The Classic Budoka: Kamae

[harlan]

Some good reading. Another good blog post by W. Muromoto:

http://classicbudoka.wordpress.com/2012/07/06/66-kamae-taking-a-posture/

 

[jks9199]

Stance is a fundamental in any art, and I think that it's another example where we've been poorly served by translations from Japanese or other languages. Translations of "kamae" as "stance" end up creating a perception of rigidity or fixedness that shouldn't be there. I recall another article posted hereabouts that described rigid stances as an introductory or beginner's tool, which should eventually be discarded as proper posture and movement is integrated and becomes part of the practitioner's person.