Questions of etiquette and courtesy are serious issues for karateka.
Masutatsu Oyama
Oyama, the founder of our style, made several references to the importance of courtesy in his writings. I am sure, given what I’ve read of his writings and based on stories heard from Senseis, that he emphasized courtesy to his students.
Our small karate club strives to follow his example in preserving courtesy and etiquette in our karate practice.
Wear Your Dogi and Obi to Class!
This has not changed for our small club, even after we’ve moved our teaching format to Zoom. The temptation over Zoom is to become less formal. At work or school, we can easily remain in our pajamas, since the lower half of our bodies is usually not visible from camera. This informality is so widespread during the pandemic that the local papers and Twitter posts abound with jokes on the subject.
During karate class, we have students working in limited spaces, where only part of their bodies are visible. Despite this, we ask students and instructors to wear gis. During the fall and winter months, even in Los Angeles where winter might just constitute two weeks of rain in January, students wear full gis. During the summer, by contrast, during a beach to work out, students can wear a dojo t-shirt or a plain navy t-shirt. Over Zoom, students are on their honor to wear full gis.
Over Zoom, we make an exception for the monitor. Since monitors cannot practically participate in class and adequately perform their duties, the club allows monitors to wear street clothes. It’s the one perk of being the monitor.
Why wear a gi for a class over Zoom?
Donning a gi for class helps put you in the correct frame of mind for karate. When I put on my gi, I represent my rank: my behavior needs to be appropriate for that rank. As a shodan, ichi kyu or any high-ranking senpai, you are expected to set an example for your kohais. This starts with appropriate attire. For high rank, your gi should be clean and neat. It may be worn or stained from years of practice, but it should not look like it sat in the corner of your closet for a week. Part of caring about our karate is caring for our karate uniforms. Junior students watch more senior ones for behavior queues, so senpais need to set a proper example. That example setting starts with the basics: wearing a gi.
If you discover your gi has come open or your need to straighten your gi during class, we have a procedure to follow for this. Within the dojo, training outdoors or over Zoom, it is customary to give a quick “Osu,” bow and then turn. You then turn away from the instructor and other students to make adjustments. Over Zoom, turn your back to your camera. Often, during a vigorous kihon, a sensei or senpai will call out “Turn around and fix your gi!” Take that opportunity to tidy your appearance: tuck your gi back under your belt and make sure your belt is knotted properly.
Line-up and Meditation
Facing Shomen
Classes start with a call to “line-up.” In a physical dojo or in a park, we would face Shomen, and organize ourselves into a line, with the highest ranking person standing to the left and the lowest ranking person on the right.
The dojo’s sensei or the highest ranking sensei stands before the line of students. In our old dojo, our Shomen was a large Kanku mounted on the wall above the large mirror. On the beach, we acknowledge the ocean as our Shomen. In a park, Sensei R. would often choose a large tree, and sometimes he’d pick an animal or a person to be the Shomen. Occasionally, with humor, Sensei R named a parent or a late-arriving student as the Shomen.
What is a Shomen?
Traditionally, in most karate styles, the Shomen is a wall within the dojo, considered the “front” of the dojo, without a door. I like Kyoshin Ryu Academy’s explanation:
“… the shomen is the proper side of the dojo and a place of respect…. there is always a focal point. This is the shomen.”
In most dojos, you will find photos of a style’s founder, a photo of the head teacher’s instructor, along with other symbols in this area of the dojo. Bowing to the shomen acknowledges and shows respect to our teachers’ teachers, as well as to karate’s long history.
Sensei R., who also has roots in Native American traditions, taught that the Shomen represents the sacred. Yes, we view karate teachers who came before us and karate’s great history as sacred. Also, we view natural phenomena, like the ocean, a great old tree or or even other creatures, as sacred. They, like our founder Oyama, have the potential to teach us, as long as we have the ability to listen to and see them.
What is Rank? How to line up by rank over Zoom
Over Zoom, lining up by rank means standing in yoi, or the “ready” position, with your camera on. Even though we cannot make a physical line by rank over Zoom, we can still stand at a proper distance from our cameras, showing as much of our bodies as we can in our limited space, be still, focus on the instructor and wait for class to start. Students stand with their hands in fists, straight to their sides, or resting on their belts. The instructor and monitor will notice when students are ready.
Though we cannot stand in order of rank, rank is still important. Lower ranking students are given less responsibilities and are expected to follow along during class as best as they can. They are allowed to pose questions at appropriate times, but not interrupt class with questions. Good instructors, however, will pause class to access student understanding and ask if there are questions, giving students an appropriate time to speak up.
My oldest often says to me, “Own your rank!” reminding me to speak and behave with authority fitting my rank. She reminds me that, as shodans, we must lead by example. That example includes offering encouragement and forth right correction to kyu rank students. This can be particularly important over Zoom, when instructors and students do not see you smiling or nodding from your little Zoom window. You have to speak up at appropriate times, according to your role and rank during class.
Maturity as Part of Rank
Age and maturity are also factors in rank. In Sensei R’s dojo, he distinguished between “adult” ranks and “junior” ranks. We also had kyokushin kid ranks, whose belts differed from that of the older ranks by having a white stripe run through the colored belt. Each of these ranks, adult, junior and kid, had different requirements. In this fashion, Sensei R took both life experience as well as the developing coordination, emotional and mental abilities into account.
An advanced kyoku kid would take on a colored junior belt, skipping the white belt rank. This would take place when Sensei R felt the child was mature enough to attend a junior class, normally around age seven or eight. Prior to this, a kyoku kid might advance up to a brown and white striped belt. When younger children moved from a kyoku kid rank to a junior rank, they often start at orange, or ju kyu, the most junior rank of color.
Junior ranks moving to adult ranks, however, often depended upon the age and skill level of the student. A junior shodan is considered the equivalent of an adult ichi kyu, or brown stripe. However, younger junior shodans earn silver stripes on their black belts, rather than moving to the adult rank, until they are between fourteen and sixteen years of age. At that point, they are asked to retire their junior shodan belts in favor of an adult ichi kyu.
Balancing skill versus maturity
In the dojo, depending on the class, Sensei would have adult ranks line up ahead of junior ranks. Junior shodans, however, would line up behind adult ichi kyus. Junior shodans, after all, had performed rigorous tests similar to that of adults and thus earned their position in the line-up ahead of adults with intermediate or beginning ranks. That said, karate still dictates that one show courtesy to one’s elders, regardless of skill level. It’s a balancing act for the junior shodans: be polite to the adults, but still teach and offer correction when necessary to do so. In the dojo, students could take their queues from Sensei R, or the Nidan Sensais and Senpais. Over Zoom, that process is a bit more tricky. However, our students, taught to be courteous, have learned to offer advice and correction in a kind manner to all.
Meditations: Mokusou
We begin each class with a standing or sitting meditation, and we end each class in a similar fashion. After students have lined up, the instructor will call out “Mokusou,” which is a signal for students to start meditation. We clear our minds and typically count three breaths. Instructors may choose to shorten or lengthen the meditation period as they see fit. Likewise, at the end of a good work-out, the instructor will ask students to breathe with him or her. We normally end by bowing to the shomen, our Senseis, our Senpais and then our fellow students. When the instructor calls out, “Otagai ni rei,” i.e, bow in appreciation to your fellow students, class is dismissed.
Bowing to show respect and consideration
Note that bows are performed to all. We start by bowing to the shomen, that which represents the knowledge and consideration of those before us, who brought us karate. The shomen also represents what we each may consider sacred. We then bow to our teachers, according to rank, and end with bowing to each other. Like Sensei R. naming a student the shomen who had wandered into the park work-out late, we acknowledge that our fellow students and human beings are deserving of our kindest regard and respect. Our time together during training, as well as our time together on this earth, is sacred. We should treat it as such.
Ultimately, the rules of etiquette that we follow in karate give us ways of showing courtesy to our teachers and to each other. This includes the teachers who came long before us, who created karate, as well as our elders and fellow students. We don our gis to show respect to the karate community that we train with. Lining up by rank and age acknowledges the hard work, effort and life experiences of others. It also allows us to enjoy regard when we have worked hard to achieve a rank. This, in turn, teaches us to respect ourselves as well as others.
I’ll end with a final quote from our style’s founder regarding courtesy.
“Courtesy should be apparent in all our actions and words and in all aspects of daily life. But be courtesy, I do not mean rigid, cold formality. Courtesy in the truest sense is selfless concern for the welfare and physical and mental comfort of the other person.”
Masutatsu Oyama
