To Bow or not to Bow (?)

[KickChick]

ok... now I've heard just about everything!!

 

Read about this online and thought I would share.... what is the opinion of this forum?

 

Leilani and James Akiyama dominate in amateur judo, winning tournaments all over the U.S. On Jan. 13th they both suffered a major defeat...not on the mat but in federal court.

 

It seems they sued U.S. Judo and its two subsidiaries in 1997, alleging that mandatory bowing to inanimate objects such as the tatami equated to religious discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. They stress judo's Shinto roots,in which the dojo,(the practice hall)was considered a holy place.

 

Ruling that judo's mandatory bowing rituals

 

do not violate the teens' religious beliefs,

 

U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik dissolved a

 

1997 injunction that has allowed them to compete without the sport's traditional series of bows to the mat and competition hall.

 

"I'm very pleased," said Jim Bregman, president of the U.S. Judo Association. "It's

 

clear the bow in judo is simply a respectful

 

act, like a handshake in wrestling. I think we should move forward and do judo on the mat

 

and not in the courtroom."

 

They Akiyama blame the mandatory bowing for the United States'relatively poor performances in international judo competitions. Many talented athletes are

 

turned off by the rituals and choose other

 

sports, they said.

 

That's ridiculous, responded Bregman.

 

"Medal production isn't the measure of judo's

 

success. The measure of judo's success is how we train our children to behave and to strive to better themselves. The real benefit of judo is character development," said Bregman.

 

"The number of people who object to bowing is minuscule," he said. "This is an extremely

 

radical minority group."

 

 

 

_________________

 

_________________

 

ITF/TKD Black Belt (1st dan)/Fitness Kickboxing Instructor

 

(KarateForums Sensei)

 

[ This Message was edited by: KickChick on 2002-01-21 09:33 ]

[Jiggy9]

You can sue for practically anything in the US cant you?!

 

I dont understand; If they felt so strongly about not bowing then why did they continue to do the art in the first place?

 

I personally dont think there is any harm in showing respect to anyone or anything, I'd even go as far as saying that often I dont get oppurtunities to show the respect I have for others to them.

 

I also think that the mutul respect and trust martial artists have in one another is something that stands out; it is one of the best things about the arts. It brings about an atmosphere in the dojo that you dont find anywhere else....

[Bon]

::edit:: Edited September 29, 2002 by Bon

[Prodigy-Child]

no offense but you americans will sue anybody for anything......cant we all just get along?

 

 

[KickChick]

In a country where we should be proud of all the personal freedoms that we do have, can something like this happen. There is always a choice few that ***** and moan about their personal civil liberties being encroached upon, unfortunately it is starting to get embarrassing. There are far too many lawyers who are willing to defend these people. What I would like to see is have these people all shipped off to a country where they wouldn't have the freedom they enjoy here ... and to a country with zero tolerance for such trivial pursuits ... but hey WE ARE THE USA ....only in America!

 

 

[Joecooke007]

This is bad. Bowing does not infringe on religious rights as a person. We do not ask you to convert to shinto (even though I do practice shinto as a religion a bit) We ask you to bow as a sign of utmost respect for the dojo and sensei and partners.

 

 

[SaiFightsMS]

This was such a hotly contested item in the martial arts world. And so few can really comprehen it.

 

But, don't you find after years of bowing to your opponent, to sensei and at the beginning and end of class don't you find yourself tempted to bow at other times as well? Out side of the dojo? Do you not find yourself being more aware of how much you respect other people?

 

 

[TKD_McGee]

Bowing to inatimate objects is sacrilegious to christians. Most people don't like to go to Martial Arts and have Buddism stuffed down their pie hole. I like TKD but, I dont like the Buddist part of it. I am in a school without buddism so it works for me. We do however bow respectfully, which is equal to a handshake or something.

 

 

[Iron Arahat]

Isn't a crusifix an inanimate object?

 

 

[three60roundhouse]

On 2002-03-04 12:29, Iron Arahat wrote:

 

Isn't a crusifix an inanimate object?

 

We don't usually "bow" our heads, and we believe that it isn't an inatimate object, that it's a representation of Christ, or whatever.