Etiquette out side the Dojo?

[bushido_man96]

For us we bow our heads slightly and say "osu" as a sign of respect, if it is our sensei, or a master. If it is any other karateka bow our heads slightly and say hello.

This is how I do it towards my instructor as well.

[Abraham_lincoln]

I have a set of similar situations. Not many people I know outside the dojo take karate anymore. Inside the dojo, I'm very formal, and pretty aloof. I don't know a lot of people more than I know them in the dojo itself.

First, I saw a man I usually pair up with for practice, since we're pretty close in belt rank. I see him around town sometimes, and usually, it's after karate, so I sometimes am still in my gi. I just don't know what to say.

This one's a bit less awkward. Another guy in the dojo, Lavar, is my age. We're actually pretty similar, personality wise. He's close friends with a lot of my aquaintances, so we always end up talking to the same person, and we also take the same bus. But for the first few weeks that we realized that we knew each other, we called each other "karate kid".

Also, I have a friend on swim team, Bryn, who I only see in summer. By a bizarre coincidence, her boyfriend, Cedric, was the coolest kid in the dojo, when we were 11 or 12.

As I remember it, when I was a little kid in the dojo, that was half of my social life. Most of my friendships and crushes were in some way related to karate.

[danbong]

I think you can probably tell if your head instructor is the hard core type that would expect all students to formally greet the instructors when they see them outside of class.

[ninjanurse]

I greet instructors and students with a bow wherever I am. Close friends I also train with....depends on where we are.

[Holland]

It depends on the situation...with my instructor I only know him as "Sensei" to me that is his first name. He is old enough to be my dad and if I did not call him Sensei then I would call him Mr. Cunningham.

To me, this is a term of affection, because he truly is my teacher and mentor and also one of my best friends.

On the other hand...I also run a dojo and at 31 more than half of my adult students are older than I am. Many of the others are right in my age group and thus I would feel awkward about one of them calling me by anything but my first name outside of class. To be honest I am not really a ball buster about being called Sensei in class...at least in my adult class. Most of the kids from our group even call me Sensei at church.

[KarateK]

I think if I started calling my Mum Sensei Karen she would think I had a knock to the head. Or my step dad - Sensei David lol

Seriously though I dont think most Sensei's make an issue of etiquette towards them outside of class. Actually though - if we broke etiquette in regards to scrapping outside of scool we would be pulled up about that - so why is etiquette towards your sensei any different? Hmmmm food for thought.

[IcemanSK]

I would probably call my instructor "sir" when speaking to him if I saw him on the street (rather than Grandmaster). We live on opposite sides of the country, so I haven't had the occasion.

If I had a judge or a doctor in my class, I wouldn't probably call them by their title in class, but I sure would in their offices. We have an MD in our organization. He has his own school. He is called Doctor by even my instructor. Very soon, he will test for 4th Dan (Master rank in our school) & he will still be called Doctor, rather than Master.

My point is that being polite is never bad. But class decorum need not apply outside of class, usually.

[Jiffy]

I think it shows great respect if you call them Sensei outside of the dojo, but if they expect it, then I think that is just ego.

[ninjanurse]

I would probably call my instructor "sir" when speaking to him if I saw him on the street (rather than Grandmaster). We live on opposite sides of the country, so I haven't had the occasion.

If I had a judge or a doctor in my class, I wouldn't probably call them by their title in class, but I sure would in their offices. We have an MD in our organization. He has his own school. He is called Doctor by even my instructor. Very soon, he will test for 4th Dan (Master rank in our school) & he will still be called Doctor, rather than Master.

My point is that being polite is never bad. But class decorum need not apply outside of class, usually.

I had a student once, an orange belt, who after he obtained his Doctorate insisted that everyone address him as "Doctor" in class. Not that I would have minded but he would correct the instructors in class all the time! Needless to say his ego finally got the best of him and he eventualy dropped out.

[IcemanSK]

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I had a student once, an orange belt, who after he obtained his Doctorate insisted that everyone address him as "Doctor" in class. Not that I would have minded but he would correct the instructors in class all the time! Needless to say his ego finally got the best of him and he eventualy dropped out.

Ugh! That would be hard to swallow.

Calling this MD instructor doctor is at the lead of our GM, not the instructor. We are very formal in class & out. My instructor have never called by anything other than Mr. Jensen in any correspondance or in person. Not my choice, but his. It seems odd to me, but it's how he chooses to show respect to me. Calling him by his first name would be unthinkable for me.