Abstract
The Education Ministry guidelines for junior high schools were revised on March 28, 2008. With the revision, budo, together with dance, became required subjects in all eight areas of health and physical education. The revised guidelines require exercise-related areas to include as part of their educational goals the “active practice of budo, respect for the opponent and observation of traditional ways of acting” as well as an “understanding of characteristics, origins and traditional ideas of budo.”
As is often said, budo begins with a bow and ends with a bow. This paper looks at the historical background to bowing in budo.
1. Sonkyo-rei (Squatting bow)
From the late Edo period, a sonkyo-kamae, or a squatting posture, called shikiri started to be practiced in sumo. Taking its cue from this, kenjutsu and kendo adopted sonkyo-rei in which the two opponents face each other with their bokuto (wooden swords) or shinai (bamboo swords) placed between them and exchange bows while squatting. Likewise, judo and jujutsu adopted orishiki-rei, in which the opponents face each other in an oblique stance (or line sideways), with one knee and hand touching on the floor, and bow to each other.
2. Ritsu-rei (Standing bow)
In the Meiji period, with the introduction of universal conscription, western-style military exercises called heishiki taiso were employed as a part of infantry and military training. Following this, a ritsu-rei or bowing from a standing at attention stance was also employed in budo.
3. Za-rei (Seated bow)
Za-rei or a seated bow from seiza stance (sitting on the floor with one’s knees bent and with one’s toes directly underneath one’s body) has been widely practiced by elementary school students as part of the etiquette taught in moral classes since the early Meiji period. Combining this with other methods practiced in group teaching for budo beginners, a new form of bowing in budo was adopted, in which one sits in a seiza stance, meditates and bows at the start and end of each class.
Along with this process, the slogan of “budo begins with a bow and ends with a bow” was adopted and reconstructed as a tradition of budo, which we now call the tradition of budo today.
