Strikes from the high guard

Sangdan chigi (상단치기) is the kumdo name for the strikes delivered from the high guard, the sangdanse (상단세). The Korea Kumdo Association (대한검도회) defines these techniques as those struck from that guard and calls them the "techniques of sangdan" (상단의 기술).

Attitude. According to that definition, the strike is made with a fierce disposition: instead of protecting one's own body, the practitioner exposes it completely and cuts downward. The representative examples are the head strike from the high guard (meori chigi, 머리치기) and the wrist strike from the high guard (sonmok chigi, 손목치기).

The guard. The basic forms of the sangdanse are the jwasangdanse (좌상단세), with the left foot and left hand forward, and the usangdanse (우상단세), obtained by raising the sword straight up from the middle guard (jungdanse, 중단세). The Association says the high guard has an advantage in time and distance when attacking, but is somewhat disadvantageous in close-quarters fighting and when an attack fails, because it is hard to recover quickly. For the jwasangdanse it describes this method: from the middle guard the left foot steps forward and the left fist rises about one fist above the hairline, with the jukdo (죽도, the bamboo sword) at about 45 degrees and its tip slightly to the left.

• One-handed head strike with the left hand (jwapyeonsu meori chigi, 좌편수 머리치기, also called 좌한손 머리치기): several Korean sources present it as the most effective attack from the jwasangdanse, because the extended left hand and arm line up with the jukdo and allow a strike from farther away than a two-handed middle guard.
• Wrist strike (sonmok chigi) from the high guard: it can be done with one hand (hanson sonmok chigi, 한손 손목치기) or with both (yangson sonmok chigi, 양손 손목치기). One source describes the two-handed version this way: close the distance by feinting a head strike, twist the torso to the left, make a small circle with the jukdo over the head and strike the wrist with both hands.
• Head-strike variants: one compendium of head strikes lists the two-handed yangson sangdan meori chigi (양손 상단머리치기) and the one-handed hanson sangdan meori chigi (한손 상단머리치기), as well as cases where both opponents are in jwasangdanse or in usangdanse.

Context. A Korean source says that in practice and in matches the middle guard is used almost all the time and the high guard appears only in some cases. It adds that this rarity makes it stand out and sometimes brings victory. Another source calls it the "posture of fire" (불의 자세), as opposed to the middle guard, the "posture of water".