View source for Agura

{{Short description|Japanese term for a cross-legged seating position}}
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{{For|the Bulgarian historian|Dimitar Agura}}
[[File:Jud-aguraza.svg|thumb|The ''agura'' position]]
'''''Agura''''' ({{lang|ja|胡坐 or あぐら}}, {{literal|foreign/barbarian sitting}}; also called '''''anza''''' {{lang|ja|安座}}) is the Japanese term for the position normally referred to as [[Sitting#Cross-legged|sitting cross-legged]] in English.<ref>{{cite web |title=Is Seiza really the traditional way to sit for Japanese people? |url=http://www.iromegane.com/japan/culture/is-seiza-really-the-traditional-way-to-sit-for-japanese-people/ |website=www.iromegane.com |date=27 May 2015 |accessdate=3 November 2020}}</ref>

==Description==
The buttocks are on the floor (or on a cushion set on the floor) and the legs are out in front, with the knees bent and each foot crossed beneath the other leg. 

==Cultural background==
[[File:Toyotomi hideyoshi4 (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]] sitting in ''agura'' position]]
In Japan, this posture is considered an informal alternative to the ''[[seiza]]'' (proper sitting) position, though it is generally deemed unfeminine and uncouth for women if sitting in skirts or certain types of traditional clothing, such as the kimono (mostly due to where the opening is in a premodern kimono, and the fact that women rarely wore undergarments; whereas, under certain circumstances, men could appear in public wearing {{em|only}} their undergarment, the ''[[fundoshi]]''). It may also be considered impolite to sit in this manner in the presence of a superior or elders, unless permitted to do so.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sitting on the Floor |url=http://www.unmissablejapan.com/etcetera/sitting |website=Unmissablejapan.com |accessdate=3 November 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Ito |first1=David |title=How do you sit? |url=http://www.aikidocenterla.com/blog/1118 |website=aikidocenterla.com |date=26 June 2015 |accessdate=3 November 2020}}</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
{{Portal|Japan}}
* {{Commons category-inline}}

[[Category:Culture of Japan]]
[[Category:Human positions]]
[[Category:Sitting]]


{{Japan-culture-stub}}

{{Japanese social terms}}