View Single Post
Old 09-05-2004, 08:43 PM   #6
Thomas Ambrose
 
Thomas Ambrose's Avatar
Location: Michigan
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 59
United_States
Offline
Re: Help for a begginer

Quote:
David Bennett wrote:
In my club at the beggining and end of trainning they say something what is this. At the end as well apart from bowing to O Sensei's picture (from Seiza) they also bow at the instructor and then it seems as if its just who ever is near them. Could some one please explain this.
Thanks
Dave
Dave,
I am pretty new to this too (three months) and here is what I have figured out thus far. Anybody, feel free to correct me if my pronounciations, spellings, or translations are incorrect!

At my dojo, at the beginning, we bow towards Sensei and say "Onegaishimasu." We also bow and say that when we find our partners. Various people at the dojo told me how to say it several times, but it took me a while to memorize it. (I still have to look it up to spell it!) I pronounce it something like "Oan-uh-gesh-mas." I think it means "Please train with me," but I am not certain.

At the end of practice, we bow to Sensei and say " Arigato-gozaimashita (I hope spelling doesn't count! ) ." We pronounce it "Ah-ree-got-oh-go-zie-mishe-tah." which I think means "Thank you for training with me." or something to that effect. I am not sure why, but at my dojo, they leave out the "Domo..." that is often at the beginning of of "Domo-arigato-gozaimashita" which is good, because being all tired, I might mess up and say "Domo-Arigato Mr. Roboto" I used to have an obsession with that Styx song.

I think I got a hold of doing the pronounciations by kind-of listening and quietly muttering along something that sounded sorta right while everyone else said the correct phrase, and eventually it sounded better and better. Just like practicing a technique !

As far as the bowing, others have mentioned this already, but they are probably bowing to whomever they were partners with that day and saying "Thank you!" At my dojo, we do that, but we do it in English! Something else that comes up at my dojo, is whenever Sensei steps in and gives me personal instruction like "Try to keep your hips pointed forward," I bow and say "Hai" which I think means "OK, Yes, etc." I may have it spelled wrong again.

As far as words like "uke" and "kyu" are concerned, I have no idea what they translate into in English (I could always look them up I suppose) but I do have a generally idea of what they tend to mean just by watching and participating.

These are just my current thoughts and interpretations as someone who is going through this at the same time you are. Keep at it!

Last edited by Thomas Ambrose : 09-05-2004 at 08:45 PM. Reason: fix quote
  Reply With Quote