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Andy Buttafuoco
13th November 2004, 18:42
Soji is an important part of your practice. It demonstrates pride and repect to your teacher and the art. I have been to dojo's where soji was not practiced. What rituals if any are practiced in your dojo?

davidgibb
15th November 2004, 16:24
What is soji?

Andy Buttafuoco
15th November 2004, 16:47
Soji is the Japanese word used to clean your dojo after practice. Some schools clean their dojo's annually, some after every practice, and some not at all. In Aikido, we practice on mats, they are wiped down thoroughly, the weapons racks and kamiza are dusted and the carpets vacumed. All the students participate in the Soji ritual after every practice. I was just curious how other schools performed Soji, and how important it was to them.

dsomers
15th November 2004, 17:46
In Okinawa , we would clean the Dojo after every time we trained . We would then take out some short tables to the middle of the floor , & have some snacks , fruit , tea , or juice . We would also clean up in the village of my Sensei's Dojo , ocasionally.

David

Andy Buttafuoco
15th November 2004, 19:06
Thanks Dave, That's interesting. I studied Okinawan Kenpo for many years in New York and we never performed soji. We practiced on a compound carpet in the dojo which was very dirty if not kept clean. I held my sensei in very high regard (As everyone should)in the traditional style and techniques of his teachings but we never cleaned up after practice. Thanks for the post.

The Dude
17th November 2004, 12:41
In Shorinjikempo we do samu (clean the dojo) before every training session. To my knowledge it is done in every club around the world. After samu we do chinkon which is a short recitation of some texts (to remind us of why and how we should train) and then meditation.

We dont do any cleaning afterwards, but we train at a school gym, so we share the hall with others. However we always leave it cleaner than when we came!

Martyn van Halm
25th November 2004, 12:03
We have a maid...:D

Joseph Svinth
26th November 2004, 21:45
Soju is a useful part of training, too.

Budoka 34
27th November 2004, 03:37
All the Aikido Dojo I've trained in perform Soji after classes. I rather enjoyed it.

What is the word for the Traditional New Years cleaning and training?

:smilejapa

Joseph Svinth
27th November 2004, 21:39
GI party, aka field day.

Budoka 34
28th November 2004, 03:53
"GI party, aka field day."

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

:smilejapa

monkeyboy_ssj
29th November 2004, 12:54
Brush the floor before we start and mop it after we've finished.

We don't go over board cleaning as it's not our Dojo/ Dojang, but more of a church hall and other things happen before and after we use it. :(

Cheers