Stand with heels together, feet pointing slightly outward (like a “V”). Keep knees straight, elbows straight and relaxed, hands open at the seams of your pants, fingers together. Bend at the waist about 20 degrees forward. Unbend. The whole bow takes about a breath’s length.
Place left knee on the floor, then right knee. Sit down on feet. Big toes of left and right feet should overlap (either one on top). Keep back straight and shoulders relaxed. Rest left hand (hand open, fingers together) on left thigh and right hand on right thigh, so that fingers point inward. For anatomical reasons, men should have about a fist or two’s width between their knees, women should have knees together.
Kneeling (seiza)
Bowing in seiza
Slide the left hand from the thigh to the floor immediately in front of the left knee (not too far in front, i.e., left elbow shouldn’t touch the floor.) Do the same with the right hand so that the right-hand motion is slightly behind (in time) the left hand motion. Palms should touch the floor to show deep respect. Bow at the waist, taking a little longer than for a standing bow (forehead comes close to the floor but does not touch it.) Slide your hands back up to their initial position on the thighs, this time with the left hand slightly behind the right hand.
Bow, standing at the entrance, facing the dojo or towards the front of the dojo, whether you are entering or exiting the dojo.
Entering and exiting the dojo
Lateness
Try not to be late. If you are late, bow in, then quietly kneel near the entrance. Wait until the instructor acknowledges you. Then bow kneeling, get up and quickly join the group. If you arrive just as everyone is kneeling at the beginning, don’t move, don’t make any noise, just wait until warming-up starts and bow in as described above.
When you hear “Line up!” or “One line!”, stand shoulder to shoulder facing the front of the dojo in rank order. Try to line up so that the instructor is right in the middle of the line. If class size is big, the senior student may ask you to form more than one line, in which case, you should try to line up so that the lines are approximately the same length. “Seza!”: sit down in seiza so that knees are aligned with the person on your left. “Mokuso!”: quiet meditation – just lower your gaze, relax, and breathe. “Mokuso yame!”: stop. “Shomen ni rei!”: Bow to the front of the room (this signifies bowing to the institution of karate and to the line of instructors who brought it to your instructor.) “Sensei ni rei!”: Bow to the instructor. When you are bowing, you can say “onegaishimasu,” which means “Please,” i.e., please teach me, please help me, please hold class, etc. At the signal of the instructor, get up (quickly, without waiting for the person on your left, necessarily.)
Opening sequence
Closing sequence
Same as the opening sequence, except that after mokuso, there is a recitation of the dojo kun. Repeat after the senior student, loudly (but not so loud that your voice stands out) and in unison. During the final bow to the instructor, you can say “arigato gozaimashita,” which means “Thank you.” “Thank you” in English is okay too. At the end, the instructor will get up. Wait until the person on your left bows and gets up before you do the same.
Before class starts, there is usually some sort of cleaning of the dojo. During this time, actively participate to whatever extent you can. Don’t sit back and stretch while others are still cleaning.
