Formal bowing in/out ceremonies

[Nidan Melbourne]

Each school irregardless of style has a different procedure for bowing in and out. How does your school or organisation do this? Also whether it is a formal or informal manner also.

At my dojo (and old club) we had two forms of bowing in/out: One formal and One Informal.

Our informal bowing procedure is from Musubi Dachi (Heels Together, toes out at 45 degrees) and we only have 1 single bow for this. The Lead Instructor (our sensei or most senior instructor) says "Informal Bowing In/Out, Otagani Rei".

Our formal procedure is from Seiza is as follows

Instructor: Seiza

Instructor: Mukuso (then Mukuso Yame after a short while)

Instructor: Shomen ni, Rei

Most senior student: Sensei, Sempei Kata ni Rei naote Or Sensei, Sempai Ni taishite, Rei naote. Depends on number of Sensei's or Sempai's in attendance.

Instructor: Otagani Rei ("oos"), naote

[bushido_man96]

Students bow when entering or leaving the workout room, to the flags. Then, if the instructor or black belts are present, students bow to them.

Upon lineup, students and the instructor face the flags and bow. Then, the instructor turns to the face the students, and all bow again. After basics, all bow to the instructor, then all students turn to face the highest rank, and bow. Then break for forms.

At the end of class, the bowing at the beginning of class repeats, but after bowing to the instructor, all face high rank again, bow out, and say "sugo hasamita" (not sure how to spell that out).

All bowing is done standing.

[Lupin1]

The adult class doesn't line up or bow at all ever. We also don't do warmups. Adults are responsible for coming in early and warming themselves up before class. We just jump right into training once the kids leave.

The kids class lines up and bows at the start and end of every class. The head instructor calls for them to line up. We line up with more advanced kids in the front and beginners in the back with the instructors in front facing the class. They stand at the "attention" stance with their heels together at a 45* angle and hands at their sides.

Once they're all in nice lines (this can take a little adjusting for the smaller/newer ones), he calls out the senior students' name. The senior student calls "kiyotsuke rei" and all students bow to the instructors and the instructors bow to the students at the same time.

It's quick and simple, but it gives a nice structure to class and a definitive and satisfying beginning and end.

[Spartacus Maximus]

Formalities are few and far between. The only time any sort of formal protocol is used is at the end of a training session where the dojo creed is recited and everyone bows first to the instructor, then to each other.

[sensei8]

We bow in and out! We bow to each other, especially if being helped! We bow to black belts! We bow at the start and finish of Kata and Kumite. We bow whenever the CI says to.

We've the formal Shomen ni rei and the like; these are daily occurrences.

Now as far as the official way that we bow and when, can be quite involved. So, I'll spare you all the reading the shortened version of War and Peace. Albeit, if the occasion is formal, Testing Cycles, Promotions, and the like, the pageantry is there in all of its glory. This was the way of Soke and Dai-Soke, and as of now, we're still upholding their ways because, to us, it's natural, and to not to it, is alien to us. Our Promotions are quite the event. How so? If you've seen an ATA (American Tae Kwon Do Association) ceremony, than you've almost seen an SKKA ceremony.

[tallgeese]

Back when I did more traditional stand up everything was standing bowing in and out at the beginning and end of class. Formal occasions, belting and such, was from kneeling.

Now that I'm into BJJ, we are far more informal. This is not necessarily a BJJ thing, as I've seen schools that bow in and out, but it is the lineage I come out of. We call to order by telling everyone to start warming up and then go from there.

At the end of class it's just circling up on the mats to review teaching points and what we did followed by announcements and high fives on the way out while we're telling everyone that the mat is open to roll.

[Alan Armstrong]

Doing a simple Chinese thank you (peace over war) bow from the waist, with the left palm covering the fist.

Then an off the record quick piece of advice, such as

"What you have learned tonight don't spar or play with it with friends; only use it when you need to"

[MatsuShinshii]

When entering and leaving the Dojo, to the Shomen, to the instructor and to fellow Deshi before and after training.

Bowing is traditional but it is also a sign of respect and teaches us to be humble. Its a way to show your appreciation for your instructors teachings and its a way to show respect for your fellow students.

We bow irregardless of whether its during training, promotions or ceremonies (for which we have very few).