Jōdan-gamae
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- For the more generic use of the word jōdan in Japanese martial arts, meaning "upper-level," see Jōdan.
Jōdan-gamae (上段構え:じょうだんがまえ?), known more formally as jōdan no gamae, and frequently shortened simply to jōdan among kendo practitioners, is a basic kenjutsu posture. Jōdan-gamae means upper-level posture (lit. 'high/upper degree posture').
[edit] Kendo
Jōdan-gamae is one of the five stances in kendo: jōdan, chūdan, gedan, hasso and waki. In jōdan-gamae, the sword is raised above the head in front of the body in readiness to strike. It is the most aggressive stance of the five.
There are commonly two types of jōdan-gamae, left (hidari) and right (migi), referring to which foot is out in front. As a more rare case, only one hand is used to hold the sword. Even rarer, the positions of the hands on the hilt of the sword may be inverted.
In normal practice or competitions, left (hidari) jōdan-gamae is the most common. Its advantage is the reach of the strike, the intimidating posture and the speed of the strike. Its disadvantage is the weak defense, since the throat and body are open. In order to protect the vulnerable area, a jōdan-gamae user must have a very fiery spirit to "scare off" the opponent. It is also more difficult to judge the striking distance (maai). Therefore, this stance is only used as the normal stance during practice or competition by experienced kendōka.
Both jōdan-gamae positions are used in Nihon Kendo Kata.
[edit] Kenjutsu, generally
As one of the most basic postures, jōdan-gamae is common to virtually all schools of kenjutsu. The primary attribute of jōdan-gamae is always the weapon lifted above the head of the practitioner. One of the only significant variations is the relative position of the elbows. Some styles, including aikido, for one, prefer the elbows to be as far inward as possible. Many others insist on the elbows being open.
