Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)
In Japan, it is customary for the woman to walk three paces behind the man. Does this sound familiar? Is it possible that this three steps behind may have a meaning other than being subservient to the man? Is it possible this same thing was a part of the European culture of its long and ancient history? When did modern society come to assume that walking behind a man was degrading, subservient and not nice regarding women?
I have come to the conclusion, theory is mine, that the same reasons the Japanese of ancient times used in walking three paces in front of women in their company was distorted in an agenda driven way to come to mean something vastly different in modern times. In a recent article I read Dave Lowry made a statement, “And because Japan’s highways were vulnerable to robbers and brigands, men adopted the habit of walking a couple of paces ahead of the women in their company. Over the years, that protective measure evolved into a courtesy that has only recently begun to disappear.”
Maybe this isn’t true, maybe there was no like cultural thing in European’s history of Knights, etc., with chivalry but it seems to me that it may be true even about our desire to have women walk behind us men even tho women today are just as capable in defending themselves. Like many things in the modern West, historical cultural models like walking in front of women companions get skewed due to ignorance into something often agenda driven toward a personal emotionally driven goal.
Just think of it, by simply saying the man always walked three steps in front of their women companions does take some of the perceived bite out of it as it lends credence toward the reasoning, to provide protection as one walks along, etc.
This brings us back to why one should practice “reishiki or etiquette” in the dojo as well as life. Dave Lowry also wrote, “The reason for reishiki in the dojo is twofold. First, it’s a basic tenet of the budo that the way to live honestly, respectfully and free from distractions is to immerse yourself regularly in an activity that suspends conscious thought.”
In a recent posting of a speech given by a Navy Seal at a commencement address at the University of Texas in 2014, the officer spoke of many such etiquette driven actions one takes in the military such as making your bunk every day, etiquette practices are about manners and social necessities that literally speak to the survival of us as individuals, as a tribe and as a nation.
I also would add a partial quote, “ If you observe the spirit of reishiki as a part of your daily life and make it an unconscious component of your interactions with others, then you will find your breathing, timing and posture are maintained through reishiki, you’re apt to find yourself more adaptable to unexpected or stressful situations.”
Chivalry, reishiki or those pesky social manners all remind us of our necessary actions and deeds that promote harmonious connectivity to the group, the clan and the tribe for survival and that means permeating such practices into every level, every facet and every action-deed from the moment we wake in the morning till we fall asleep in the dusk of night.
https://youtu.be/pxBQLFLei70
Bibliography (Click the link)
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