Reishiki

The title above is yet another term I stumbled across in one of Dave Lowry's books, in this case 'Moving Toward Stillness'. The term is an old Japanese word meaning form, etiquette or respect and Mr Lowry uses it in reference to correct and appropriate behaviour in the dojo. It is a very nebulous and encompassing term that is very difficult to pin down and is similar to the old British expression of something "that really isn't cricket". Sometimes you know instinctively when behaviour isn't right. Such an incident occurred on Wednesday in the club.
I was talking to Coach Andy when all of a sudden there was a tremendous clash and clatter. Everyone looked round to find one of our younger sabreurs smashing his sabre on the ground in anger. I don't know what had sparked the hissy fit but young sabreurs do tend to get quite pumped up as a matter of course. A silence descended on the room and I half expected someone to say "Oh I say old boy...... that really isn't on, don't y'know" (In fact I nearly did - but I'm not quite posh enough). The best bit was that the silent wall of mild opprobrium obviously impacted on the young man because he rather sheepishly apologised and saluted the class in a gesture of contrition. And quite right too; it might be difficult to define but the collective group had shown the youngster that he had breeched the boundaries of fencing reishiki and it's good to see that it's still in evidence as an instinctive reaction to behaviour that doesn't belong in any self-respecting salle.