Jōdan-no-kamae
Basic kenjutsu posture
上段の構え
- Type
- Stances
- Classified as
- kamae
- Part of
- five elements kamae
Jōdan-no-kamae (上段の構え:じょうだんのかまえ), also known as jōdan-gamae, and frequently shortened simply to jōdan, is a basic kenjutsu posture. (It is also found in naginatajutsu but is far less used due to the length of the weapon involved.) Jōdan-no-kamae means upper-level posture (lit. 'high/upper degree posture').
The name word by word
Each part of the romanized name looked up in the JMdict Japanese dictionary.
| Word | Japanese | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jōdan | 上段 | じょうだん | upper tier; upper section |
| 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 Q16850349 (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.