Hachiji Dachi

Hachiji dachi (八字立:はちじだち?) is a stance used in karate. In English, hachiji roughly translates to "the character for eight," but in context means something more like "shaped like number eight." Note that this refers to the shape of the kanji for the number eight: 八, not the arabic numeral "8". Dachi (立:だち?), the pronunciation of tachi (立:たち?) when the word is second in a compound, translates to "stance," referring specifically to the body's position from the waist down. The term "hachiji dachi" is frequently used interchangeably with "shizentai" (自然体：しぜんたい?), or "shizentai dachi", which translates to "natural stance" (literally, 'natural body,' or 'natural body stance'). In most styles, shizentai is identical to hachiji dachi.