Kamae 構え and hanmi 半身

The Japanese word kamae means basically 'stance' or 'posture' (it's interesting to note that the first element of the kanji character is that of 'tree'). The various martial arts have their own characteristic kamae, with the feet placed in different relationships. In Aikido kamae is usually taken to be the same as hanmi, where one foot is placed in front of the other; though the term shizentai, 'natural posture' (with the feet placed next to each other on the same line) could also be said to be a form of kamae. When the left foot is advanced, it is called hidari-gamae (left posture), and when the right foot is advanced, it is called migi-gamae. But we can equally call these postures hidari-hanmi and migi-hanmi. Hanmi means 'half (han 'body' (mi), presumably because we present only half of our body to the attacker.