is a Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

 term used in martial arts

Martial arts

Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....

 and traditional theater

Theatre of Japan

Traditional Japanese theatre includes kabuki, noh and bunraku.-Traditional form of theater:There are four major forms of traditional Japanese theater that are famous around the world. These are Noh, Kyogen, Kabuki, and Bunraku, or puppet theater....

. It translates approximately to "posture". The Kanji of this word means "base".

Kamae is to be differentiated from the word , used in Japanese martial arts

Japanese martial arts

Japanese martial arts refers to the enormous variety of martial arts native to Japan. At least three Japanese terms are often used interchangeably with the English phrase "Japanese martial arts": , literally meaning "martial way", , which has no perfect translation but means something like science,...

 to mean stance

Stance

Stance is a morpheme meaning stand, used in several ways:* to take a position in an argument, a stand on a given issue;* refers to a particular standing postureThere are also a wide variety of stances adopted in martial arts and sports:* boxing stances...

. While tachi refers to the position of the body from the waist down, kamae refers to the posture of the entire body, as well as encompassing one's mental posture (i.e., one's attitude). These connected mental and physical aspects of readiness may be referred to individually as and , respectively.

Although it is a generic term, context may mean there's a default specific posture which is being implicitly referred to. e.g. many modern styles use kamae by itself as shorthand usually for the style's basic stance for sparring or self defense.

As a further note, there are also related verbs, and adding te to the end of kamae makes the command for . Thus, a karate

Karate

is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,...

 instructor ordering the students to assume a front stance might shout, "Zenkutsu dachi, kamaete!"

In Aikido

Kamae is a basic stance, also defined as natural. In it, the body's three centers of gravity are aligned on a vertical axis of gravity. Those three centers begin with the head, then spinal column, and lower abdomen. This allows for a balanced stance, regardless of positioning of one's feet. It also allows one to move freely into any desired direction.

In Kendo

There are five basic kamae in Kendo

Kendo

, meaning "Way of The Sword", is a modern Japanese martial art of sword-fighting based on traditional Japanese swordsmanship, or kenjutsu.Kendo is a physically and mentally challenging activity that combines strong martial arts values with sport-like physical elements.-Practitioners:Practitioners...

: jōdan, chūdan, gedan, hassō

Hasso-no-kamae

, frequently shortened simply to hassō and occasionally called hassō-gamae, is one of the five stances in kendo: jōdan, chūdan, gedan, hassō, and waki. It is an offensive stance, named for one's ability to respond to a situation in any direction...

and waki. Of these, chūdan-no-kamae (middle stance) is the most basic posture. It provides a balance between attacking and defensive techniques.