Bowing Etiquette

[Eric7_27]

Ok- I've always wondered about this. I've heard that it's impolite or bad etiquette to look at the person who you are bowing to. What do you guys think? Guess it's not that big of a deal, but in the dojo when I bow to an instructor etc, I ALWAYS wonder....

[username8517]

What I have been told in more than one style of karate is the following:

--You bow with your eyes and head down for all practical purposes. This is to convey that you trust and respect them enough to take your eyes off of them.

--If you're doing sparring work or any kind of self-defense exercises you keep you eyes on your opponent as you bow. This so you're always aware of what your opponent is doing. The one exception to this is if you're sparring or working with your instructor--then you still bow with your eyes down.

[bushido_man96]

I have heard both of what bearich has mentioned. In TKD, we are always told to bow with the eyes down, because looking at them as you bow demonstrates a lack of trust.

From what I have been told, this is universal in the Korean culture. Even before sparring, they still look down when they bow. That is how I have done it in all of my TKD events.

[Eric7_27]

yeah those do make sense guys. and bearich, that really makes sense about the sparring.

[Shotokan-kez]

thats exactly how we do it to. Eyes down.

[Feathers of Doom]

What I have been told in more than one style of karate is the following:

--You bow with your eyes and head down for all practical purposes. This is to convey that you trust and respect them enough to take your eyes off of them.

--If you're doing sparring work or any kind of self-defense exercises you keep you eyes on your opponent as you bow. This so you're always aware of what your opponent is doing. The one exception to this is if you're sparring or working with your instructor--then you still bow with your eyes down.

this is also the way my dojo does it.

[daizyblackbelt]

from my various kendo instructors, I've been to told to bow while looking my "dangerous" partner in the eyes and to show them respect by bowing without staring at them.

In my karate dojo, we bow eyes down. you can still see them in your peripheral vision, and it we say that it provides protection for the throat by keeping the chin down.

Either way, i don't think it's all that big a deal.

[bushido_man96]

Either way, i don't think it's all that big a deal.

I think it really comes down to each individual instructor's or organization's viewpoints on how it will be done.

[lordtariel]

I've always been taught to bow with the head down, but gazing forward.

[whitematt]

I was also taught that making eye contact when bowing was disrespectful and showed a lack of trust.