What is the reason for formailty in the dojang?

[Balrog]

Some schools are really formal & adhere to strict codes, others are quite relaxed & informal. What are the reasons you were told or for what reasons is your dojang formal? Is formality a good thing? Why or why not?

I think formality is critical. One of the hardest concepts to teach today, especially to kids, is the concept of courtesy and respect, and it is one of the most critical.

We teach life skills. We use Taekwondo as the teaching medium. A student who learns these life skills will be confident and assured, and will NOT be profiled for bullying or an attack in the vast majority of cases. And if they are, they have the skills, both mental and physical, to put an immediate end to the attack.

 

[terryl965]

I would say that formality and respect goes hand to hand on life, one cannot grow without the other. I know in this day and age people mainly childern and teens believe we need to respect them but whatever happened to the earning it first.

 

[bribrius]

why in tae do you bow with hands at sides instead of hand over fist?

 

[terryl965]

why in tae do you bow with hands at sides instead of hand over fist?

Because it has always been that way and why miss with what the founders decided on....

 

[bribrius]

so if you bow at a taekwondo dojang with hand over fist is that disrespectful? If you are one of the ones that cross train which do you use?

 

[chrispillertkd]

so if you bow at a taekwondo dojang with hand over fist is that disrespectful? If you are one of the ones that cross train which do you use?

Is it disrespectful? That depends. Do you know that's not how it's done in a Taekwon-Do Dojang and insist on doing it that way anyway? If so, then yes it is disrepectful. If you do it out of ignorance of the way things are done in Taewkwon-Do then no harm, no foul. You instructor or a senior student will probably let you know how bowing is expected to be done so you follow along with the rest of class the next time.

Part of the reason to have formality in the Dojang is to foster a certain amount of uniformity in etiquette. If one purposefully bowed differently it could become a matter of being discourteous.

The one hand in a fist and the other hand covering it is common in many Kung-Fu styles and when I was cross training in Prayiong Mantis I used that salute in the kwoon. But not in my Taekwon-Do instructor's Dojang. Each instructor had different expectations as to what behavior they expected and hat rituals they observed doing the course of training. Following the respective etiquette of each school was just a matter of trying to have good manners. If you can't respect your intructor in such a small thing then respecting them in larger maters might be even more difficult.

Pax,

Chris

 

[bribrius]

Is it disrespectful? That depends. Do you know that's not how it's done in a Taekwon-Do Dojang and insist on doing it that way anyway? If so, then yes it is disrepectful. If you do it out of ignorance of the way things are done in Taewkwon-Do then no harm, no foul. You instructor or a senior student will probably let you know how bowing is expected to be done so you follow along with the rest of class the next time.

Part of the reason to have formality in the Dojang is to foster a certain amount of uniformity in etiquette. If one purposefully bowed differently it could become a matter of being discourteous.

The one hand in a fist and the other hand covering it is common in many Kung-Fu styles and when I was cross training in Prayiong Mantis I used that salute in the kwoon. But not in my Taekwon-Do instructor's Dojang. Each instructor had different expectations as to what behavior they expected and hat rituals they observed doing the course of training. Following the respective etiquette of each school was just a matter of trying to have good manners. If you can't respect your intructor in such a small thing then respecting them in larger maters might be even more difficult.

Pax,

Chris

thankyou for the response. Once you learn a art you are suppose to follow the edicate of that art unless you learn another as your primary. I guess based on what you might be more proficient in or earned higher rank in. so someone explained to me. I wasn't so sure. Disrespectful to your new art or disrespectful to your old one perhaps the question. I actually had someone tell me the opposite of your statement. But in practice everyone i know has always followed the new rules for the new art. when in rome do as the romans. your statement makes more sense in some ways. Do you happen to know the history that causes the difference in the bowing?

 

[chrispillertkd]

thankyou for the response. Do you happen to know the history that causes the difference?

A couple of reasons, I suspect.

1) Most of the founders of the early Kwans trained in Japan in either Shotokan or Shudokan karate, which had already done away with the salute in conjunction with bowing. As far as I am aware, even Okinawan karate doesn't use the salute so it had already been discarded by the time Funakoshi got to mainland Japan.

2) Gen. Choi was an officer in the South Korean army so when he developed the Oh Do Kwan he made the bow used in training rather quick and abbreviated, akin to a military salute (i.e., there is no lowering of the eyes of the junior like in a normal Korean bow, no slapping the thighs like in some karate syles, no formal kneeling bow, etc.). Heels together, bend 15 degrees at the waist, keep eyes on the other person as an indication of paying attention. This method of bowing was carried over to the ITF when Gen. Choi founded that organization and began spreading Taekwon-Do to various countries.

Pax,

Chris

 

[Nomad]

thankyou for the response. Once you learn a art you are suppose to follow the edicate of that art unless you learn another as your primary. I guess based on what you might be more proficient in or earned higher rank in. so someone explained to me. I wasn't so sure. Disrespectful to your new art or disrespectful to your old one perhaps the question. I actually had someone tell me the opposite of your statement.

I'm not sure how it would be disrespectful to your old or primary art to change the way you bow to accommodate the traditions of a different art. If you take this at face value, why would you study a new art at all, since they're likely to have variations in the martial techniques such as punching, kicking, throws, joint locks, and so on to what you learned in your primary art?

A new or different way of bowing is similar to a new or different way of throwing a roundhouse kick. It's not necessarily better or worse than the way you already know, but it is a part of the art, and may teach you something you didn't expect.

Do you also continue to wear your old uniform and belt in the new school? Use the same terms of address? Line up in the same manner? Do the same drills?

When in Rome... sounds like the way to go to me. Showing politeness and respect, by definition, cannot be disrespectful.