## Bowing (6)

In Naginata, like many other budo sports, you bow a lot to show respect to others and the sport. This bow of respect is called rei. When you bow towards the shomen, the angle should be about 30 degrees. When you bow towards an opponent or partner, the angle should be about 15 degrees. You should keep eye contact and keep your back as straight as possible when bowing. Bowing does not only happen to initiate or finish an exercise, but also to start or wrap up practice.

The starting or finishing of a Naginata practice happens in a certain sequence. When finishing a practice, every step is executed whenever a certain command is called:

1. Seiretsu (Line up)
2. Shizentai (Stand straight and natural)
3. Shakuza (Sit down)
4. Mokuso (Meditate, focus on breathing)
5. Mokuso yame (Stop meditating)
6. Sensei ni rei (Bow for your sensei to pay respect)
7. Shomen ni rei (Bow for the shomen)
8. Otaga ni rei (Bow for your Naginata partners)
9. Onegai shimasu (‘Let’s have a good practice, please’) / Arigato gozaimashita (‘Thank you for the good practice.’)

Important: Step 6 and 7 are switched when you finish practice.