Wednesday, April 28, 2021

W Sitting (Sitting on Floor Forming a W Shape with Your Legs, ぺたん座り)

In anime, when a character sits on the floor with their butt between their legs, forming a W shape, this is called "W-sitting," daburu-zuwari W座り, petan-zuwari ぺたん座り, petanko-zuwari ぺたんこ座り, wariza 割座, onnanoko-zuwari 女の子座り, or ahiru-zuwari アヒル座り.

Amamiya Elena 天宮えれな, example of character W sitting.
Character: Amamiya Elena 天宮えれな
Anime: Star☆Twinkle Precure, スター☆トゥインクルプリキュア (Episode 10)

In Japanese

There are way too many ways to say "W sitting" in Japanese. The most common one would be:

  • onnanoko-zuwari
    女の子座り
    Girl sitting.
    • It's said that only girls sit this way, to the point that some people think boys physically can't sit like this.
    • This term sometimes refers another way to sit called yokozuwari 横座り.

Some other terms:

  • wariza
    割座
    Parted sitting.
    • Because it's one foot to each side, I guess
    • waru
      割る
      To part. To divide.
  • petan-zuwari
    ぺたん座り
    Contact sitting.
    • Because the butt is making contact with the floor.
    • petan
      ペタン
      To make contact with a flat surface.
      (mimetic word.)
  • ahiru-zuwari
    アヒル座り
    Duck sitting.
  • Because ducks, too, sit like this.
  • daburu-zuwari
    ダブル座り
    W sitting.
  • obaachan-zuwari
    おばあちゃん座り
    Grandma sitting.

Someone out there probably calls it "M sitting" instead of "W sitting," as that's a matter of perspective.

Yuzuriha Maimai 楪舞々, W-sitting.
Character: Yuzuriha Maimai 楪舞々
Anime: Zombieland Saga: Revenge (Episode 7)
  • POV: you are a cute anime girl.

Causes

W sitting is the preferred way to sit by many young children because they have a degree of femoral anteversion (how much the leg is rotated is relation to the hip) that makes it more comfortable to sit in this position. By 8–10 years old, their hips "unwind," and they stop W sitting.(westernkidshealth.com)

W sitting is a cause of worry in parents that believe it's harmful, although research says it doesn't affect the shape of the hip bone, doesn't cause hip displasia, degenerative joint disease, arthritis, or in-toeing, and there's no evidence it causes motor delays or core weakness.(westernkidshealth.com)

At least that's how it is in the west, referring to developing children.

In Japan, things are a bit different because of the custom of sitting on the floor.

The proper way to sit on the floor is called seiza 正座, in which you sit on your legs, but some people may find this position uncomfortable and prefer W sitting.

Minami Kana 南夏奈, Minami Chiaki 南千秋, example of W sitting.
Left: Minami Kana 南夏奈
Right: Minami Chiaki 南千秋
Anime: Minami-ke みなみけ (Episode 9)
  • Context: sisters have a conversation next to a zataku 座卓, a table low in height that you use while sitting on the floor.

Examples

There's an article on TVTropes called Twisted-Knee Collapse about this way to sit, due to girls ending up in this sitting position when they fall on the ground.

Character: Kinomoto Sakura 木之本さくら
Anime: Cardcaptor Sakura, カードキャプターさくら (Episode 1)
  • Context: relieved after winning her first battle as a magical girl, Sakura collapses W sitting on the floor.

It typically shows up in moe 萌え anime because it's considered cute.

Sasha Necron サーシャ・ネクロン, example of W sitting.
Character: Sasha Necron サーシャ・ネクロン
Anime: Maou Gakuin no Futekigousha: Shijou Saikyou no Maou no Shiso, Tensei shite Shison-tachi no Gakkou e 魔王学院の不適合者 ~史上最強の魔王の始祖、転生して子孫たちの学校へ通う~ (Episode 2)
  • Context: upon being defeated, Sasha falls on the ground making a perfect W.
Usami Masamune 宇佐美マサムネ, example of W sitting.
Character: Usami Masamune 宇佐美マサムネ
Anime: Mayo Chiki! まよチキ! (Episode 5)
Maaka Karin 真紅果林, example of explosive nosebleed.
Character: Maaka Karin 真紅果林
Anime: Karin かりん (Episode 1)
  • Context: a reverse vampire nosebleeds so hard she ends up W sitting on the floor.
  • kyuuketsuki
    吸血鬼
    Suck-blood-demon.
    Blood-sucking demon.
    Vampire.
  • souketsuki
    増血鬼
    Increase-blood-demon.
    Blood-increasing demon.
    What Karin calls herself.
    • fueru
      増える
      To increase.
Cthuko クー子 sitting in W position, next to Shantak-kun シャンタッ君.
Left: Cthuko クー子
Right: Shantak-kun シャンタッ君
Anime: Haiyore! Nyaruko-san 這いよれ!ニャル子さん (Episode 3)

As mentioned in the name onnanoko-zuwari, this way to sit is associated with girls, so male characters are rarely shown sitting this way, except for otokonoko 男の娘, "trap," characters.

Urushibara Ruka 漆原るか, crossdressing as a fox girl.
Character: Urushibara Ruka 漆原るか
Anime: Steins;Gate 0 (Special, Stitch)
Ayasaki Hayate 綾崎ハヤテ, example of W sitting.
Character: Ayasaki Hayate 綾崎ハヤテ
Anime: Hayate no Gotoku! ハヤテのごとく! (Episode 8, Stitch)

Conversely, a way to sit on the floor that's typically used by boys and not girls would be "cross legged," in agura あぐら position.

References

Poses & Gestures

2 comments:

Leave your komento コメント in this posuto ポスト of this burogu ブログ with your questions about Japanese, doubts or whatever!

All comments are moderated and won't show up until approved. Spam, links to illegal websites, and inappropriate content won't be published.

  1. Thanks for the article. I showed a drawing that used this pose to someone who doesn't see a lot of japanese media and they were quite perplexed. I'll send them an excerpt of this article so they know that it's a relatively common way (within the genre) to communicate a character's youth and femininity.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am a guy who only w-sits. I have done it since I was 5 years old and never lost my ability to sit this way. It is so comfortable. It is the only way I sit because it hurts really bad to sit any other way when I sit on the floor.

    ReplyDelete
You're viewing the mobile version of the site.
Desktop version.