Referred to as the Stance of Fire (火災のスタンス, Kasai no sutansu), Jōdan is a martial art stance and is a one of the five basic kenjutsu postures. Jōdan-no-kamae means upper-level posture (lit. 'high/upper degree posture'). Jōdan-no-kamae is one of the five stances in kendo, the sword is raised above the head with the tip (kissaki) pointing back and the blade facing up, in readiness to strike. It is the most aggressive stance of the five, focusing primarily to attack and overwhelm the opponent by launching many powerfuly charged blows in rapid succession. There are commonly two types of jōdan-no-kamae, left (hidari) and right (migi), referring to which foot is out in front. As a more rare case, only one hand is used to hold the sword. Even rarer, the positions of the hands on the hilt of the sword may be reversed. In normal practice or competitions, left (hidari) jōdan-gamae is the most common. Its advantage is the reach of the strike, the intimidating posture and the speed of the strike.
It allows user to strike and slash at his opponent even if they dodge or step back, closing the gap between himself and his opponent in order to get in close and strike with maximum force. It's disadvantage is the weak defense, since the throat, wrists and body are open. In order to protect the vulnerable area, a jōdan user must have a very fiery spirit to "scare off" the opponent, often using their battle aura in order to inflict psychological damage with the purpose of debilitating their will. It is also more difficult to judge the striking distance (maai). Therefore, this stance is only used as the normal stance during practice or competition by experienced swordsman. The primary attribute of jōdan-no-kamae is to always have the weapon lifted above the head of the practitioner. One of the only significant variations is the relative position of the elbows. Some styles, prefer the elbows to be as far inward as possible. Many others insist on the elbows being open. It is by it's very nature that the Jōdan-no-kamae style is often referred to as either the Kamae of Heaven (天の構え ten-no-kamae) or Kamae of Fire (火の構え hi-no-kamae). The reason for this is the fact that this style shares it's characteristics with fire, being completely unpredictable and wild when in use, and when struck, leaves a burning sensation upon the area cut due to the intense heat generated in-between intense swings.