Budo Begins And Ends With Rei

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[Peter Boylan]

There is an old saying in budo circles, that "Budo begins and ends with rei." Rei is usually translated as bow or courtesy or etiquette, but is that what it really means? When I start unpacking this simple phrase, I find a lot more to it than just bowing at the beginning and end of practice. I ended up writing this blog post about it.

http://budobum.blogspot.com/2015/01/budo-begins-and-ends-with-rei.html

What do you think? Is it more than just etiquette, or am I barmy from being dropped on my head at the dojo too many times.

[Mark Uttech]

Onegaishimasu,
I've always considered bowing to be a serious practice that we learn and forget and endlessly come back to. Each bow wakes you up a little more to what is within and without. Equally important is the study of ma-ai (distance).
In gassho,
Mark