page_title: Bowing in Japan
section_title: Eshaku
hierarchical_section_title: Bowing in Japan / In the business world / Eshaku
caption_attribution_description: English: Examples of Japanese bowing (eshaku, keirei, saikeirei) 日本語: 日本式のお辞儀（会釈、敬礼、最敬礼）の角度差
context_page_description: Bowing in Japan is the act of lowering one's head or the upper part of the torso, commonly used as a sign of salutation, reverence, apology or gratitude in social or religious situations.
  Historically, ojigi was closely affiliated with the samurai. The rise of the warrior class in the Kamakura period led to the formations of many well-disciplined manuals on warrior etiquette, which contained instructions on proper ways to bow for the samurai. The Japanese word お辞儀 was derived from the homophone お時宜, which originally meant "the opportune timing to do something". It did not start to specifically denote the act of bowing in the contemporary sense until late Edo period, when samurai bowing etiquette had spread to the common populace. Nowadays, the ojigi customs based on the doctrines of the Ogasawara School of warrior etiquette—which was founded some 800 years ago—is the most prevalent in society.
  In modern-day Japan, bowing is a fundamental part of social etiquette which is both derivative and representative of Japanese culture, emphasizing respect and social ranks.
context_section_description: Eshaku (会釈) is generally performed with a slight inclination of about 15° of one's upper torso. At the bowing position, one's eyes should glance at the floor roughly three meters in front of one's feet. It is a very casual form of greeting in business, usually performed between colleagues with the same status, or when more formal gestures are deemed unnecessary, like when one casually bumps into someone on the street.
caption: Types of ojigi in Japanese business
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