed fist. Uechi-ryu, where sanchin dachi is the basic stance of almost all kata, still practices Sanchin with an open palm and finger thrusts, while Goju-ryu and most other styles use a closed fist. The stance also serves for training advanced breathing techniques.