Bowing in...

[Brady]

Maybe someone can help me. I train in Shorin-ryu Karate, and at the begining of every class we bow in, much the same as everyone else, I suppose. The highest ranking student leads the bow in, and I have recently become a high enough rank that sometimes that responsibility falls to me. The problem is that I have no idea what we are saying. I know the responses, but not the first command. I know that in English it amounts to basically "Turn around and straighten your obi and gi," but we speak in Japanese... any help would be appreciated. (And save me from future embarrassment.) Thanks.

B

[Zorbasan]

just ask your instructor. there is nothing wrong with asking questions about stuff you dont understand.

[armanox]

When we bow in at my dojo, we use the following (after the students are in line):

Seiza (kneel)

Sensei ni rei (Bow toward sensei)

[students say] Onegaishimasu (Please teach me)

[Shui Tora]

I s'pose it could be something like this;

" O mawasu no mawari anata no gi to obi o massugu ni suru..."

But then some Dojo's would pronounce it differently...

Or, to save embarressment, just ask your Sensei...

Quote;

" He who asks is a fool for 5 minutes... He who doesn't ask is a fool for a lifetime..."

[l32]

When I did Shotokan and we bowed in in Japanese this is what we said:

Shomen Ni Rey: Which meant face the flags, stand at attention, and bow

Sensei Ni Rey: Which meant face the instructor, stand at attention and bow

Now that I am in TKD, my instructor does half Korean and half English instruction and I am almost always the high rank. There, we say:

Face the flag, Cha Ryut Kyong Yet

Face the instructor, Kyong Yet

I'd say ask your instructor if you are unsure because different schools and different styles all bow in differently

[June1]

Wow... This is the first I'm hearing of this bowing-in system. It sounds awesome! We don't have this at all at my school. Although it's Shotokan, it's not as traditional as I thought...

"He who asks is a fool for 5 minutes... He who doesn't ask is a fool for a lifetime..." <---------- This is great.

[Shui Tora]

^ I have plenty of those where they came from!

If you need any of a particular subject, do ask!

[P.A.L]

ask your instructor, the Japanise way of bowing in is a bit different from okinawan , in shorin ryu if you are the first student , when the class starts you first say "shoman ni rey" or the sensei may say this part, when he turns back toward the class you say "sensei ni rey"

at the end of the class first you say "sensei ni rey" then he/she turns back for "shoman ni rey".

[Shui Tora]

I dunno if many Shotokan (or Okinawan) practionners (sp?) do this, but if we bow to our Sensei, our feet are together; but if we bow to the class (juniors/students) we have our feet slightly open.

OUr Sensei would say "Rei!" and we would reply by saying; "Sensei, hai!" and that's it! The lesson begins.

[armanox]

I dunno if many Shotokan (or Okinawan) practionners (sp?) do this, but if we bow to our Sensei, our feet are together; but if we bow to the class (juniors/students) we have our feet slightly open.

OUr Sensei would say "Rei!" and we would reply by saying; "Sensei, hai!" and that's it! The lesson begins.

Responding with "Yes teacher"? Different. We do standing bow with feet together I think. Also, when we just have one of the lower black belts (Nidan, etc), we use either Sempai ni Rei, or just a stading bow with Rei.