Satori Martial Arts

Gankaku Dachi (Crane Stance or Crane on a rock stance)


The stance appears in the Bubishi and comes from White Crane gong fu (no surprise)

The stance can be seen as light footed stance designed for kicking techniques, avoiding tackles and defending against kicks.

Also from a grappling application view point, if performed on the ground the stance is a picture perfect sankaku-jime (triangular strangle) applied with the legs. The stance can also be applied as juji-gatame (cross armbar) and other joint manipulation holds/locks.

I will post pictures soon, to show this in action.

The famous "Karate Kid" stance.

Be good to see some pictuers in a grappling application.

Crane Stance, as used in the kata GANKAKU. What I know about Gankaku is that it was originally Chinto. It was taught by Sokon Matsumura. Sagi-ashi dachi or one foot against the inner knee of the opposite leg is done in Kyatake Chinto and this is widely practiced in many styles. However, the Itosu's version of Chinto, which is more commonly called Gankaku, and uses gankaku dachi where the foot is hooked behind the knee, is seen only in Shotokan and Shito-ryu.

I believe that its ancient name Chinto belongs to the Shorei style.

In Shotokan the name was changed to Gankaku (crane on a rock) for its resemblance to a crane defending against its ememies from the top of a rock while standing on one leg. The concentration of power and balance in this position are very important to overcome the opponent mainly when raising the body on one foot to counter attack simultaneously with yokogeri - uraken. Or is it grabbing the oppenents hand and pulling it to the hip to counter attack................