Gedan-no-kamae
Stance in kendo
下段の構え
- Type
- Stances
- Classified as
- kamae
- Part of
- five elements kamae
Gedan-no-kamae (下段の構え Hiragana: げだんのかまえ), frequently shortened simply to gedan, occasionally shortened to gedan-gamae, is one of the five stances in kendo: jōdan, chūdan, gedan, hassō, and waki. Gedan-no-kamae means "lower-level posture." This position is adopted when the sword is held out in front of the body pointing at the waist in kendo, or at the knee or sometimes the ankle in kenjutsu.
It is considered a variant of chūdan-no-kamae and therefore appearing as a defensive posture, but instead it is used to deflect blows and create striking opportunities. This stance is used as a transition from chūdan-no-kamae to a tsuki (突き; thrust). It is called the Kamae of Earth (地の構え, chi-no-kamae) in Yagyū Shinkage-ryū.
The name word by word
Each part of the romanized name looked up in the JMdict Japanese dictionary.
| Word | Japanese | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gedan | 下段 | げだん | lower tier; lower step |
| no | |||
| kamae | 構え | かまえ | posture (e.g. in martial arts); pose |
Other stances
Japanese terms for stances
| Term | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 大上段 | daijoudan | holding a sword above one's head (kendo posture) |
| 二枚腰 | nimaigoshi | posture in which the legs are firmly planted (in sumo and judo) |
| 死に体 | shinitai | losing posture; falling position from which it is impossible to recover |
| 変わり身 | kawarimi | change of attitude (stance, position) |
| 騎馬立ち | kibadachi | horse stance |
External links
Facts from Wikidata Q16838534 (CC0); text quoted from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.
Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.