Japanese sword combat stances
Japanese sword stances are a set of postures that applies to various blade styles. The main set of postures (kamae) uses the particulars of the Katana: curvature, two handed grip and one cutting edge.
The Katana can be held and worked with either one or two handed grip, shorter swords of the shōtō classification, from the length of the wakizashi ( 脇差) and kodachi, down to the knife length of the tanto are held with one hand only with the hand adjacent to the hand gurad (鍔).
The overall body position is determined by the orientation to the opponent, the ground, whether it is uneven, and various strategies of attacking and defending.
Video of Japanese Katana stances
List of all the Katana stances on the AKBAN wiki
