King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Sagi Ashi Dachi

Heron stance – a Karate stance

Type
Stances
Martial arts
Karate
Japanese
鷺足立
Meaning
Heron stance
Listed in
Stances (Shotokan karate), Special high stances (karate stances)

heron stance (e.g. in the kata Jitte)

Kanji in 鷺足立

heron
on: ロ
kun: さぎ
24 strokes
leg, foot, be sufficient
on: ソク
kun: あし、た.りる、た.る、た.す
7 strokes · JLPT 4
stand up, rise, set up
on: リツ、リュウ、リットル
kun: た.つ、-た.つ、た.ち-、た.てる
5 strokes · JLPT 4

The name word by word

Each part of the romanized name looked up in the JMdict Japanese dictionary.

WordJapaneseReadingMeaning
Sagi
Ashi足あしfoot; paw
Dachi立ち居たちいmovements; sitting and standing

Other Karate stances

Japanese terms for stances

TermReadingMeaning
大上段daijoudanholding a sword above one's head (kendo posture)
二枚腰nimaigoshiposture in which the legs are firmly planted (in sumo and judo)
死に体shinitailosing posture; falling position from which it is impossible to recover
変わり身kawarimichange of attitude (stance, position)
騎馬立ちkibadachihorse stance

text quoted from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); kanji data KANJIDIC2 and KanjiVG. Data retrieved 2026-10-22.

Data: Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0); KANJIDIC2 (CC BY-SA 4.0); KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.