Dojo Etiqette

 

We follow traditional Japanese etiquette in the dojo. (If you visit other traditional Shotokan dojos, you will find that similar etiqette is required)

1. Before entering the dojo, we take our shoes off and get ready for class. There are locker rooms downstairs in the Rockne Memorial building and there are bathrooms next to Room 109. In most dojos there is an area separate from the training floor, where you may leave your bags and personal belongings. In Rockne Room 109, we leave our bags along the side wall and all personal preparations for training, such as fixing your belt, should be done in this area.

2. Anytime you enter or leave the dojo, you must bow towards shomen as a mark of respect and humility. Shomen is the front of the room. In Rockne 109, shomen is the wall opposite the door. In many dojos a picture of the founder of shotokan, Sensei Funakoshi, and/or a plaque upon which is written the dojo kun is placed at the center of the front wall. Bowing in this direction is a sign of your respect for the place in which you train, the guiding principles for the practice of karate as laid down by Sensei Funakoshi and the people with whom you train.

3. Normally karate students clean the floor of the dojo before and after class. This makes a lot of sense, given that we train barefoot. In Rockne room 109, this may or may not be possible depending on the availability of the necessary cleaning equipment.

4. When class begins, students must line up, shoulder to shoulder, in order of rank facing shomen. The higher ranks should be on the left (as we face shomen). A senior student will then issue the following commands:

a. Seiza: Students and the instructor sit in seiza, in order of rank, with the highest ranks first.

b. Mokusoh: We take about one minute to empty our minds and focus on our breathing. Before you perform Mokusoh breathing, make sure that your spine is straight and let the tip of the tongue rest on the palette just behind the top teeth.

Mokusoh breathing involves long slow cycles of breath. Air is taken in through the nose and follows an imaginary path through the forehead, the crown, downwards through the neck and spine, under the base of the body and upwards to the hara (tanden). At the hara, the air coils in a spiral until it reaches a point. you should then hold your breath there for about 2 seconds and then allow the air to unwind in a spiral in the opposite direction. Then continue to exhale along an imaginary path through the upper abdomen, solar plexus, chest, throat and finally mouth. imagining that the air follows this path encourages abdominal breathing, correct use of the diaphram and awareness of the hara.

c. Mokusoh yamae : This is the call to stop meditating.

d. Shomen ni rei : Bow to showmen from seiza position.

e. Sensei ni rei : Bow to the teacher.

d. Otagai ni rei : Bow to each other by (symbolically) bowing in the forward direction.

5. Warm up and stretching: The sensie or a sempai will lead the warm up and stretch after which class will begin.

6. If you arrive late, you should warm up and stretch at the side of the dojo, then bow to showmen and step onto the dojo floor. Take the seiza position and wait for the sesnei to invite you to join the class. When this happens bow in the seiza position and stand up and join the class.

7. If you need to leave the class because of an injury or if you feel ill, you should seek the sensei's permission or acknowledgement. If you feel pain or weakness you should stop immediately and let the sensei know what is wrong.

8. During class you should focus on what is being taught. Questions and clarifications that are of interest to your fellow karateka and pertain to the current topic wil be dealt with in class. General questions can wait for discussion after class. Please do not ask questions during a set of exercises, wait for a break between sets.

9. if you miss a class and have missed the first explanation of a technique, a ranked karateka will help you catch up by teaching the technique to you while those who have already learned the technique practice it. (Obviously it is not a good to miss too many classes in the beginning. )

 

10. When class is over, sensei will ask you to line up again. We will go through the same sequence of lining up, seiza and mokusoh as at the beginning of class. After the mokusoh yamae command, we recite the dojo kun, which is a set of five maxims put forward by Sensei Funakoshi as giudelines for behavior of the karateka. A senior student will call out each one and everyone else will repeat it. They are as follows:

Seek Perfection of Character

Be Faithful

Endeavor

Respect others

Refrain from violent behavior

11. After the dojo kun, we bow shomen, sensei and otagai. Then we stand up in order of rank and class is over.