Dear Students, Teachers and Friends,

Don't miss the Halloween Party to be held at the North dojo on
Saturday October 25th. Games, prizes and good times will be on the
agenda and feel free to invite your friends.

Next belt test will be Saturday Nov 1st at the Bijou location at
9:00 am.

Quotes of the Week

JANE HADDAM:
In my day, we didn't have self-esteem, we had self-respect, and no
more of it than we had earned.

E. E. CUMMINGS:
We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep
inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust,
sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk
curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that
reveals the human spirit.


Lesson of the Week

Rei- The Bow of Respect

There is an old Chinese saying that states, "The stalk of
grain that bears the most fruit, bows the lowest." This is a perfect
analogy for the martial arts, as the most senior martial artists
that have the most devastating abilities tend to be the most humble
and gentle people around.

The Japanese word for bowing is called Rei and has a significant
purpose in Asian culture and in the dojo. Gone are the days where a
student had to sign a blood oath in order to be able to train and
represent their particular style eventually on the battlefield, but
certain parts of this high level of respect and discipline are still
maintained. The bow in modern martial arts training is one of
respect and a greeting, much like the handshake in western
society.

Most Karate practitioners bow many times each time they visit the
dojo. Some bow every time they enter the dojo, at the beginning and
end of class, at the beginning and end of every kata (form)
repetition and every time they face a new partner in kumite
(sparring) practice. Most take it for granted that this ritual is a
necessary part of their Karate experience, whether it holds some
cultural significance (since Karate is, after all, Japanese) or as a
way of expressing humility and/or respect for partners/instructors.
Some have their doubts about the value of bowing and a few people
even refuse to bow in class due to religious conflicts. I am not
going to argue the validity of such complaints. I would like to just
review the most general bowing ideas here.

First, I would like to review the concept of bowing as a way of
opening and closing. Whether a ceremony or a business meeting, it's
basically the same, much like the symbolic handshake. For this
bowing application, they occur in sets of two. I recently attended a
tournament in which both participants and judges seemed unsure of
when they should bow, and how many times. When in doubt, check to
see if your bows "match-up" in pairs.

In kumite, it is proper to bow when you start and bow when you
finish. You can add another bow if you are accepting criticism or
congratulating your partner/opponent for a point. But, in general,
only the opening and closing bows are required. This may, of course,
be slightly different in other styles/organizations, but this is the
general idea.

Next, I would like to review the basic types of bows. Bows range
from the very informal nod of the head that most of us would use to
agree with someone's casual comments, to the very formal seated bow.
Japanese learn the subtle differences through the entire spectrum of
bowing types. Westerners should not be expected to become perfect at
these bowing subtleties, but a brief review might prove interesting
for some.
Although good enough for most of your friends, a simple nod of the
head is considered somewhat rude in the Japanese culture. Even for
the slightest bows, the neck usually does not bend. The entire torso
leans forward, with the neck straight. For the more formal bows,
simply bring the entire torso--back & neck straight--further
forward. A junior student should always bow slightly lower than
someone senior to them.
For standing bows, the hands should remain lightly touching the
sides of the legs, without moving them, for men. Women sometimes
slide their hands inward and downward in formal situations, but this
is rarely seen in many Karate dojo. With seated bows, hands should
slide directly forward to in front of the knees. Women sometimes
bring their hands closer together, as with the formal standing bow.
As far as the position of the eyes goes, there seem to be different
opinions on the subject. Some think that it is rude to look an
instructor in the eyes when bowing. Some say that you should keep
looking into your partner's eyes as you bow. Are these different
types of bows, or are they the same? For realistic budo/self-defense
practicality reasons, remaining conscious of your partner/opponent's
position is a good idea. But should you make extra effort to
maintain eye contact specifically? I think that you should continue
to watch his/her body using zanshin, but there is not much advantage
to looking at the eyes in particular (actual sparring is another
story, which I will not get into here). Lowering the eyes is a sign
of modesty, and is often used in formal bowing in Japan. But showing
gratitude for receiving correction from an instructor is less formal
and does not require such a deep, downward-looking bow.
I was once told that as a referee, one only had to look at a person
bowing into the ring to be able to judge them and pick the top three
competitors, I have found that to be true in most cases. If one
spends the time, energy and discipline necessary to perfect their
bow, then it you can be assured an equal amount of detail will be
included in the form itself. We should try to remember that Karate
begins and ends with courtesy and try to incorporate that principle
into other aspects for our daily lives.
Respectfully,
Terry Bryan