{"id":2934,"date":"2022-07-27T15:58:07","date_gmt":"2022-07-28T01:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/?p=2934"},"modified":"2022-07-27T15:58:07","modified_gmt":"2022-07-28T01:58:07","slug":"gigos-stance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/?p=2934","title":{"rendered":"Gigo’s Stance"},"content":{"rendered":"
Hi Everyone,<\/div>\n
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All of you who have been training for awhile are familiar with the three basic Shotokan stances (dachi): zenkutsu-dachi, kokutsu-dachi, and the kiba-dachi. \u00a0While practicing kihon, you go into these stances on most every class. \u00a0This strengthens your legs and flexibility, of course – but one uses these in the 26-30 katas that make up the pantheon of Shotokan katas. \u00a0Many of our students may not know that there are additional dachi that, while not covered in basic kihon, are a part of higher katas and jiyu-kumite (free sparring). \u00a0Today, I\u2019d like to share a little bit about Gigo Funakoshi, his impact on modern Shotokan, and his signature stance, the fudo-dachi. \u00a0Gigo was the middle son of Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of Shotokan Karate-Do. \u00a0If I were to ask what stance is pictured below, I doubt that our color belts would be able to identify it since we never teach it in regular practice. \u00a0The fudo-dachi has been described as a combination between a zenkutsu-dachi and a kiba-dachi. \u00a0A very strong and centered posture, advanced students sometimes with briefly shift into this stance while blocking, then repulsing an incoming attack.<\/div>\n
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\"Fudo<\/div>\n
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The fudo-dachi (rooted stance) is a very powerful and low stance that was particularly favored by Gigo (sometimes called Giko, also Yoshitaka). \u00a0Often, there is confusion between the names, but Gigo is the Okinawan pronunciation (many of the males in his lineage carried Gi in their first name) while Yoshitaka is the Japanese pronunciation to the same characters). \u00a0Similarly, males in my Shimabukuro lineage carried Shun in their first name, which was \u201cJapanized\u201d in the twentieth century to Haru. \u00a0Gigo was a sickly child who practiced karate with a passion and was instrumental in modifying many of the Okinawa stances and techniques from higher, more natural postures into the low, powerful dachi associated with modern Shotokan. \u00a0Below, you can see the founder\u2019s kokutsu-dachi (old style) in Heian Nidan (photo is from the 1920s). \u00a0Compare this to the modern-looking fudo-dachi executed by his son Gigo, probably in the 1930s.<\/div>\n
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\"File:Gichin<\/div>\n
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Gigo\u2019s stances and movements were stylistically, very much like the modern version of Shotokan we practice today. \u00a0As mentioned, he overcame a sickly childhood through his study of karate. \u00a0He also practiced kendo and laido, and the techniques from these arts may have influenced his theories on generating power via the legs. \u00a0Although it\u2019s a still photo, you can really sense the power and dynamic of Gigo\u2019s movements, which seem to jump off the page\u2026er, screen. \u00a0Despite battling tuberculosis in his later years, he continued to train hard and taught the art for as long as he could. His life was to end at the young age of 39. \u00a0The fudo-dachi was apparently Gigo\u2019s favorite stance, though it is rarely practiced in Shotokan dojos these days. \u00a0For the upper belts, you\u2019ll find examples of fudo-dachi in the katas of Sochin (hence, it\u2019s also called the sochin stance) and Chinte.<\/div>\n
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There were surely other senior karateka who helped create the modern form of Shotokan, but Gigo was a major contributor in 1930\u2019s Japan. \u00a0We owe much to this dedicated karateka. \u00a0Sadly, some ninety years later, both Gigo and his favorite stance are largely forgotten by modern practitioners.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi Everyone, All of you who have been training for awhile are familiar with the three basic Shotokan stances (dachi): zenkutsu-dachi, kokutsu-dachi, and the kiba-dachi. \u00a0While practicing kihon, you go into these stances on most every class. \u00a0This strengthens your legs and flexibility, of course – but one uses these in the 26-30 katas that make up the pantheon of Shotokan katas. \u00a0Many of our students may not know that there are additional dachi that, while not covered in basic kihon, are a part of higher katas and jiyu-kumite (free sparring). \u00a0Today, I\u2019d like to share a little bit about Gigo Funakoshi, his impact on modern Shotokan, and his signature stance, the fudo-dachi. \u00a0Gigo was the middle son of Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of Shotokan Karate-Do. \u00a0If I were to ask what stance is pictured below, I doubt that our color belts would be able to identify it since we never teach it in regular practice. \u00a0The fudo-dachi has been described as a combination between a zenkutsu-dachi and a kiba-dachi. \u00a0A very strong and centered posture, advanced students sometimes with briefly shift into this stance while blocking, then repulsing an incoming attack. The fudo-dachi (rooted stance) is a very powerful [...]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2935,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2934\/revisions\/2935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}