People are born with many shortcomings like Anger, Ego, Jealousy, Greed, Aggressiveness, Negative Competitiveness, Selfishness just to name a few.
Its during Rei (bowing) ceremonies that we remind ourselves that we are Ju-Jitsuka and that we are here to attain our goal of over coming our short comings in order to achieve a Higher Goal of “Perfecting ones Character and Spirit”.
We remind ours selves that Ju-Jitsu is not about fighting with others… its about fighting with our selves… against our weaknesses…
By bowing we give up our egos and pride and pay respect to others, to their knowledge, to their dedication, to their spirit… it doesn’t matter who is small or big… who is strong or weak… who is young or old…
Its with the loss of Ego that we loose every other vice that is caused because of it…
When we bow to our Soke (Founder) we thank him for all the knowledge that he painstakingly gathered… refined… and perfected in the art form that we so passionately practice…
By bowing to our Sensei (Teachers) we thank them for the willingness to share with us their hard earned Knowledge and teaching us like we were their own children… and helping us getting better at it… and for selflessly trying to make us better than themselves… We express our willingness to give our selves whole heatedly into their hands to be molded in the right way without questions or doubt… We beg forgiveness for our faults…
Finally we promise that we will never misuse the knowledge they have given us, in our lives neither against Them nor anyone else…
