Sanchin dachi
Karate stance
三戦立ち
- Type
- Stances
- Martial arts
- Karate
- Japanese
- 三戦立
- Meaning
- Hourglass stance
- Classified as
- karate stance
- Listed in
- Stances (Shotokan karate), Middle height front stances (karate stances), Gallery (karate stances)
Sanchin dachi (三戦立) is a karate middle weight stance fixed and tensed in the same way as naihanchin-dachi. It can be described as uchi-hachiji-dachi with one foot moved forward until the toes of the rear foot are on the same horizontal line as the heel of the front foot. This powerful stance is serves as the foundational stance for all of Uechi-ryū kata, and it is used in the multitude of kata attributed to Kanryo Higashionna, from Sanchin to Suparimpei. Many advanced breathing techniques are exercised in this stance.
Kanji in 三戦立
The name word by word
Each part of the romanized name looked up in the JMdict Japanese dictionary.
| Word | Japanese | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanchin | 三戦 | サンチン | sanchin; fundamental karate kata focusing on breathing, stability, and body hardening |
| dachi | 立ち居 | たちい | movements; sitting and standing |
Other Karate stances
- Front stance
- Hachiji dachi
- Horse stance
- Moto-dachi
- Musubi-dachi-heiko
- Neko ashi dachi
- Kōkutsu dachi
- Renoji Dachi
- Zenkutsu-dachi
- Fudo Dachi
- Uchi Hachiji Dachi
- Sagi Ashi Dachi
- Chokusen-seisan-dachi
- Han Zenkutsu-dachi
- Han-Kokutsu-dachi
- Kosa dachi
- Seisan-dachi
- Sōkutsu-dachi
- Musubi dachi
- Hangetsu dachi
- Heikō dachi
- Heisoku dachi
- Karate stances
- Iaigoshi Dachi
- Shiko dachi
- Naihanchi-dachi
- Katashi Dachi
- Yama Dachi
- Teiji Dachi
- Tsuru Ashi Dachi
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 Q136684523 (CC0); text quoted from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); kanji data KANJIDIC2 and KanjiVG. Data retrieved 2026-10-22.
Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0); KANJIDIC2 (CC BY-SA 4.0); KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.