The purpose of this study was to investigate the kinematic characteristics during rising from a chair. Six stroke patients and three healthy subjects participated in the study. Three dimensional kinematic analysis was used to get the duration, center of mass, and lower extremity angle. The stroke patients performed longer duration(0.28sec) than the healthy subjects in rising from a chair. The stroke subjects stayed longer time than the healthy subjects did in phase 2(From the initiation of knee extension to the reversal of trunk flexion to trunk extension)(t=-1.01, p=.04). The healthy subjects showed longer time than the stroke subjects in phase 3(from the reversal of trunk motion to extension to full standing position). The healthy subjects displayed larger value of center of mass in anterioposterior direction than stroke subjects(t=5.79, p=0.05). The center of mass in the mediolateral direction did not change during the completion of movement. However, the center of mass in the anterioposterior direction began to increase throughout the completion of movement. The center of mass in the vertical direction increased extensively in phase 3. The significant difference was not found in the maximum dorsiflexion in ankle, the initiation angle of knee, and the minimum angle of hip between stroke and healthy subjects. Even though statistical results did not show any significant angle difference in the lower extremity, the patterns of the change in the knee and hip angle during rising from a chair were different. The stroke subjects showed smaller angle of knee extension than the healthy subjects in phase 3. The stroke subjects flexed their trunk more than the healthy subjects in phase 2.