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Manners and Etiquette in Traditional Japanese Martial Arts Katherine Loukopoulos

Manners and Etiquette in Traditional Japanese Martial Arts

Katherine Loukopoulos

May 14, 2012

I would like to begin by saying that this is a difficult topic, and it is reserved for the grey haired teachers to analyze and to discuss with their peers. Every student who studies an art encounters lessons on manner and etiquette from the very first day.

Correct manner is like the oil that surrounds each one of us; it prevents friction in our daily lives. People without manners and correct etiquette often find themselves in unfavorable circumstances which most of the time could have been prevented. On other occasions, opportunities are missed for precisely the same reasons.

Manner is not just the words we chose to say or not to say; manner is everything about us: Our actions, our dress, our care and concern for our peers, for our colleagues, for our family members, for the elders, for the younger persons, for our classmates, and for the strangers. How we speak, the quality of our voice, the manner by which we give or refuse to accept something or someone, the manner by which we ask for something, the manner by which we wait, our hands and facial gestures, our posture and manner of walk, eat and drink, all define us.

If manner is something we read about, than we do not have it. If we use it only to achieve or gain something, again, we do not have it. The gestures, the posture, the words, must come from the heart in order to define us. Otherwise, we will be perceived as haughty, pretentious, and insincere.

But where do we learn these manners and etiquette? First we learn to emulate our parents and our family members. Next, we emulate people whom we had the good fortune to meet and to learn from, or from what we read, see, media, classmates, and from a myriad of experiences. Are they all correct? No! Does each one of us know how we are influenced and taught just by what we see on television? No! Do our school teachers emulate correct manner and etiquette? It depends on each individual, and on the status and protocol of the school.

European elite schools expect a high degree of good manners and etiquette. Elite clubs accept clients from elite families who by the way of their privilege have learned the ABCs of etiquette and mannerism. These are the few; what happens to the masses? Who teaches them? How does a child create a great future for him/herself if the parents cannot afford to purchase quality education?

Children often emulate the behavior of elite and professional athletes who many times display acts of bullying, and exceptional conceit. Rock stars often are involved in various news breaking scandals. Regardless, youth copy and emulate their idols.

Parents seek out sports because they want their children to be stronger, become more assertive, concentrate better, learn social skills, and off course, to also have fun.

But it is not the art, it is not the sport, it is not the activity that will teach ideals, manners, and correct etiquette to the students. It is the teacher or the coach.

Since most children learn not by what they hear, but by what they see, parents are responsible to find a teacher or a coach with integrity, honor, loyalty, self respect, strong, kind, giving, strict and patient, knowledgeable, and educated.

And how does a parent find such a person? Parents need to visit as many schools as possible, observe classes, and look at the students who have been there already studying at that school. Do they behave in a way that you would like for your own child to behave? Is the school disorganized? Are the shoes and clothing scattered around, or are they neatly tucked away? Does the instructor seem to really care?

Traditional karate was never meant to be a sport. Most schools of traditional Okinawa martial arts do not engage in fighting competition. They do, however, engage in the display of ‘Kata skills’.*

All Kata begin and end with courtesy. Courtesy can be viewed as the water on a fire. It can extinguish another person’s ill intentions. It has the power to silence tongues.

All Kata begin with a defensive move. Students learn that we never attack another person; however, when a need presents itself where we have no other alternative but to defend ourselves and those we love, the defense will be so strong that it acts as a counterattack with the intent to stop an adversary’s ill intentions.

The objective of traditional karate is Defense. And the first line of defense is correct manner and correct etiquette. Students are honed daily on correct behavior. As they physically become stronger through the rigours of training, their bodies become stronger. But more importantly, their minds become stronger. Their spirits vibrate with positive energy. They feel great about themselves and about their achievements. And through it all, they learn to control their impulses, their anger, their needs and wants, and most of the time they prevail over negative experiences in their worlds.

Students in traditional karate training learn to share, learn to give, learn to contribute, learn humility, and they learn respect for every living thing. And they learn all these qualities because they practice them on a daily bases.

As each technique is executed with maximum power, efficiency and speed, there is the economy of energy. This translates into economy of motion. In other words, the student learns to save energy, and not to focus on meaningless things. To say this in another way it is not to be disturbed with meaningless issues.

Overcoming one’s desire of the moment in order to do something else that is required is also learned via the martial arts. Doing the right thing, regardless of personal gain, is martial arts subject matter.

In long tern training, manners and etiquette have been absorbed into the students’ psyche. Ideally, they will be happy people, because they would derive joy from doing and saying things from the heart, and not superficially for personal gain. They would take personal responsibility for their actions, and would do their best to rectify. They would have learned to seize the moment, and taken each opportunity presented to them to the very max. They would gain the respect of their peers, because they would be perceived as honest, sincere, hard workers, and genuine individuals. They would have learned the true meaning of ‘thank you’ and ‘I am sorry’.

Only through good guidance, serious training, and serious studying one can achieve all that they were destined to reach. And since we never know our destiny before hand, it is best not to think in terms of limitations, but in terms of capacities.

*Kata

• Kata is a series of prearranged defensive and offensive techniques in motion. • The number of Kata varies in each different style of martial arts, but all progress in degree of difficulty with the last Kata being the most advanced. • All Kata begin and end with courtesy, and all begin with a defensive move. Kata is performed alone. In demonstrations various designs are created by the number of participants for aesthetic reasons. • Group Kata teaches synchronism and awareness of each other as each participant breathes exactly the same, and in the same timing. • Through documented history we have learned that there were also female Japanese and Chinese martial arts masters; however, most females trained in Kata as their teachers valued Kata to be the crux of the martial arts.

Nothing else in the training was considered more important. • For example, the Japanese art Iai Do (drawing of the sword) is only Kata. The competitive aspect with swords called Ken Do is a completely different discipline, and they engage only in sparring competitions.

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