Dojo Etiquette

 

Introduction

Part of the fun of studying an Asian martial art is being introduced to a different culture’s ideas about proper personal comportment and a different set of standards about how human beings should properly interact with one another. As you learn these standards, please understand that though they are usually in line with the broader culture of which they are a part, they are peculiar to the martial subculture of that broader culture. For instance, I will shout out One, Two, Three…, etc in Japanese with a clipped cadence that is peculiar to PE classes and martial arts training. You would not find an Asian martial arts master using such a cadence to count fruit. He would save the clipped cadence for the training hall and count normally at a fruit stand. So don’t over generalize from what you learn about Japan in our club to modern, routine Japanese life or culture. On the other hand, what you will experience during training will be in most respect authentically Japanese. Just keep in mind that it is authentic Japanese martial arts behavior and comportment and etiquette, not some quintessence of Japanese culture as a whole.

 

Terms of Address

You will address me and every single visiting black belt (no matter what style of martial art they study) as Sensei, which means teacher in Japanese. This word is composed of two Chinese characters, the first meaning before and the second meaning born. That is to say, one of the major organizing, hierarchical principles of Chinese and Japanese life is how old you are, or, rather, how old you are relative to everyone else. Anyone older that you was presumed to be wiser and more knowledgeable than you, and therefore to be your teacher.

When addressing someone using the title Sensei, use their last name followed by the word Sensei, as in Flynn Sensei or Tanaka Sensei. Please understand that the Japanese use personal names much less often than we do, so that you should address me as Flynn Sensei rather than Sean Sensei. You may also address me just as Sensei because in the hierarchical world view, the person is his title as the title defines who he is insofar as all that matters is where he fits into the hierarchy. Consequently, it makes perfect sense to address a person using his title rather than his name.

You will address any of the students in the club who outrank you using the term Sempai, which means senior, as in senior to you in rank. For instance, Becky Sempai showed me a really interesting technique yesterday. Or, David Sempai, am I doing this technique correctly? Notice that the second example is of direct address, whereas the first is an example of referring to the person in question in the third person when they are not even around. Referring to people in this way is totally normal in Japan. Use it with each other. Also notice that as a minor concession to the fact that Americans use their first names much more often than their family names, the examples preface the term Sempai with a first name, rather than the family name. If you are ever in Japan, make sure to use family names unless explicitly invited by a Japanese to use their first name or a nickname. That is you would say Suzuki Sempai rather than Ichiro Sempai. (If you don’t know who Ichiro Suzuki is, learn more about baseball.)

 

Silence For Sound

In a noisy room, you cannot communicate well. The precursor to communication is no communication. The precursor to communication is silence. Given a background of silence, a single voice can be heard distinctly, and can be immediately understood. So if I or a senior instructor or a visiting black belt instructor begins to talk, circle up, sit down, and listen quietly. In addition to making communication easy, sitting down and listening quietly shows respect and gratitude. For most martial arts instructors, respect and gratitude are their only rewards for bothering to take time out of their lives to teach you. Give them the little that they desire.

 

Hygiene

Aristotle wrote that the goal of a good education should be to produce A sound mind in a sound body. It is unfortunately the case, however, that the works of Aristotle that have survived down to the present day are what amounts to his lecture notes. They are overly brief and often hard to follow and one is usually left with a great desire to hear his full lecture, rather than just what we have in his notes. In the case of his aphorism on education, I would like to think that the full version would have been, A sound mind in a sound, well-bathed and well-dressed body.

Don’t come to class stinky. From time immemorial, and aided by the presence of innumerable natural hot springs, the Japanese have been daily bathers. If this aspect of Japanese life seems foreign to you, it is time to absorb something of the East.

Don’t come to class in a stinky uniform. Aikido uniforms are wonderful growth media for bacteria. In a single practice, they become drenched with sweat containing a flotsam of dead skin cells and decaying body hairs. If left in an even moderately warm place, the damp uniform will quickly fester. It will be anything but Kirei. Wash it after every single practice.