When it comes to dojo etiquette I am somewhat of a traditionalist. I believe a certain amount of etiquette in the dojo helps to foster good relations and the proper level of respect between practitioner’s. It is good to know that there still exists a place in this habitually bad mannered society of ours where you can go and be afforded a decent level of respect. To my mind that is no bad thing. Some may say it is false, that the bows are just empty gestures by people who have been indoctrinated into the ways of a culture that they largely no nothing about except that the art they are practicing comes from that country and this is what they do there. Which is fine if you are a part of that culture, so what possible meaning could such gestures have to people who have no connection what so ever with that particular culture except that they happen to study a particular aspect of that culture.
It is fine to say that, of course. Etiquette in the dojo can be seen to be a pointless exercise in one respect, but that is only one way of looking at the matter. Looked at from a different angle, etiquette can be viewed as being of great benefit to those who practice it, simply because it fosters discipline in people. Discipline is the reason that etiquette has been so carefully maintained throughout the whole history of the martial arts, that and the fact that all the ceremony sets it apart from other pursuits, effectively elevating it into artistic status. Martial arts without the etiquette are not really martial arts to me; it’s just combat training like you would do in the military, cold and regimented.
Every time I bow to someone, be it my sensei at the beginning and end of class, or to my fellow students before sparring or whatever, I am always reminded of the fact that I am doing a martial art, that I’m not just molding myself into some trained killer. There are other aspects of the practice that I want to engage with, the higher ideals that too often lie buried beneath the masses of techniques that we try so hard to learn. I enjoy looking into that side of the martial arts just as much as I enjoy the physical side of it, the practicing of technique, the training with other people.
The more time I spend in the martial arts the more inclined I feel to explore its more esoteric and artistic aspects and to see if I can apply some of the concepts that make up those aspects to myself as a person, to see if the martial arts can help be a better, more enlightened person as well as a good fighter.
I believe the key here is balance. The practical and artistic sides to the martial arts must be cultivated in unison. Too much art and you’ve just got your head in the clouds; too much combat and you’re just a trained machine or worse, a thug. The same goes for etiquette. Too much etiquette in the dojo can feel forced, almost like you’re living in some kind of make believe environment where everyone is rushing round bowing to each other like little polite robots. All meaning is lost when this happens. I know of a dojo that teaches Ninjitsu. Inside the training hall there hangs on the wall a massive Japanese flag that all students, upon entering the hall, must bow to. I don’t know about you, but this is taking etiquette and the idea of following other cultures traditions a bit too far. These guys are Irish for God’s sake! I doubt very much that somewhere in Japan there exists a dojo that teaches Savate and all the students there have to stand in front of a French flag and sing, with hand on heart, the French national anthem. The idea is totally ridiculous. Things can be taken too far.
All joking aside however, I still believe that etiquette has a place in the modern dojo, now more than ever. We live in a world where basic manners and respect are quite often undermined by peoples fear and general lack of concern for anyone but themselves, behaviour that is reinforced by a domineering media who would rather broadcast images of two guys pummelling one another in cage as opposed to anything that could be deemed more representative of what the martial arts are about (the excellent “Way of the Warrior” television show from back in the eighties is a rare exception to this rule), or indeed anything of any real substance at all. It is any wonder that some people still cling to tradition -to etiquette- as one of the last bastions of decency that still exists in today’s world?
I believe etiquette to be of special importance to the younger people coming into the martial arts -to the young kids- because it can do a good job of fostering a certain level of discipline and respect in them at a time when they are most open to such things. Kids will normally gravitate the other way if left to their own devices so it is good that the dojo exists as a place where they can learn to treat other people in the proper manner, even if they don’t learn the same lessons at home. Especially if they don’t learn the same lessons at home.
Personally speaking, I will always observe good etiquette (but not pantomime etiquette) no matter what dojo or training hall I happen to be in. Likewise it will always be one of the first things I teach to new students and I will always make sure they continue to adhere to it for as long as I am teaching them.
A little manners and respect never hurt anyone.
A bow never hurt anyone either.
