Newbi question - bowing to your sensei

[GeoGiant]

Hi Guys! I'm new here. I just posted an introduction - "my intro with a little background info".

I was wondering if anyone bows to other students / sensei when they are outside of the dojo? I'm referring to situations that have nothing to do with martial arts. Say you run into a black belt at the mall.

I ask because I ran into a sensei at a gas station and I didn't bow... it felt strange not to.

[Throwdown0850]

Nope. We don't even bow in class.

[ps1]

Remember that bowing is simply a respectful greeting, like shaking hands. Nothing more. You can bow if you like. But if you don't want to, then don't.

[tonydee]

In my original school, we weren't supposed to let people other than family know we trained. Then that was loosened to perhaps one or two close, trusted friends, partly as we were encouraged to invite them to come along and consider joining. I think there was one or two funny moments when black belts told fiances or similar. If we saw someone in public, we were generally expected to ignore them, and certainly going up to an instructor and saying hello was considered presumptuous - outside the dojang their time was there own - and invasive if they were with anyone else and might have to offer some explanation for whatever you do or say. We'd generally address instructors as "Sir", and in public seeing someone called "Sir" in Australia would have looked extremely weird in the '80s and '90s. Needless to say, our school could be a little weird, but wasn't as bad as the above might make it sound .

Still, my point is just that different schools and people have vastly different expectations. You could to ask people at your own school what they'd like you to do....

Cheers,

Tony

[Blade96]

i ran into my sensei once outside the dojo and I bowed and "oss'd" to him.

no one saw though, it was in an elevator at university.

[Chitsu]

i ran into my sensei once outside the dojo and I bowed and "oss'd" to him.

no one saw though, it was in an elevator at university.

Why not go the whole hog and say - konnichiwa, ogenki desu ka?

Or would that be a bit silly?

Chitsu

[tallgeese]

No, not so much.

[Lupin1]

We don't really bow at our school. When I was little I learned to bow when we got to the top of the stairs into the room and again before going back down, but that was it. I'm not sure if the kids still learn that, but the adults don't do it. And only a few people choose to call the instructors sir. It's New England. The closest we get is calling instructors "Mr. _____", so they get all the same signs of respect as a school teacher would. If I were to see one of them outside the dojo, I'd probably just say "Hi Mr.____" and act just like I would if I were to see someone from synagogue in the store or whatever. No big.

[Blade96]

i ran into my sensei once outside the dojo and I bowed and "oss'd" to him.

no one saw though, it was in an elevator at university.

Why not go the whole hog and say - konnichiwa, ogenki desu ka?

Or would that be a bit silly?

Chitsu

There's an idea

Kidding, Chitsu. I know what your getting at. But it was just between me and him, we were in an elevator no one else around so......I most likely wouldnt do it in public though like at a mall, surrounded by lots of people.

[JusticeZero]

Uhm... no, that's just geeky. Inside the training hall, use the cultural norms of the training hall. Outside the training hall, use the cultural norms outside the training hall. Don't bow. Wave maybe, or say hello.