Four Cardinal Stances

The Four Cardinal Stances are a group of swordsmanship styles used by descendants of Wano Country in The Shells Timeline. The Stances are broken into four separate stances that usually focus on different tactics and combat focuses, while a fifth stance exists that combines aspects from all four of the Stances.

Blue Dragon Stance
The Blue Dragon Cardinal Stance is a stance using a nodachi and focuses on long, fluid but quick strikes. The Stance can be rather versatile, allowing Blue Dragon swordsmen to go on the offensive with spinning slashes or on the defensive with wide blocks. The stancecan be cumbersome for a weaker individual, and proficient use would require the wielder to be able to swing a nodachi one-handed.

Red Pheasant Stance
The Red Pheasant Cardinal Stance is a stance using two katanas and focuses on rapid slashes, stabs, and strikes. The Stance is extremely mobile, allowing Red Pheasant swordsmen to cut down groups of enemies in a brief amount of time. The stance requires great dexterity and speed, with veteran users being able to lunge forward several yards to strike down foes.

White Tiger Stance
The White Tiger Cardinal Stance is a stance combining the use of a single katana with hand-to-hand combat. The Stance's focus is purely offense, alternating between heavy katana strikes and powerful punches, jabs, and kicks to decimate foes. The stance is most proficiently mastered by a swordsman with great physical strength, allowing for their physical strikes to overpower any foe.

Black Tortoise Stance
The Black Tortoise Cardinal Stance is a stance that uses a single katana alongside its sheath. The Stance is purely defensive, and focuses on blocks, parries, and counterattacks to strike down any attacking foe. The stance requires great patience and perfect reaction times to properly deflect attacks and precisely strike down any foe.

Yellow Dragon Stance
The Yellow Dragon Cardinal Stance is a stance that uses a specialized nodachi and sheath. The Stance is unique in the fact that it combines all four prior stances into a single Stance, providing remarkable amounts of versatility and combinations. The stance requires full mastery of all four other stances, and is exclusively used by individuals known as Yellow Dragons that live to spread the Four Cardinal Stances to new generations.