Hachiji dachi 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 , the pronunciation of tachi 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" , or "shizentai dachi", which translates to "natural stance" . In most styles, shizentai is identical to hachiji dachi.