Soji its about honor!

Many moons ago when we had our own standalone club down town we had a ritual or two that was followed to the tee! Not only did we do the ceremony to start class (line up, mokuso, Rei’s to front and Sensei) and at the end pretty much the same thing but also the Dojo Kun added….we had Soji!

Now Soji is something that we started missing out when we left the down town club and moved into a community club based program. Partially because of difficulties with keeping a good supply of…well supplies on hand. Now if you ask a student “Hey, are you ready for Soji?” they may think you are asking about a screen…which is Shoji in Japanese. NO, Soji is a very important and mandatory part of training and one we need to get back to as a group.

Soji is done by the higher ranks before class and all ranks after to show the willingness of seniors to share in chores of the Dojo and afterwards, not just for health reasons but also to show respect to others who may train later. As you may have guessed Soji…is Dojo cleaning.

I remember when I was a kid we used to have cloths hanging at the back of the dojo and a dry mop in the corner next to them. If you came early enough you would see Sensei wet down a few cloths and kind of lay them over the mop then proceed to wash the floors slightly with damp cloths…they were filthy when he was done and he would wash them out by hand, hang them up and then go wash his hands. The floor we trained on was ALWAYS clean and if he was not there to teach the instructors and black belts did this ritual that took about 5 minutes to complete and they would do this ritual to show respect for those of us showing up to train.

After each class we would RUN to the guys change room to get the bucket and fill it with hot water to clean the floor with, just clean water and we would then rush out to the center of the floor for others to sink a cloth into, then we would all line up and clean the floor bent over with our hands on the floor and we would wash the floor clean of our perspiration and any oils from our feet. The floor would shine! This was mandatory and everyone did it, those that refused were not welcome to come and train. It built a kind of humble brotherhood to the dojo and everyone was seen as equal when we cleaned, You had white belts lined up next to brown belts next to orange belts and a Nidan at the end yelping orders for us to “GO” and we would zip across the floor cleaning the hard wood.

The cleaning was simple, you washed out a rag, ran it up and down the floor and then washed it out and tidied up the water that fell around the bucket. Several higher ranking students then went to the windows and cleaned their and along the ledges before they found a relatively dry area and warmed down or finished the work out. It was simple, it was easy and it was done by EVERYONE. Then on the weekends while some would be washing the floors some o f the students would vacuum out the waiting area and clean the bathrooms, it was frowned upon when some would skip the week end Soji because they did not want to tidy up the showers or toilet. After all its our Dojo and we want to show it off to those that came out.

Doing Soji in a dojo shows a specific kind of maturity to their character, it shows a willingness to give back for all that they get out of Karate. The more modern view of Soji is that it is a burden and that students pay for the right to train so the instructors should make sure the training area is clean…and some instructors feel that this is below them and they have busted their butts for years to get to the current ranks they have so they won’t be doing any cleaning anytime soon. This shows a great deal of self-importance and entitlement that should not be part of the martial arts training program. You cannot teach someone how to fight if you think they have a big ego and may use the skills to harm others, and a attitude of entitlement is not a great attitude for a potential successor in a martial art.

For me, students that frown on Soji or won’t even lift a mop handle to pitch in and do some basic cleaning are not worthy of learning Karate past the very basic Kihon and Heian Shodan…and when they ask why they have been a white belt for years and everyone else has been taught more and moved up the ranks, well I will let them know that it’s because they have bad Soji!