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Old 05-23-2008, 03:39 AM   #34
Peter Goldsbury
 
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Dojo: Hiroshima Kokusai Dojo
Location: Hiroshima, Japan
Join Date: Jul 2001
Posts: 2,308
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Re: Japanese Aikido Prayer at beginning of class

One thing I should add to my last post.

I have given you the usage as it exists in my own dojo here in Hiroshima and so I am certain that it is correct Japanese.

In some dojos and organizations outside Japan, I cannot be so certain. So, it is true that arigatou gozaimasu means thank you, but it is also true that arigatou gozaimashita also means thank you. If your Hungarian instructor has not learned much Japanese and does not know that there are two forms, he might correct you.

There is a tendency outside Japan to be more Roman than the Pope and sometimes the terms sempai and kohai are used quite differently from how they would be used in Japan.

Personally, I would never fail a student for not being able to count, or not being able to remember the names of the waza. My Japanese students, also, have enormous difficulty in remembering the names (in Japanese!!) and they live and breathe the language all the time. If you were taking a test in my dojo and did not remember the name, we would switch to English and/or get up and show you. It is what you did next that would matter.

However, there is also a saying in Japan: 郷に入れば郷に従え: gou ni ireba gou ni shitagae. If you live in a village, obey the (customs of) the village. Or, when in Rome...

PAG

P A Goldsbury
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