Hassō-gamae

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Hassō-gamae (八相構え:はっそうがまえ, Hassō-gamae^?), or more formally, hassō no kamae, and frequently shortened simply to hassō, is one of the five stances in kendo: jōdan, chūdan, gedan, hassō, and waki. It literally translates to "appearing-like-eight posture", as a swordsman in this posture resembles the Japanese ideogram for the number eight: 八. It is the ready position with the shinai held in a slight diagonal right by the right shoulder.

It is generally considered to be a variant of jōdan-gamae, therefore an aggressive posture but it is not commonly used. It is seen as the "Kamae of Wood", because the stance looks like a tree.^{[citation needed]}

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