A NOD OF RESPECT

“Bow to others in reverence and respect,
but never in slavery."
Tracy Hickman

Bowing before entering or leaving a training hall is done in many martial art schools as a sign of respect. Students and instructors bow to each other and in some schools bowing before National flags is performed. There are even some martial arts where bowing before a shrine is required.

So is all this necessary? Being modern day warriors should we be expected to follow traditions? There are those of you who, through your religious teachings, believe that you should not bow in reverence to anyone or anything other than God.

I think that the first thing to do is to understand, historically where bowing began and then to look at the reasoning behind bowing.

Historically, bowing was used to demonstrate an attitude of respect, reverence and submission. In the Orient and Asia it was also common, and in some countries still common, for the people to prostrate themselves on the ground before Royalty.

Bowing has existed at various periods in history and still exists now within a variety of cultures placing varying degrees of importance upon its delivery and method.

In Europe bowing is exclusively male (females perform the courtesy), the depth of the bow expressing the degree of respect or gratitude. The gestures of the European bow can be quite flamboyant in courtly circles with the males expected to ‘Bow and scrape’. ‘Scraping’ refers to the drawing back of the right leg as one bows, such that the right foot scrapes the floor or earth. While performing this type of bow it is typical for the man’s left hand to be pressed across his abdomen while the right is held out from the body.

It is probable that bowing originate as gesture of subordination, as the lowering of the head leaves the bower vulnerable. This was none more significant than in the era of the Samurai in Japan. The Samurai were at the top of a stratified society and had the right to kill anyone who did not show the proper respect.

As mentioned earlier, those of you with strong religious beliefs would be forgiven if you refused to bow as you may believe this contradicts your teachings. Islam teaches the Muslim that they worship only Allah “He has commanded that you only worship Him; that is the right religion, but most men do not understand” (Surah Yusuf 12:40).The Christian belief is similar “…That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven and Earth and under the Earth…” (Philippians 2:10). So would bowing to a master, teacher or even a flag be in contradiction to their beliefs?



If the Martial art in question is religious in its teachings, then I would have to say yes. However the mutual salute to begin and end a class is not a bow of submission, obeisance, or homage. Rather it is like an officer returning the salute of an enlisted man. With the words ‘attention’ and ‘salute’ the teacher shows his respect for the students (they honour him by choosing to study and train with him). In return the students show their respect for their teacher as a worthy instructor and fellow student. It is simply put, mutual respect.

So let’s take a look at some methods of bowing within the Martial arts.

Korean and Japanese bowing (E Kyung Yet & Rei) are simple bows from the waist with the hands firmly at the sides, feet together and the head lowered.
The Chinese bow, Gin Lai, is an open hand over a closed fist and represents the sun and moon.
There are many more elaborate oriental and Asian ways to perform the bow, but simply for the beauty within its complexity, the one that I wish to explain further is the Thai bow known as the Wai. (Pronounced Why)

Like the Indian Namaste, the wai is essentially the pressing together of palms, accompanied by a nod of the head, a slight bow, and the Thai hello: Sawatdee. However the simplicity stops there as it is customary in Thailand to offer the correct wai dependant upon the status of the person you are offering it to.

Generally the palms are held together so that the tips of the thumbs touch four different places: chest, chin, nose and forehead. Each position indicates the social position of the ‘waier’ relative to the ‘waiee’. As a rule of thumb chest wais are given to students, children and compeers; chin wais to adults; nose wais to teachers and parents and forehead wais to images of the Buddha, monks and the Royalty. If two strangers should meet and are unable to gauge each other’s age or social position then the chin wai would be the safest.
It is not common for teachers or parents to reciprocate the wai. However this should not be taken as a slight to your carefully rehearsed wai. In Thailand teachers and parents are respected almost unconditionally, and may acknowledge a wai with merely a nod.

Like many hand greetings, the wai no doubt originated as a way of showing respect and as a way of showing that nobody has a weapon. To wai correctly you should have your hands empty; unfortunately it is increasingly performed holding keys, money or, more commonly, mobile phones.

This brings us to the question of when to wai. It’s fairly simple actually; the younger generally wai elders first. If you are entering or leaving a residence or training camp you should already be bringing your hands up. If you are a Farang (foreigner) courting a Thai, you must remember to wai every older member of the family, especially the father and mother, before they wai you. Thai households being what they are, it is not always clear who is family and who is not so err on the side of caution: ‘politeness’ is counted amongst the highest of Thai virtues.

So as you can see bowing, whether Thai, Japanese, Chinese or Korean etc has social and etiquette values very similar to our western hand shake or the Russian bear hug!
Bringing us back to bowing to a school shrine, if it is indicative of a cultural tradition, a sign of respect for a place of learning or just in recognition towards the efforts of past teachers without any religious or spiritual significance then there should be no reason why the student, whatever their denomination is, should not offer their respects. As with everything we do in life, awareness and understanding are the keys.

So we are simply giving a nod of respect to those more experienced than us, to our training partners, teachers and family and to the halls that we train in.

However, if you do not bow with sincerity and respect and merely go through the motions, it is very easy to see and is almost indicative of how that person’s spirit will be during actual practice and to some extent will show in their technique too.

“True humility makes no pretence of being humble and scarcely ever utters words of humility. Equally, it’s difficult to make yourself humble by acts of will.”
St. Francis of Sales