[Aikido] A Questionnaire to Members of the Vassar College Aikido Club

[shishida at waseda.jp]

A Questionnaire to Members of the Vassar College Aikido Club
by Fumiaki Shishida
October 12th, 2003 

Dear Friends,

I have been interested in the problems of importing Japanese martial 
arts from 
Japan to other countries, especially in terms of cultural differences.  
In our 
case, I think that there are obviously differences between Japan and 
the USA in 
terms of how to behave at practice in the dojo, and I feel that this 
specific 
problem is part of the important theme of comparative research between 
different cultures.  But on the other hand, I have been worrying that 
some 
members of this club might feel uncomfortable with different cultural 
norms.  
Therefore, I would like to explain the manners of aikido practice to 
you below.  
But before you read my thoughts, I would appreciate it if you could 
answer my 
questions on this subject by email.  That is, please answer my 
questions below 
first, and then read my thoughts about cultural differences and 
aikido.  Thank 
you.

Please cut and paste the questions below, type in your answers, and 
then send 
them to me by the end of October Break at: shishida at waseda.jp
-----
*Name:
*Position (in case of student, school year):
*Todayユs date:
*How long have you practiced aikido?:
-----
1.  Have you taught the sense of bowing to the Shomen (the front of the 
dojo)?

2.  What have you felt and thought when you bowed at the Shomen with 
your 
instructors (please answer before reading my explanation)?

3.  Next, read my thoughts on bowing to the Shomen.  After having read 
my 
explanation, what are your feelings and thoughts about bowing at the 
Shomen 
with your instructors? 

(Concerning questions 2 and 3, long and substantial opinions will be 
appreciated.)












Etiquette at the Vassar College Aikido Club
by Fumiaki Shishida

In Japan, the Shomen sits at the front of the practice room, but is 
also the 
heart of the dojo. It is normally decorated with the Japanese national 
flag, a 
hanging picture of Japanese warriors gods, and often with a picture of 
the 
founder of the martial art practiced in that dojo. That is, it is set 
up in the 
same way that one sets up a small shire in Japan.  Owing to this, 
practitioners 
worship every time they practice.  Because this is consistent with 
Japanese 
customs and the set of values that Japanese people were brought up 
with, this 
causes no problems or conflicts in Japan.  Japanese martial artists 
simply take 
them for granted.
  
But now, since there are plenty of foreigners who also like to practice 
Japanese martial arts, how to behave inside the dojo has become an 
important 
subject of discussion.  How should we teach a practitioner who is 
faithful to 
their own religion and does not want to bow to those things that make 
up the 
Shomen?
   
My conclusion is that the Shomen should be considered a symbol of the 
efforts 
of our predecessors since time immemorial.  Consistent with this 
thinking one 
can accommodate the faithful of other religions by removing the picture 
of the 
Japanese warriors gods from the Shomen.  Similarly, one can remove the 
Japanese 
flag if the dojo is in the USA.  Frankly speaking, I do not even like 
to put up 
a picture of the founder, because I believe that reverence to the 
founder never 
originates from a forced faith. 

  One day, a student told Master Tomiki that he wanted to take his 
class.  This 
student, however, took some credits by only observing, because he was 
taught by 
his religion not to practice any martial arts because of the religious 
factors 
embedded in martial arts.  (What the student explained to Master Tomiki 
was 
what I talked about above.)

  Around 10 years later I had a similar experience.  A student showed 
me an 
article from an Encyclopedia that said that the Japanese martial arts 
were 
originally just the skill of killing.  This article perplexed me a 
little 
because it had been written by Professor Tomiki who of course thought 
of the 
martial arts as a way to improve peopleユs characters, and not only as 
killing 
methods.  The student, though, had strong religious views about killing 
and did 
not wish to learn killing methods.   But, because he had to take my 
class in 
order to satisfy a requirement, he was perplexed.  I suggested to him a 
compromise.  He would join my class and receive techniques and take 
falls, but 
would never practice the techniques against other people.  He agreed to 
my 
suggestion and we shared in each other's success.

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